CLASSIFIED AD
Willing to kill for $22.50

Americans have always had a personal affinity for those who have made the sacrifice to defend our freedoms. Every day we pass by veterans without a second glance, except for those who bear the wounds of their past with scars and missing limbs. Evidence that they continue to fight long after they have left the battlefield.

It was not until the Gulf War that we got to witness first hand the battle these heroes face when the conditions at the Walter Reed Army Hospital were exposed. For the first time, we as a nation got a glimpse of what they had to endure just to get proper medical care. From across the nation people were outraged by the conditions. What's more is that no one could believe it... or wanted to. How could anyone allow such things to happen?

There are a few answers to that question. One such theory is that we looked at the surface, saw that it was okay, and never thought to look much further. Another; and more likely theory, is that people knew of the conditions but made the conscious decision to not say anything. Whether to preserve their jobs or deliberate indifference, both played a significant role in the hospital's deterioration.

Here at MCI Shirley, conditions in the medical unit called the "Skilled Nursing Facility" (SNF) or the Death Chamber, as we call it, conditions were absolutely deplorable. Feces on and around the toilet, showers that had not been cleaned in years, maggots in a patient's diaper, and one patient had the tip of his finger fall off and wasn't found until a week later when they changed his sheets!! These were the conditions that the main medical facility of the DOC operated under. However, since the arrival of Deputy Karen DiNardo, those conditions have drastically changed. She instituted a companion program and now whenever you enter the SNF the first thing you smell is bleach and not feces or urine. To the outside observer, the SNF on the surface looks great. But for those of us who live here we know where to look to find the dirty secrets and for those who work in the SNF, they know better than anyone else, what closets hold the skeletons.

So, on August 5, when State Representative Benjamin Swan and Senator James Eldridge, came unannounced to tour the SNF, it presented the perfect opportunity for those who work in the SNF to speak out and reveal what goes on under the surface. But, like most, they reverted to self-preservation. They decided that what they have is not worth losing for someone else, especially someone they hardly know. It is a human flaw that we all struggle with: some more than others. It's what made the hit television show, "What Would You Do?" so popular.

That flaw was on full display on August 5, when the SNF workers, called "Companions", sat quietly as Deputy DiNardo escorted both legislators on a tour through the Death Chamber. Of course anyone who spoke out would have fell on the proverbial sword, as they would have been terminated as soon as the tour left the room! Effectively making them unemployed and losing a gig that pays them $22.50 a week; a king's ransom to most that live in prison.

It calls to mind a quote from Edmund Burke, that states, "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing". A sentiment that epitomizes the whole of the SNF, and that can probably be attributed to the "Stockholm Syndrome" A mental illness in which a person starts to sympathize/empathize with their captors. This "illness" is abundantly displayed in the SNF, where prisoners, who have had their souls stripped from them by petty dehumanizing control efforts, see a vivid fantasy of how a man left in a soiled diaper for "hours" is "doing okay". They witness the guard allow a prisoner to steal a man's legal work so that he can read aloud his crimes to other prisoners and guards. Yet, the "companions" tout how much good they are doing for the dying men up there, as they sit idly by. The "companions" steal food from the blind, electronics from those who are dying and clothes from those who have passed, all the while they look the other way as they eat extra trays of food designated for dying men with dementia.

At $22.50, who would have thought that a soul could be purchased at such a bargain rate? Men here, worked harder than you can ever imagine to get a legislative tour to come through yet, these Stockholmed Companions dared not to speak. They swung their mops while our friends lay dying in their beds. They smiled as their bellies were full from the food they stole from someone's locker. They laughed as the Deputy steered the tour away from the men who would have spoken out: sick men, kept in observation cells in the back of the Unit.

Neither Tim nor I, like when someone throws a blanket designation over a class of people, and we know that not all the companions are soulless sycophants of Deputy DiNardo, but we have seen too much ass kissing, ball washing, and commiseration with the enemy not to profess that this crew of green & white "trustees" are more cop than con. Deputy DiNardo has stated that she "hand picked" this crew. That certainly ain't good. If you are on her "okay" list, then you are on our shit list. We fight for dying men. Tim, more than anyone, takes great personal risk for fighting for these dying men. When is the last time any green & white clad thief called the Deputy by her real name: Satan? She has sparked the death of humanity in the SNF.

We are putting together a proposal that would change the uniform colors from green & white to red & white: as this would more accurately reflect the colors of the flag of Stockholm, Sweden. Maybe we could run an ad in the Boston Herald offering $23.50 for souls in purgatory: one dollar more than what the Devil DiNardo offers. Possibly we can save a few men up there. You never know.

Our message to those companions who have sold their souls is this, just place the tag on your toe now, climb into the body bag, cut your own throat and take your place in the fires of Hades. Deputy DiNardo will hold that glass of ice water just out of your reach: like you did to the men in the SNF!!

BREAD & WATER

"The Voice of the Prisoner!"

Timothy J. Muise
Steering Committee Coordinator