IN THE LIFE OF A CONNECTICUT PRISONER #5
By Richard Stevenson

It is my belief that any time the government wants to "de-constitutionalise" a right that the public won't ordinarily give up they pull the foreign and/or domestic boogeyman card out in the name of "Safety & Security" of you and your family. For example:
- When the Patriot Act was just a rumour President George W. Bush told reporters that it would not be used about Americans.
- The public was told that only child molesters would have to register and submit DNA samples. There is now a movement to require certain gun owners to register. Also, according to a Department of Justice publication, the DNA of all newborn children in this country has been placed in a data bank with access being given to law enforcement since the 1990's (If you'd like to know the publication referred to just let me know).
You, the free public, must pay close attention to the various decisions made by the circuit courts, state supreme courts and the U.S. supreme court cases involving prisoners. THey could very well eventually affect your rights too. Don't ever think that they will only be applied to the imprisoned that now affect you, the free people:
- Prisoners regularly get locked down for warrantless searches... now your children are subjected to the same thing in their schools.
- The phone calls of prisoners are subject to be recorded without a warrant... so are yours!
- As a prisoner my DNA will be taken without a warrant... In all likelihood your children's DNA has already been confiscated and placed in some data bank somewhere.
- As a prisoner I am subjected to warrantless pat-downs, strip searches and must walk through metal detectors.. Been through an airport lately?
- My male is regularly monitored... So is yours.
So what's coming next? Prisoners in this state cannot obtain Incident REports or Arrest Records of corrupt employees under the Freedom of Information Act in order to expose corruption in the Department of Correction. Why. Safety & Security reasons of course. Currently YOU can still get them, but for how long?

FEEL FREE TO SEND ME YOUR THOUGHTS
Rich.