TAKIN' THE GOOD WITH THE BAD By: Timothy J. Muise
"Change In Spite Of Oppression"
Chapter VI

THE GOOD

When I came here to the prison I worked with some of my long time
friends to form the first Parish Council for the Our Lady of Guadalupe
Catholic Community. One of the first things we did was initiate a "Rite
of Christian Initiation in Adults," (RCIA) program here so that men who
wanted to be baptized and/or confirmed into the Catholic Church could.
We just started our third offering of the program and there was an over-
whelming attendance. Six men here, with two other possibles. want to
become members of the church! It is awesome and the RCIA program is a
great success. We have seminarians from Blessed St. John XXIII National
Seminary as teachers,as well as local community members and our Deacon.
Men in the community, true believes, also help with the program and
share with the new men how their faith has helped them to rehabilitate.
This prisoner initiative was truly inspired and I am happy to report
that it is a success and that I am able to be a part of it. Jesus said,
"When I was in prison you visited me.", and so many have followed His
model and come in here to visit us.

Growing up in Gloucester we had quite a few artistic souls. One of
the most famous was certainly poet laureate Vincent Ferrini. Being an
East Gloucester kid I remember him well. His son is quite famous in
Gloucester artistic circles and a few years back he produced an award
winning movie titled "Polis Is This". It is a documentary life story
of another very famous Gloucester poet: Charles Olsen. Vincent's son
Henry is the Director of the Gloucester Writers Center. I sent him some
stories about the Gloucester of my youth. He wrote me back and let me
know he enjoyed the stories. He also sent me the information about the
Charle's Olsen documentary he produced. I asked Henry if it would be
possible for him to donate a copy of the movie to the prison here and
gave him the address of Deputy Denied-Oh. Well wouldn't you know that
Henry was gracious enough to donate the movie, Denied-Oh watched it and
actually approved it, and it was given to me by the powers that be for
a pre-screening before it is shown to the general population. I was
so happy and so shocked that then powers that are here would let it happen.
It is a wonderful movie and I so enjoyed watching my beloved Gloucester
scenes on the screen while listening to the beautiful words of Charles
Olsen: very pleasurable. The film has cameos by John Malkovich, Pete
Seeger, and Vincent Ferrini and others. Thank you so much Henry Ferrini!

For the three years that i have been here at the prison Blessed John
XXIII National Seminary has sent two (2) seminarians here each year to
do prison ministry. I have formed such close relationships with Marwan,
John, Ken, John, Aiden, and Steve: it has been a true blessing for me
to be exposed to these men of faith. Our community has embraced them and
one man, Marwan, said he was thinking of leaving the seminary until he
came here and met us! He said we reaffirmed his faith and he is now
Father Ephraim - a blessed Catholic Priest, One of our other dear brothers,
John, was Sharing with us how the seminarian felt he needed another year
of the diaconate before becoming a Priest. John was depressed as he felt,
as did we, that he was ready. We told him that we would pray for him. He
returned to his home in St. Thomas for the summer break and the Bishop
of the Diocese greeted him warmly. His Bishop felt the seminary was in
error and I am very happy to report that he is now Father John! A blessed
Catholic Priest! Our prayers were answered: again! it is such a privilege
to have these fine men in our lives here. They see us for who we really
are in this community: sinners who have been found after being lost. They
are our hope, our truth barometer. We love them.

THE BAD

Deputy Denied-Oh has a man with full blown MRSA ( a serious and very
contagious staff infection - resistant to antibiotics) isolated up in the
"sniff" death chamber on IV medication. The problem is that the guards
let this man have access to the same phone, computer, dayroom, and desk
and chairs as the patients up there with suppressed immune systems. They
are following NONE of the MRSA spread prevention guidelines and when the
guards were asking about it they just laughed. It won't be too funny when
they bring MRSA home to their families and then have to go to an outside
hospital for treatment where they expose YOU to MRSA. They take these
things unbelievably lightly in here: the safety in the "sniff" is a full
and total joke. The guards, and too many of the nurses, view the patients
up there as less than human. These patients are, for the most part,
old and infirm men who cannot fight back against neglect or abuse: they
are the perfect target for these correctional cowards. You have Lt. Urine
up there making jokes about men with dementia: she is the one with the
real brain failure. I'm sure when she gets MRSA (hopefully in a very
uncomfortable spot) from up these that she will sue or have the union
seek damage. The MRSA in the "sniff" will be at your local hospital in
the near future.

The guards here beat Mike R. so bad that his was broken and had
to be wired. They hid him away in an isolation cell here at the facility
and denied him access to the phone and the mail for a while. He sent a
message out to me for help and I have forwarded it to a lawyer who I
hope can help him. Mike tried to file the proper documents but was put
off and denied access to the paperwork. He requested the camera footage
that shows his unlawful beating but was denied. He sits up there in the
"sniff" at the mercy of those who already beat him within an inch of
his life. This is who the guards are: cowards. They come at men 20 at a
time after creating the situation, They get a mob mentality and many
feel they can beat a helpless and handcuffed man with impunity: and for
the most part they are correct. I do my best to expose any such beatings
but getting help is near impossible. The so called "prison advocate lawyers"
like L. Walkerbutnotalker, do nothing for men who reach out in desperation:
even though it is their job. Your prison guards are creating angry young
men of whom 97% will be release to your cities and towns. Mike R. has a
broken jaw and the guard who broke it gets assigned to "care" fir him?
It is an insane world in here.

Deputy Denied-Oh's "Long-Termers Group" is falling apart even faster
than I had anticipated. She had so many lifers and long-termers here who
were clamoring for a group to address lifer/long-termers issues that she
knew she had to do something. She took a few truly Stockholm-ed Syndrome
"inmates" (not prisoners) and put them at the helm of a truly toothless
endeavor. A few men, who realize that their right to be rehabilitated is
being violated, have spoken up at the meetings and called the brainwashed
inmates out. It is going nowhere and Deputy Denied-Oh sits back and grins
as she knows that the in-fighting is exactly the divide and conquer plan
she had in mind all along. Keep the men arguing amongst themselves and
they will not be able to expose her malfeasance and the public safety
nightmare that is ShirleyWorld. It's a good thing that men here have
joined outside groups, namely CURE-ARM and Bread & Water, and are working
day in and day out to expose the Denied-Ohs and reveal the rights violations
that are diminishing public safety. It has always been a handful of men
that have brought about the actions that changed the world. We must at
the very least attempt to improve our world. We must fight the power. We
must stay true to our mission. Support CURE-ARM and Bread & Water!

More To Come...