Sr. Carol Gilbert writes from Alderson...

PONDERINGS FROM THE ETERNAL NOW
November 2004 #16

Dear Friends, 

Most of you have probably seen, heard or read more about Alderson this past month because of the arrival of Martha Stewart. Some of the articles you have sent me were very good and many were full of errors.

Maybe the arrival of Martha is a good time for me to write about story. I have not written about the 1,100+ women I live with because each has her own sacred, unique, whole story – each worthy of a book.

However, the story of Martha has generated some interest in this overcrowded, rotten system.

Common elements can and have been written. Federal prisons are overcrowded and short on staff. The federal prison population has tripled since 1990. The inmate population was 33-39% over capacity a year ago. The government plans to open 17 new prisons by 2008. It has more than 100 now. Drug sentences account for more than half of all prisoners and the other major area is crimes of money. Our staff at Alderson has gone from 60 guards to 35 guards in the past four years. We are not supervised much of the time. Statistics could fill volumes and yet what do we know – a famous writer once said something to this effect: “ Statistics are faces with the tears wiped off !”

Everyone here has been stripped naked. We have been stripped of more than just our physical clothes but also of titles and professions. We come in all shapes, sizes, ages, classes, races and countries.

Getting to know a woman here is a bit like peeling an onion – layer by layer. Some are here for just a few days or weeks and others can face 15 years or more.

This quote from Jeanette Stokes speaks volumes to me of my life with these women: “ I am a porous being. There are spaces in my soul like the open spaces in a web. Other people pass through me. I am changed and sometimes I am born again to a whole new way of being .”

Last month I reported the closing of our UNICOR garment factory to transition to a telemarketing center. The women had started to dismantle the sewing machines when they were abruptly told to reassemble the machines as the factory would be open another three months to complete a 10,000 order for military jackets.

No explanation was given.

A 100 year old oak tree fell one morning by cottage 24 blocking the street. Luckily no one was injured or killed.

The color of the trees on the mountains is spectacular this year. We are told it is because of the colder temperatures.

The winter blue jays and woodpeckers are returning in all their grandeur and the other morning I heard a hooting owl.

November is the month our culture celebrates Thanksgiving and I share this meditation from Arundhati Roy:

“The tradition of ‘turkey pardoning' in the United States is a wonderful allegory for New Racism. Every year since 1947 The National Turkey Federation has presented the U.S. president with a turkey for Thanksgiving. Every year, in a show of ceremonial magnanimity, the president spares that particular bird (and eats another one). After receiving the presidential pardon, the Chosen One is sent to Frying Pan Park in Virginia to live out its natural life. The rest of the fifty million turkeys raised for Thanksgiving are slaughtered and eaten on Thanksgiving Day. ConAgra Foods, the company that has won the Presidential Turkey contract, says it trains the lucky birds to be sociable, to interact with dignitaries, school children and the press. (Soon they'll even speak English!) That's how New Racism in the corporate era works. A few carefully bred turkeys – the local elites of various countries, a community of wealthy immigrants, investment bankers, the occasional Colin Powell or Condoleza Rice, some singers, some writers (like myself) – are given absolution and a pass to Frying Pan Park. The remaining millions lose their jobs, are evicted from their homes, have their water and electricity connections cut, and die of AIDS. Basically, they're for the pot .”

Much gratitude for your financial support, letters, cards, magazines, books and most importantly for your faithful ACTIONS!

If you are looking for a beautiful 2005 Engagement Calendar consider buying the one from Mothers Acting Up that features the three of us and many other women you know. Please go to www.mothersactingup.org .

As we await word on the appeal (December or January), I wait patiently in hope of an unexpected release and continue to find much to keep me occupied until May 23 rd , 2005.

My deepest gratitude and love,

Carol Gilbert, O.P.
#10856-039 R-1
Federal Prison Camp
P.O. Box A
Alderson WV 24910