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September 12, 2003

Dear friends,

Jackie called 2 days ago from Victorville, CA. She arrived there on Friday after a one day stay in Oklahoma City. She sounded great and is glad to be in a place where she can get outside and breath in the fresh air.

The following are experts from a letter I received from her yesterday:…
 The whole sage since sentencing has been a saga to say the least. 4 nights in one of the most ineptly run county jail ever, Washington County jail in Akron, CO (pop. less than 1,000). Was driven to Denver Federal building in the early morning of the 4th day. Picked up by the federal marshals and taken to Teller County jail in Divide, Co.- another small, relatively new facility, housing mostly State prisoners waiting to be taken to State prisons. I was placed in isolation and told that I would stay there until the marshals came to take me to Oklahoma…There was one bunk and one toilet, no tv or newspaper, only one book after 2 days of asking. Then supporters called the media, the media called the jail and by the afternoon I was moved into the general population! Thank you!! Thank you!!

Tuesday of the 6th week in Teller, I was told to “pack up” and was driven to Pueblo County jail…4pm to 4am in a “holding tank” trying to sleep on a cement floor. There were three of us in the cell… 2 other women from Pueblo. We were then taken upstairs to “medical” for an intake physical. Stripped of  our clothes, we were told to shower, "bend over, spread your cheeks" and cough”. The guard then issued us our black and white horizontal striped uniform and we were taken to the women’s pod. The lights went on at 5:30 am so we had a very short night. No coffee and a half of an orange for breakfast. I went to sleep until lunch!.

Carol and Ardeth arrived in the afternoon and got up to the pod at 8:30 and 9:30. We had a grand reunion! At 5 am we were awakened by the guard and told to pack-up. We, along with 2 other women were driven to the Pueblo Airport. Con Air landed around 8:30 am. We hobbled aboard in ankle shackles, belly chains and handcuffs… searched and not allowed even the smallest piece of paper. … The plane went to Great Falls , Montana to Seattle (Boeing Field) to OK City, picking up and dropping off people along the way. We arrived about 5:30 pm. There we got a 4 pieces of wonder bread,1 piece of bologna,  an 8 oz bottle of water, an apple and a package of crackers and peanut butter. That was dinner! Lunch had been 3 packages of crackers and peanut butter!

We were again stripped naked ,”examined” and issued their uniform. At 10:30 pm we were assigned a cell and at 5am (seems to be the magic time of day) Carol and I were again awakened and told to pack up…our plane was leaving this morning. We were again stripped, “examined” and issued a clean uniform. We were given 2 boiled eggs, 2 pieces of wonder bread and an apple for breakfast. Carol and I were called out shortly after that. It happened so fast we didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to Ardeth. (She will be leaving Tuesday for Danbury) Carol was on the East and I was on the one heading west.

My solitary journey had now begun.
There were about 100 men and women on the plane as well as 10 marshals. We landed at Travis Air Force Base. There some prisoners destined for Dublin were  removed. We then flew to  an abandoned AFB. We (2 women and several men) were taken off, patted down and placed in a van and taken thru acres of abandoned AFB housing (all destined to be torn down instead of being used for low income housing). Intake consisted of filling out the same forms we filled out in OK City just the night before. Again doing what they do best - stripped, “examined” and given a new uniform-this time dark green.

We were interviewed by a PA and a psychologist and assigned a dorm..There are 280 women  here  at “Camp”.The women here are “employed” to work on the newly constructed men’s addition, scheduled to open within the next year. Rumor has it that when this happens, the women will be moved to Dublin and this becomes a men’s camp. Who knows! I am on a lower bunk just inside the door. 20 women. There are 12 bunks… so 4 are open if you want to join  us!!

The larger number of women are in a huge room divided into cubicles for two, 8 cement blocks high. The bathroom/shower room is off this area. There are 4 TV rooms along the hall leading to our open room…. 1 for sports and news, 1 for movies, 1 for Spanish language TV and 1 for general  TV. There are NO CHAIRS, however, and we are not allowed to sit on the floor!!! But each cubicle has A chair assigned. This same set up is duplicated in the “South Unit”… all connected but never the twain shall meet!

The warm welcome of the women has been overwhelming. Susan Crane’s friend Alix, from Dublin, is here as is Judy Birnbaum from the SOA. We met at supper the first night. Blanca, from Clear Creek, is here also. Several of the women have come up and mentioned seeing articles about our action.

We were “dressed out”  5 of everything-uniforms, t-shirts, bras, pants, socks plus 1 pair of steel - toed boots for work.

Tomorrow, Monday, will be my first day of work. Until we get a full time work assignment, we are considered A&O”- we report to the message center at 7am and noon to be assigned a “job”. I’ll know tomorrow how this works.

Wake up call is at 5:30 AM, breakfast 6am to7am, Pill line for meds 6am to 6:15a and 7 to 8pm,Lunch 11 to noon and dinner after the 4pm count.  During the week. Sat. and Sunday breakfast 7-8am, Lunch after the 10 am count. Otherwise we are pretty much on our own to use the library, track, etc.

The sunsets have been spectacular. Mars is so clear these nights… All in all things are going fine……

Jackie’s address is as follows:
Jacqueline Hudson 08808-039
Federal Prison Camp-Victorville
PO Box 5100
Adelanto, CA 92301

If you want to visit, send Jackie a card with your address. She will  send you a form to fill out and you will mail it back . It takes a couple of weeks to process it. They will notify her whether you are approved. You only have to go thru this once. Visiting is Sat. and Sunday and all legal holidays from 8:30am to 3pm tho I’m not sure how long these visits can be. When I get that info, I’ll pass it along.

Jackie is relieved to be settling in and grateful to you all for your support. For all you who have sent letters for Jackie to me, I’ve mailed them out to her today. She also said that outgoing mailed is not read, they seal it and put it in the mailbox. Mail coming is opened “and scanned for contraband” but, supposedly, not read.

Peace,
Sue