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Ramblings and Reflections

Newsletter One


Dear Friends:

From the time we donned our Women in Black garments, mourning and weeping for the victims of wars past, present and threatened in the future, to this date, there have been so many mystical moments.  I am not able to communicate all of them.  In this first R & R newsletter I convey my gratitude to God and you for getting me through the more difficult part of the journey that I share in detailed travelogue.

Return to Jail – July 25 – September 3, 2003

In our peacemaking planning we prepare to be separated to go alone to jails and prisons.  The marshals and bureau of prisons designed these extra punitive measures quickly.

  1. Carol and Jackie to Akron, CO jail.  A few days later Jackie was transferred to a Divide, CO jail in the mountains.  I returned to the Georgetown, CO jail.
  2. Though the women in the dungeon cellblock welcomed me with open arms, they missed “the other two nuns” greatly.  I took on the trustee duties of laundry, serving food, etc. to save the women’s program.  The six weeks passed speedily with the long hours of work.
  3. Carol and I were brought to a Denver courthouse cell and were on our way to meet Jackie, already in a Pueblo, CO jail.  The reunion was holy time.

To Oklahoma City – September 3 - 17, 2003

On each trek from place to place we are stripped, frisked, patted down, given new sets of clothing and then shackled on our legs, chained around the waist onto handcuffs on each arm.  You can imagine how Scripture comes alive for us.  Early in the morning of the fourth (my deceased father’s birthday) we were airlifted with stop-off points in Great Falls, MT to Seattle, WA.  We landed on the military industrial contractor, Boeing’s, airstrip.

  1. Then southeastward to Oklahoma City.   The grand part about the ten-hour flight was the fact that Jackie, Carol and I had these hours together, the last for a few years, though always in spirit.
  2. We were processed in during the next four hours and locked up by 11:30 p.m.
  3. Carol and Jackie came to my locked cell door at 5:00 a.m.  We blessed each other farewell – Jackie to Victorville, CA and Carol to Alderson, WV.  Tears flowed as we had hoped for more time together at the transfer center.
  4. I remained for two more weeks, a renewal in body and spirit, meeting hundreds of women of many cultures and creeds, coming from every direction of the U.S.  Listening time, sharing time, sacred time!!

To Danbury, CT – September 17 – October 3, 2003

Again at 5:00 a.m. the call came to pack up and be prepared to leave.  As Dan Berrigan would say, “living the interrupted life…”

  1. We were airlifted from Oklahoma to Miami and Jacksonville, FL to Atlanta, GA and 35 of us were placed on a bus to be driven to Dallas, GA for the night which included an extra two hour stay on the side of the road when the brakes of the bus gave out.  Picture 35 women in shackles and chains on a busy highway being moved to vans.  We arrived at the jail at 9:30 p.m. hungry, tired and sore.  The small cellblock that housed us had no conveniences to say the least – mattresses on floor, 1 toilet, no water from the faucet, no hygiene products or towels.  As Nelson Mandela encouraged, “practice loving the jailers.”
  2. At 5:30 a.m. we were driven back to Atlanta, airlifted once again.  Though the usual stops are made in the Carolinas, we skipped these drop-offs due to the Isabel hurricane and flew into New Hampshire.  The plane needed some repair before continuing to New York.  We arrived at the National Guard base at 3:00 p.m.  This gave me an opportunity to tell the marshals that the judge had ordered me not to set foot on a military installation.  He smiled and ordered me out, so it gave me an opportunity to state aloud, “I reject militarism, war and killing” as I entered onto the base in an act of resistance.  There was no reprimand, no arrest though walked to the lineup by marshals and surrounded by marshals with guns, the usual scene on airfields.
  3. Twenty-four of us were driven to Danbury FCI.  You can imagine our relief upon arrival after two days, at least twenty-six and a half hours shackled and chained across the country.
  4. Half of our numbers were held in SHU, the segregated housing unit, since there were no beds available.  It is a place in constant turmoil.  A couple days after being brought to the FPC building a woman in SHU attempted suicide.  I asked the warden for permission to do “suicide watch”, but received a “no”.

So ten weeks after sentencing I am settled in, have received all that I need in basic necessities.  We have had orientation as the newest group.  My assigned duty is food service.  Visiting is strict and approval takes a long time.  If you wish to support my letter writing, please send the donation to Jonah House, 1301 Moreland Ave., Baltimore, MD 21216.  No money may be sent to us in prison directly.  Nothing may come here except paperback books to me, or hard cover books from publisher/bookstore to me.  I can receive letters, Xerox copies, small news articles but other things are considered contraband, including Polaroid pictures, stamps, etc.

Let us praise God together for experiences, both harsh and joyful, for the grace to rise above the fray, for the mystical moments in the listening, weeping and praying moments.  God fill the vacuum and longing I have to return to my communities as a more giving and loving person.

With gratitude overflowing,

Ardeth Platte, OP # 10857-039, FPC Danbury, Route 37, 33 /2 Pembroke, Danbury, CT 06811