John Ewers' Journal
from Prison
Nov 18, 2001 - Dec
17, 2001
11-19-01
I start my fifth month of
journaling. It feels pretty good to be able to write that. I said
to Bill the other day that I think when we start writing
"December" on our correspondence, Jan 14 will seem a lot
closer.
It's 8pm and I just finished
talking to Paula. She arrived home about an hour ago. She sounded
great! She gave me a fast briefing on the weekend at Ft Benning.
She said it was fabulous! The SOA Watch crowd estimate was 12,000
which was probably a bit high. I'm not going to try to put much in
my journal about the gathering because it's second hand but there
will be a lot of e-mail distribution. The only thing I will say is
that I was guessing a crowd of 5000-7000. I'm really impressed
with the turnout. I'm totally hyped!
The other thing I didn't mention
was the Friday decision by the Federal District Court to allow the
Sunday funeral procession. It was rendered by Judge Faircloth who
is the same judge that sentenced the SOA26. Essentially, he said
it was a First Amendment issue. The City, in denying the
procession, was siding with the Army. There was no historical
basis for a concern for public safety. Off the record, the Judge
said essentially that if the Army needs the help of the City to
protect it from the SOA Watch, the Army is in big trouble! Of
course, I hope the Army is in trouble!
Back at the Ashland compound,
things are just cruising along. We finished the front entrance
windows, doors and railings today - just in time. It's raining
right now with temperatures in the 40's for the rest of the week.
When I walked into the maintenance
building this morning, Mr Salyers called for me. He wanted to get
going today on painting the FCI Administration Building entrance
area. I told him we needed to finish our outside work while the
weather was still OK. That was OK with him. I went out and told
Hawk, the key painter. I felt a little ill-at-ease telling him
what we were going to do since he's a professional painter and has
been doing a lot of good painting here - and for a longer time
than me. Nevertheless, the three of us got together &
discussed it & decided we'll start the project next week.
We have a very short week of work.
We work Tuesday-tomorrow-and that's it for the week. This works
out well for me since I didn't get my regular letters written last
weekend. I felt lousy Saturday on the fast (I quit it Sat night)
and then spent my free time Sunday writing my monthly letter to
the government folks. I've got a back log of 40 unanswered letters
and cards!
I'm off to call Peter and catch up
with his goings on-then off to bed and read some more of the
"Biography of John Adams" - it is excellent!
11-21-01
I woke up this morning remembering
that next Tuesday is Peter's birthday. He's 38. I quickly got off
a card and got it into the mail box before the 6am pick up. With
the holiday weekend, I think it's the last pickup of the week.
Speaking of Pete, I talked to him
Monday night. He took the high school project before the Golden
Planning Commission last week and received unanimous approval to
proceed. He said it was a cordial meeting with about 30 students
in attendance. When the approval was announced, there was
applause. It was a cool meeting.
We just got a call to go to work.
I'll pick this up again tomorrow - Thanksgiving.
11-22-01
It's quiet in the compound.
Thanksgiving dinner is after the 10:00 count. I talked to Paula
this morning. She's doing fine. She's settled in after the great
weekend at Ft Benning. Beth Lerman sent a bunch of newspaper
articles and pictures she pulled off the internet. They arrived at
last night's mail call. They were welcome, indeed. They gave me a
good feel for SOA Watch dynamics, the support for Constitutional
rights upheld and the energy of the movement to close the School.
I sincerely hope the participants will go home and turn that
energy into a resolve to blitz the congressional offices with a
push to support closing the school. I'm firm in my resolve to keep
encouraging folks I'm in touch with to write their Congressional
Senators & Reps.
Hawk, Mike and I made a good start
yesterday on painting the Reception area at the FCI Admin
Building. We pick it up again Monday with a mandate to finish by
Tuesday. It needs to be sparkling for the new warden's visit on
Wednesday.
I've got four days off and I need
to write at least thirty letters to catch up on my backlog. A lot
of the mail is from folks I don't know so it's important for them
to hear from the PoCs and hopefully be energized even more to help
close the School.
We received an excellent issue of
"Esperanza" from Martha and Kathryn. The articles from
the SOA26 were good and the color art was fabulous. I'm guessing
that's Kathryn's work. I'm going to write a new article today.
They want to get the next issue out soon!
Paula and Hazel are coming
Saturday. Bill and I are looking forward to that!
11-24-01
It's a beautiful fall day.
Temperature is only about 50 overnight. It will be in the 70's by
this afternoon. It will be great for a run this afternoon after
Paula's visit. I ran four miles yesterday without my shirt. Figure
that out for late November! I weighed in yesterday down a pound
and a total loss of 19 pounds.
My main activities yesterday were
Bible reading, prayer and letter writing. I just finished reading
Ephesians and started Philippians yesterday. I'm really enjoying
reading Paul's letters. I'm also enjoying my letter writing: 17
letters the last two days. It's fun particularly to write folks I
don't know and kind of picture them from what they say and where
they live. I wrote a letter to a 13 year old girl from California
who wanted to know what a 13 year old could do to improve human
rights. By sheer coincidence (or God's providence) I had just read
an Amnesty International newsletter that featured an 8th grade
class that had been writing world leaders to end torture. I sent
it to her with a recommendation to also write her Senators and
H.R. Reps to close the SOA/WHISC.
I was walking back from praying
this morning when I got into a discussion with Charlie. I found
out he was from Marietta, OH. Since our friend Mildred and her
son, Roger, live there and he knows of Roger, we started to talk
about the city. He said he was a road sub-contractor. When I asked
him what got him in here, he turned the spigot wide open and he
told me how he got convicted. I can't recount it except to say it
was contract details which led the government to charge him with
conspiracy to defraud. It sounds like more of a technicality but
it got him 46 months. He's appealing it. The appeal was heard in
October. He hopes to hear the outcome soon. The other contractor -
the main firm - got no prison time and only a fine. They had more
lawyers. It makes me wonder once again about us needing an
even-handed justice system. I recently read about huge credit card
fraud by Department of Defence employees. The article intimated
that the Deparment didn't have the paperwork to recover and
prosecute. Sickening!
12-01-01
It's been a full week since I wrote
in my journal. I feel a bit guilty about it. I received so much
mail and reading material this week, I never got into journaling
or writing letters. I'll make up for it this weekend. I have
Monday off because our supervisor is off. My goal is to write 30
letters.
Well, it's December. Bill and I go
home next month! That sounds good. I did my regular Friday morning
weigh-in yesterday. I lost another pound so I'm up to a total of
20. I'm going to keep my successful routine going for the last 6
weeks and try to hit my 25 pound goal. I can actually hit 26
pounds. If so, I'll head home at 178. I plan on staying on my
running and eating routine. Hopefully this can get me to a range
of 155-165 which was my weight 15 years ago. Sounds good! Feels
good!
This weekend the compound was a bit
of a challenge with some ups and downs. We finished the FCI
Administration reception area. It looks great! And we finished up
a couple of smaller projects to finish out the week.
On a related subject, the out-going
warden sent down a mandate that the chairs in the units cannot
have any writing on them except unit code and cube number. Quite a
few of the guys have personalized their chair with their name,
register number (don't ask me why), favorite team or the like. So
I got a gallon of paint and painted out those areas for those
chairs in our unit. I figure I did 30-40 chairs. It was kind of
fun.
Talking about edicts coming down
from on high, there was a memo on the board yesterday from Mr
Spurlock, the Camp Manager. Apparently there is some rule that
says the big locker in each cube goes to the guy in the lower
bunk. His memo says that all cubes must be that way by Monday, Dec
3. When I moved in, the open locker was the smaller, metal one.
But I have the lower bunk. So I wrote a "Cop-out" this
morning for an exception since I only have 6 weeks to go and they
can make the change over when I leave. We'll see. A couple of the
guys don't think I have a prayer of getting it approved. He didn't
mention why this rule exists. Maybe the "god" here is
uniformity.
Another screwy thing I found out
yesterday when I signed my November pay sheet was that there are
no bonuses for November. So instead of earning $38, I earn $25 for
the month. The "word in the compound" is that the word
on bonuses came from prison administration to fund the
"special treats" for the Christmas celebration.
The ironies are several. November
was my most productive month. I two-coat painted 68 windows in the
units. I worked on the team that painted our visitor area,
telephone room, several smaller jobs, the FCI reception area.
When I signed my first pay sheet
and saw the "bonus", I asked Mr Kelly what that was for.
He said it was for doing good work. I'm going to write a
"cop-out" and ask why I didn't get my bonus. If I get a
chance, I'll provide some feedback on - how management can keep
the employees happy regarding pay: This is an example of how not
to do it.
Changing the subject, the situation
in Afghanistan continues dismal. The US military is more
interested in trying to find the perpetrators than getting food
and shelter to the innocent millions of people. The closer I get
to our foreign (military) policy, the more upset I get. We need a
grass roots human rights uprising in our country to bring our
elected (and appointed) leadership to its senses. In this nation
which claims to be predominantly Christian, we need to fulfill
Jesus' teaching : "Love your neighbor as yourself"
(Matthew 19:19, Luke 10:27, Mark 12:31).
I don't have any visits this
weekend so I'm going to move forward on my correspondence which
continues to be very motivating and satisfying to me. I figure by
the time I get out I will have written well over 500 letters. If
someone told me this when I came in I'd say they are crazy!
12-05-01
It's Wednesday night and pretty
quiet in the unit. I had a good weekend and wrote a bunch of
letters. I decided to write 3 or 4 letters each night to reduce my
backlog. So far it's working fine.
Things in Maintenance are pretty
slow. But the weather's still incredibly warm by 11am.
Consequently, I painted outside (windows) the last two days.
I ran yesterday and today shirtless
- in December! However, the forecast for the rest of the week is
cool and rain with snow flurries on Saturday.
I stopped and talked to Mr Spurlock
yesterday. He did not approve my "cop-out" to keep my
locker. It seems that it can't be left to the inmates because
there have been a few problems with cellmates not able to agree.
He did say that he had no problem with making some of my space
available to my celly, Scott. He and I switched last night and
it's worked out fine.
Speaking of Scott, he switched
cubicles today so he could live with Greg. The two of them spend a
lot of time together in Bible study and discussion. For now, I
have a "private" space but I doubt if it will last long.
I didn't get a reponse from Mr
Kelly on my "cop-out" on losing the bonus pay. I assume
I'll hear from him soon.
I'm off to bed, some reading and
lights out.
12-08-01
It's a rainy, quiet Saturday
morning. Paula is coming today and Jim Lucas and Margaret Knapke
are coming tomorrow. I also need to write 10 letters each day to
keep up with my backlog. I received 26 letters this week which
puts me behind. However, I see this as a happy problem: more
opportunities to ask folks to write their elected representatives!
The last couple of days have been
very s-l-o-w in maintenance. The main reason is we're out of
paint. The requisition was written a couple of weeks ago but it
hasn't been approved. Nobody seems concerned. "Government
efficiency" is an oxymoron. I also haven't received a
response from Mr Kelly on my "cop-out" about pay. If I
don't hear from him by the middle of next week, I'll talk to him.
I also didn't receive a written response from Mr Spurlock about my
locker. I went to his office Tuesday and he said "no". I
was under the impression that "cop-outs" were the way an
inmate gets answers to proposals or questions. I guess not. I'd be
less than honest if I didn't say I'm disappointed at the
responsiveness of the staff. It's no way to run a battleship, as
the saying goes. Fortunately, my Counselor, Mr Byrd, and my Case
Manager, Mr Sparks, are both very responsive. Good for me but not
for other guys. I talked to a few guys this week about my
experience. They said it's typical and even when you get a
response, don't depend on it. One guy said a lie is not a lie when
it's told to an inmate. He went further and said it's part of your
sentence to get lied to and disappointed. I hope it's not typical.
I weighed in yesterday and, lo and
behold, I dropped 2 pounds last week: total 22. To say the least,
my motivation is high in the next and last five weeks
I'm still without a new cellmate.
That's OK with me. I'm enjoying the flexibility being alone
affords-but I'm not depending on it lasting.
I've been thinking more and more
lately about getting out and what I'm going to do when I get out.
My tentative conclusion is to make all the time necessary for SOA
Watch activities, a continuing but reduced involvement in Habitat
for Humanity and church:Clerk of Session and choir. This is by no
means etched in stone. I need more personal time for Paula and me,
my regular exercise and regular Bible study and continuing prayer
and discernment of God's call on my life. It is an exciting and
challenging time in my life. Thanks be to God!
12-15-01
It's another quiet Saturday
morning. I decided I like Saturday because it's a quiet, relaxed
day. I haven't journaled since last Saturday. It wasn't my
intention but it was a busy and eventful week. Well, let's see how
good my memory of the week's thoughts and activities are.
I was able to write nine letters
during the week and I was able to send out 21 Christmas letters to
relatives and friends. In that regard I caught up on my unanswered
correspondence. On the other hand, I received 34 cards and letters
which was a weekly high. About two-thirds were Christmas cards,
many from those I have already corresponded with. I decided I will
log those but not respond to them. I sure do appreciate them. I
got pretty emotional reading them. The expressions of support and
prayers have really kept me strong and committed during this
wonderful work that I have been doing for these five months. What
a privileged and learning experience this has been. I have
continued to pray the prayer of Jabez which asks for God to expand
my territory. And He has done that!
A friend from Maintenance and Bible
study went home yesterday. James goes back to his wife and four
children in Chicago. He should not have been here. Like so many
others, he was caught up in the prosecutorial deceit of the
infamous and uselessness of the failed "drug war". In a
simple act of frustration and defiance, he looked back as he
walked out the door and saluted with a "bird". He said
he will not be back. I believe him as long as he can control his
destiny. But if we continue to allow federal prosecutors to accept
lies from snitches who are "cooperating" in order to get
a reduced sentence, there is no assurance that he or me or anyone
else can't be imprisoned. I hope my future involvement in
reforming our justice system can play some part in ending this
egregious tactic.
On a lighter note, I had an
excellent week of work. We did some painting in the Medical area
but it was pretty slim pickins'. Early on Tuesday, Alan & Tiny
said they needed some help painting a house they're rehabbing.
It's one of several houses the B.O.P. owns and provides for
temporary housing for staff in a geographical transition.
After my run that night, I stopped
by Maintenance and talked to the Supervisors, Kelly & Salyers,
about helping out on the rehab. Their initial reaction was that
there was no hurry on that project but there was a big hurry on
redecorating the Warden's house starting the day after Christmas.
I didn't think anything more about it until the next afternoon. I
had just finished up in Medical & Mr Kelly took me over to the
rehab to clean up and wash windows. Now it's a three man team and
I'm the finisher and painter. I worked all day Thursday and Friday
and will work all next week including Monday, a regular day off!
I'm happy: the time flys by and Alan and Tiny are great guys to
work with.
It is also a fun environment to
work in. The house is a quarter mile off the FPC compound. I'm
free to walk back and forth which gives me a sense of freedom.
In the same conversation with Kelly
and Salyers, I asked Mr Kelly about my "cop-out": why no
November bonus. He said it had nothing to do with my job
performance which continued to be good. He said that all of the
supervisors were told there was no bonus money. Kelly said there
probably wouldn't be any in December either. The only thing I know
for sure is that the decision came from the administrative office.
I heard from another source that this has happened before and it
is a strategy to keep costs in line.
I thanked Mr Kelly for his response
and told him to tear up the "cop-out". But I went on and
told them that, even though it wasn't a lot of money-$12-it was
helpful because I was spending $80 a month on postage and phone
calls. And that I lost $8000 of Social Security while I am
incarcerated. They were surprised by that!
For the record and for the use of
any B.O.P. administrator, serious consideration should be given to
changing the practice of changing pay practices with no
notification to inmates, especially when dealing with the care of
inmates who do most of the work and have most of the useful skills
that keep overall overhead costs down.
I would suggest a study of salary
administration philosophy and practices leading to a change in
this de-motivating practice. In support of this recommendation, my
background includes a B.S. in Industrial & Labor Relations
from Cornell University, 30 years in manufacturing management, the
last 12 years of which I was the Director of Manufacturing in a
$200 million division of a "Fortune 100 Company."
A few things happened this week
that gets me thinking more about January 14. Bill and I got called
in giving us details on transportation home. They furnish
Greyhound bus transportation if we want it. Bill had already
decided he will take the bus. Paula and I had figured she would
pick me up. However, when I looked at the schedule, the bus looked
interesting. We leave here at 3:15am, transfer in Columbus and get
to Dayton at 8:55am which would be about the time Paula would be
arriving here to pick me up. After we discussed it, we decided
I'll take the bus.
Bill's schedule would take him to
Springfield. However, he's going to consider going to Dayton,
also. This would allow for a "welcome home" gathering if
the Pledge of Resistance wants to organize it. If they do,
hopfully we could get some media coverage. We'll see what happens.
I lost a pound this week, after
last week's two pounds. That makes me feel good. It brings my
total to 23 and my current weight to 181, very close to breaking
through into the 170's. I haven't been that low for about ten
years. My prison "wardrobe" is very loose. My pants just
about fall off me. I've been told I can get replacements but I
figure I'll be able to get by for another four weeks and save the
government some money. Of course, my motive is to help cover the
cost of bombing the mountains of Afghanistan - NOT!
I think I've figured out our
current government "leadership" strategy. They are
playing a "can you top this" strategy to see who can
come up with the most stupid idea. I got a copy of a
"Washington Post" article. It says "ten leading
members of Congress" want George W. to attack Iraq next in
our "war on terrorism". What is scary is that,
regardless of their politics, I thought some are thoughtful,
reasonable people : John McCain, Joseph Lieberman, Jesse
Helms(well,there are exceptions), Trent Lott, Henry Hyde. The
letter states the reasoning. "...the administration had
struggled to close "loopholes" in the sanctions but had
failed to stop illicit oil sales....and no doubt Hussein has
"reinvigorated" Irag's biological, chemical and nuclear
weapons programs".
In other words, forget about hard
facts and evidence, bomb the hell out of them and murder more
innocent Iraqis regardless of UN approval and the rest of the
countries (except Great Britain) of the world opposing current
failed sanctions.
My only hope is that U.S. citizens
will rebel when our government's leadership goes from the sublime
to the ridiculous.
I'm looking forward to getting back
on the street so I can do a few things that I can't do in here.
They may or may not be helpful but at least I can do more than
write letters that are never even acknowledged.
I'm going to write some letters now
and say "thanks" for all the good things so many are
doing to shut down SOA/WHISC and get rid of a chunk of terrorism,
United States style.
12-17-01
I had two good visits over the
weekend. Phil and Mary Kahal came Saturday and Paula on Sunday. I
had actually forgotten about the Kahal's coming even though I had
them on my schedule. The call came over the P.A. and I had to
scramble to get dressed for a visit. It worked out fine. They had
been to Ft Benning in November so I was able to get their spin on
the goings on.
Paula came Sunday and we had our
usual four hour talk-a-thon punctuated with plenty of kisses and
hugs. We're both more than ready to end our weekend romancing!
We talked about a lot of stuff but
one was really unusual in my opinion. It relates to happenings at
Southminster Presbyterian Church in the Dayton area. They are one
of the larger churches. We were able to use their all-purpose room
in July for Bill, Hazel and my send off to prison. There was some
flack from some of the members, apparently because of the purpose
of the gathering.
Recently, there was some more
flack. I was recruited to do a workshop on "Civil
Disobedience" at an upcoming gathering of Presbyterian
Churches which Southminster was hosting. When Southminster
received word of my workshop, their Session (church leadership)
voted not to host the gathering if my workshop was left in the
line up.
I don't know all the details but
apparently the Miami Presbytery (group of 68 churches in the area)
decided to look for another church to host the gathering.
After the flack from the July
gathering, the pastor had already tentatively arranged for me to
come and discuss the SOA and my involvement when I came home -
probably a February meeting. Now it seems even more important. I
haven't really heard what the church membership's concerns are but
I welcome the opportunity to address them It should be
interesting.
Today is the fifth month
anniversary of our incarceration. Four weeks from today we are
released!
We started working on the house but
Mr Salyers, our supervisor, became sick. We had to shut down
maintenance for lack of supervision. This worked out very well for
me because I was able to write my monthly letter to Messrs. Bush,
Powell, Rumsfeld, DeWine, Voinovich and Hall. I posted it tonight.
A copy of the letter closes this month's journal.
Mail call was huge tonight - 18
cards and letters. I spent two hours reading and reflecting. I am
so blessed to have such support from family, friends and
supporters from around our country - and also from the world.
On this high note, I am closing
this month's journal. Blessing to all on this wonderful call on
our lives to serve God in failthfulness and love.
Dear __________:
I am writing you today to ask you
again to work on closing the SOA/WHISC, a school at Fort Benning
for training Latin American military personnel.
This school offers combat and
counterinsurgency training that has assisted the graduates in
controlling and suppressing the people of their own countries
for 55 years. Currently, Colombian graduates are heavily
involved in training paramilitaries who are displacing and
murdering their fellow citizens.
I hope you agree this has to
stop!
I belong to the SOA Watch
organization which has recruited tens of thousands of U.S.
citizens in the movement to convince you and other government
officials to pass legislation to close the school.
Last month, 10,000 citizens
gathered in Columbus, Georgia to demonstrate our resolve to
close the school. We have done this annually for eleven years.
A bill, HR 1810, is in the House
which will close the school while studying the need for the
school. There are currently 90 co-sponsors with more
Representatives continuing to sign on.
Some members of our movement,
including myself, have taken leadership actions of non-violent
civil disobedience to further the efforts to close the school.
Thousands of letters like this
one are being sent to you and your fellow elected and
non-elected officials asking you to use your good offices to
close the school.
All told, the movement to close
the school is growing and deeply committed in support of our
fellow citizens of the Western Hemiphere: Latin, Canadian and
U.S.
The need to close the school is
supported by the facts. The time has come. In the name of
justice, equal opportunity and brotherly love: please help to
close the School now.
Sincerely,
John Ewers
Other
Entries in John's Journal:
- The First Month (7/17 - 8/17)
- The Second Month (8/18 - 9/17)
- The Third Month (9/18 - 10/17)
- The
Fourth Month (10/18 - 11/17)
- The
Sixth Month (12/18 - 01/17)
