During both Saturday and Sunday, other visitors often stared and commented on the obvious mistreatment -- different and disparate treatment -- to which I was continuously subjected. It was that obvious, and at times, became somewhat like an automobile accident that people had to watch and stare at. The way Gary and I were treated was intensely observed by many others, and there were questions and comments offering support and encouragement.
I wasn't able to stay until visiting time ended Sunday because I had a long return trip home and work early Monday. It was very difficult to tell Gary goodbye and leave him in prison again, knowing the BOPers' abuses of him would continue.
Back in my car, I removed the painful shoe and wrap, positioned Lee -- my GPS's voice is an Australian guy named Lee -- pressed buttons, then said, "Home, Lee."
Back through Arkansas, across the Mississippi River, and through part of Tennessee into Mississippi. Once I was "next door" in Mississippi, I called the prison and asked to speak with the duty officer, intending to complain about the prison employees' violations of federal law and abusiveness toward me.
The prison employee who answered the telephone asked who I was and why I wanted to speak with the duty officer before telling me there was no duty officer there when I answered that I wanted to complain about mistreatment by prison employees. I knew there had to be a duty officer overseeing the prison, but the prison employee insisted there was no duty officer and there would be no duty officer until Monday morning at 8:00. He insisted there was absolutely no one there at all that I could speak with, that he was the only one there. It was Sunday a little after 3:00.
I asked, "Can I have your name, please?" "No," he responded. Surprised, I asked why not. "Policy. I don't give out my name." I pressed the duty officer question, and The-BOPer-Who-Shall-Be-Known-As-Nameless confirmed that there might be a duty officer next door at the "medium" prison and that, if there was a duty officer there, that duty officer would have oversight responsibility for the "low" as well. I asked for the telephone number at the medium, which he gave me. I suspect he hung up and quickly dialed the medium to tell them what to say when I called, because when I called a few moments later, the prison employee who answered the telephone told me there was no duty officer there and there would be no duty officer there until Monday morning after 8:00.
Afternoon thunderstorms with lightning and heavy rain travelled with Lee and me, all the way across Mississippi, and over halfway through Alabama, I didn't stop at all. I was very depressed and distressed when I arrived home, and even more so when I caught sight of a court return address in the mail that had arrived Saturday. "No," I thought, "I just cannot handle anything else." With exclusively bad, wrong and abusive court actions to date, I forced myself to pick up that envelope, then saw that it was from the federal appeals court in Ohio. And in that envelope was an answer to prayer that I so desperately needed.
Following the worst, most abusive and demeaning visiting experience of all time, you won't be surprised that at exactly 8:00 Monday morning, I was on the telephone. Throughout the day, I had a number of conversations with BOP higher-ups, all of whom verified and confirmed violations by prison employees, some without even realizing it, and one, in particular, who assured me he would be looking into my complaints and speaking with the prison employees who had been so egregiously and tortuously abusive to me.
JB: Thanks so much for talking with me again, Judy. When we get together next, please share what was in that envelope from the federal appeals court in Ohio.
***
Judy White series, in its entirety:
Judy White Fights For Incarcerated Husband's Access to His Prescriptions October 13, 2010
The Feds and the Prisoner's Wife - Do Unto Others... as You Please October 27, 2010
Come and Get It! Prisoners Served Expired Food, "Not for Human Consumption" November 10, 2010
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