Carol Gilbert Writes from Alderson Federal Prison October 2004

Ponderings From the Eternal Now #15

Dear Friends,

A beautiful card arrived this past month with a quote from the French philosopher, Marcel :"Hope is the memory of the future.” All month I pondered those words and found them so appropriate. As most of you know, our lawyers had oral argument on our appeal October 1st . While I hold no optimism that we will win the appeal, I am filled with hope.

Hope is of the spirit, Hope is of the heart. Our lawyers have been filled with both spirit and heart as they have once again spoken/written “truth to power”. I have hope because once again folks gathered at the missile silos in Colorado and exposed America 's Weapons of Mass Destruction while standing for non-violence and life. As my friends at the 8 th Day Center in Chicago wrote, “we don't know the way, we hope the way.”

In 1934, Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (UNICOR) was established by Congress. The primary mission was and is to provide prisoners with work opportunities and training while in prison. Our UNICOR factory closed last month to get ready for a new function – a telemarketing call center. Our former factory was a garment industry for the military. For example, one of the contracts was for the flight jacket President Bush wore last Thanksgiving in Iraq .

The transition will take about 4 – 6 months. This new prison work is dubbed “insourcing”. About a dozen states have call centers in state and federal prisons. These jobs would have been “outsourced” and gone to countries like India and the Philippines. While prison officials are praising the program for lowering recidivism rates the unions have criticized them for taking jobs from the public sector.

The women here (about 125) will work for slave wages for a private company that was going to move off-shore. Rumor is that the contract here will be with AT&T. Fact is that between 250 and 275 employees at AT&T in Charleston, WV are losing their jobs and benefits in November. Some of the women are consciously choosing not to return when the new contract begins because they realize it is taking jobs from people on the streets – their families.

We have been watching all the wooly creatures and wondering how severe our winter will be. We stand in awe of the mountains and the changing colors.

Our population continues to increase with no new space. Last year when I arrived the population was 832 and we are now at 1,132. One of the cottages (SGA) has been condemned and come Oct. 15th 40+ women will be housed elsewhere on the compound. In our range which houses 124 of us in two-person cubes we now have added 5 bunk beds in the entrance/officers area called the “bus stop” and we have added beds to the TV rooms.

This past month I was stopped by a male guard going into the dining room because my pant legs were rolled up. He yelled, “Stop! Put those pant legs down – that's gang dress.” Meanwhile some of the women wear very large pants hanging half-way down their posteriors and are never questioned. Some of the women said that if I'd dress like that in the dining room, they would give me a candy bar.

My heart is full of gratitude for each of you. May you take time for the gifts of the Autumn season. May you know how very much you are loved. May you find hope and remember, “ Hope is the memory of the future.”

Blessings and love,

Carol Gilbert , OP # 10856-039
R1 Federal Prison Camp PO Box A
Alderson , WV 24901

(on Tuesday, September 28, Carol called home and told us that the women in the sewing factory had begun to tear down the machines in preparation for changing over to telemarketing, but when they went into work that day, they were told that they had to reassemble the machines, and work for another three more months fullfilling a contract from the military for jackets.)