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Chowchilla vigil and protest
On Saturday, January 27th, Mary Smith (BE
Smith's wife) attended a protest at the Central California Women's
Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, California. The event was held
to call attention to the nine women who have died since November
1st due to lack of medical care by the CCWF.
The protest went really well. There were at least 150 people
in attendance. The prison is in the middle of the Central Valley,
almond orchards all around. We gathered at the main gate to the
prison. The prison officials knew ahead of time about the protest
and had put up barriers so we couldn't park right up at the entrance.
There was a large group of guards at the gate, about a dozen,
and they called in the Sheriff and CHP officers to man the roadway.
Organizers did not seem fazed by this, and just moved in with
their sound system, tables, banners, and people! The CHP came
over to tell us to be sure to stay out of the road so no one
gets hurt. The prison guards milled nervously around their little
booth and looked at us with binoculars, even though they were
only about 50 feet away.
We started by marching in a circle across the entrance, bullhorns
leading us in chants regarding the murders of the women. The
sound system arrived and was set up facing the prison so that
the women inside would know we were there. The prisoners could
not see us. Signs in the shape of tombstones had been made and
inscribed with all the names and death dates of the women who
had died since November 1st. People, including some family members,
stood in a line in front of the entryway holding the tombstone
signs.
For about an hour various people spoke in a memorial for the
women. Family members and friends told about each woman, and
prayers were lead asking for peace and appropriate medical treatment
for prisoners. The overriding message was that these women did
not receive a death sentence from the judge; yet they were still
killed by the prison system. Most of them had died from cancer
left untreated. Some of them had died in the prison; others died
at the Madera County Hospital, which has a prisoner wing.
A couple of the women had received a Compassionate Release Order
a few days prior to their deaths, and had the opportunity to
die in the arms of their loved ones. We then marched and chanted
again, and staged a 'die-in'. Various folks laid down in the
middle of the road in front of the entrance to the prison, and
chalk lines were drawn around them. There was a lot of press
there, and this provided a fine photo opportunity.
Chowchilla is only four hours away from the Bay Area, just off
Highway 99. There will be more protests there in the coming months.
The many different groups represented amazed me. The HIV in Prison
Committee, part of California Prison Focus, sponsored the event.
Food Not Bombs was there. Legal Services for Prisoners with Children,
November Coalition (november.org), Families Against Mandatory
Minimums (famm.org), Families to Amend California's Three Strikes
(FACTS), Prison Activist Resource Center, Women for Leadership
Development (WILD), Justice Now - Network on Women, California
Coalition for Women Prisoners (www.prisonactivist.org/ccwp),
Criminal Justice Consortium, Death Penalty Focus - Fresno, Jesuit
Volunteer Community, Locked Out, Out of Control - Lesbian Committee
to Support Women Political Prisoners, Prison Moratorium Project,
Project Inform, WORLD - Women Organized to Respond to Life-Threatening
Diseases, Families With A Future.
So many people working toward change! I picked up some of these
names in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago when I went to hear
a replay of some of the prisoners and family members testifying
in front of the Senate regarding the conditions in Chowchilla:
rape by prison guards, podiatrists doing gynecological exams,
women suffering with cancer for months and years left completely
untreated, treatment for cancer - Motrin and Metamucil, cellmates
of the sick providing all the care for the dying women, the bodies
of the dead women being held from families, and many more first
hand stories of horror.
One of the people attending the protest was a Buddhist nun from
New York. She embarked on a walk to call attention to the out
of control prison situation in California - the California Dharma
Prison Walk starting on February 1st in San Francisco, ending
March 3rd in Lompoc.
Thank you for caring! Write your congresspersons!
Love and peace, Sharon North
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