A vast majority of the ladies here at the prison camp find the current immigration issue a joke. Mothers being taken away from their children? What about us? We were torn away from our homes, jobs, children and families for far less crimes and total BS charges than these immigrants. The women here are non-violent and most are first timers that should have been handled civilly not criminally. This country has an addiction to incarceration and it is getting worse not better. For a very interesting article look up Harper’s Bizarre “The mass incarceration of America” (I think it was March 2015).
These immigrants are illegal, which does in fact make them criminals. So why are they getting far better medical, food and care than we do as citizens? Perhaps no one realizes that there are many levels of people in prison, most of whom are minimal risk and should be on home confinement or probation only and still with their families, working and being a part of society. I understand. Prior to this experience, I wouldn’t have given a “criminal” the time of day and didn’t care about prison reform. Maybe that’s why I’m here now, so I can do something about it and bring some awareness to this major problem.
One very sad example is a young lady who had a baby while here in prison. The baby was taken away from her 3 days later. The baby cried and cried. The young lady only gets to see her baby when her family comes to visit and the child cries endlessly. The baby doesn’t even know her anymore. There was no bonding time. She was separated from her baby and no ones seems to care? Why wasn’t THAT shown on CNN? There are other ladies here who have literally had to remove their own stitches from surgeries. Or have waited years for just a teeth cleaning, x-rays and basic medical care. And if we are lucky enough to get blood tests or other basic medical services, we never get a follow-up.
I don’t know who put together the national food menu but they should be banned from being a nutritionist. What part of nutritious does canned vegetables, white rice, donuts, very cheap oil, margarine and beans at every freaking meal is good for us? A lot of the ladies are now having gallbladder problems from the bad food and cheap oils. That’s why I have lost 65 lbs and rarely eat in food service. I cannot digest the cheap oil and margarine and end up throwing up. I pretty much live on apples, bananas (when they have them) and things I buy from commissary like nuts and peanut butter. Oh, and those items they mark up the price but only pay us slave wages.
Where is the public outcry for us? We are/were tax payers who were sucked into a very corrupt, out of control system. We were torn out of our lives, homes, jobs, communities and families. We don’t get even a fraction of the care or concern that these illegal’s are getting. Where is our support? Where are the protestors for us? Where is our special interest story?
Just my opinion about the sad state of this once great country…
MELISSA MORTON
