letter from Marilyn Buck -- forwarded from Mariann Wizard

[Michael Eisenstadt]

Good news - I have had a letter from Marilyn 
indicating that she is no longer being held 
incommunicado.

What I received was copies of her Sept. and 
Oct. "form letters" which she ordinarily sends 
to a large number of correspondents, some of 
whom she may not know personally, with personal 
notes in her unmistakable handwriting. She is 
clearly trying to let friends and supporters 
know as rapidly as possible that she is OK.  
New time restrictions placed on federal prisoners 
last year severely limit their telephone calls, 
and even mail is now limited by resrictions on 
the number of envelopes and stamps which may be 
purchased.

Interestingly, her Sept. letter, written before 
being taken incommunicado on the morning of Sept. 
11, discusses the telephone restriction and that 
fact that, of four media interviews with her which 
have been requested so far in 2000, not one has 
been granted.  She writes, "I think this is part 
of the overall plan - to isolate prisoners to the 
degree that it is less known what is going on 
behind the walls.  Somewhat a response to the 
very important work that has been done around 
exposing the repression and concentrtion camp 
politics as well as the economic basis of the 
'prison-industrial' complex. I have heard that it 
is possible that a suit might be initiated by the 
ACLU (around the phone call limits - mw) but do 
not know if that is real or wishful thinking."

"The latest surprise for us has been the new 
policy regarding DNA samples. It has now become 
mandatory for any prisoner or anyone on parole 
who has a conviction for a 'violent' offense to 
give up a sample of their DNA under a law 
passed in December 2000.  Who knew about this 
law? Who voted for it? The sad part is that it 
justifies its implementation based on all the 
prisoners on Death Row who have been found 
innocent through DNA...  However, this law is 
to give $$ to states... not only to find who 
might have been unjustly convicted, but more 
for conviction purposes, as the DNA will go 
into an FBI data-bank, like fingerprints...  
A glaring example of its true intention is 
that anyone from the Native American community 
(who is convicted or is on parole - mw), 
regardless of their offense, must surrender 
their DNA. 

To refuse... will be a Class A misdemeanor...  
All in the hands of the COINTELPRO weasels - 
that same FBI which has such an ignominious 
history of racism, political dirty tricks, etc."

Marilyn was released from isolation on Sept. 24.  
In her Oct. letter, she reports that there are 
still federal prisoners who are locked down 
and/or incommunicado since 9/11.  These 
apparently include at least one "militia-type 
prisoner", as distinct from the left political 
prisoner Marilyn typifies.  "My detention was 
a wake-up call to me to remember exactly how 
precarious our situations are, subject to 
escalated repression at any moment...  I 
began to wonder what was in the fine print of 
various bills that have been passed over 
recent years including the anti-terrorist 
legislation of 1995!"

"I had never been held incommunicado.  A new 
nightmarish experience. Whatever my level of 
reason and understanding of the political 
nature of the state, my emotional response 
was not as tranquil or assured.  Yet I realize 
that I am one of the fortunate ones, alive 
and relatively well."

I am hoping to hear more details from her 
soon about any other changes in her situation, 
and whether some legal remedies are planned 
to try to prevent future incidents of this 
type.  While placing any prisoner in 
"administrative segregation" at any time is 
clearly a perogative of prison authorities, 
denial of access to one's attorneys is not, 
and this is a threat to civil liberties 
which we should all take quite seriously.  
The extent to which federal prisoners may be 
abused is simply an extension of the degree 
to which anyone may be, and our response to 
this violation of Marilyn's human rights is 
a measure of our willingness to stand up for 
our own.

For peace & justice,
Mariann