Karen in the Hole for "Inciting a Riot" (Terminal Lyme Disease No Problem for the BOP)

Note: To show respect for America's war effort, two words in the following letter from Karen have been deleted. (For a photo of Karen in happier days, see page 46 of The Tallahassee Project, her masterpiece.)

October 16, 2001

Right now I am in the hole where I have been since 9-11. I was locked up allegedly for my own protection from people who told the guards they were going to hurt me because I expressed my immense delight at watching the Pentagon collapse. I hope they will still come back to take out the [two 5 letter words], preferably with the entire [4 letter word] clan in it. I hope they destroy every damn federal building in the entire United States. As a hostage of the US federal government I do not feel the slightest bit obligated to mourn these attacks. I'm only sorry because it took so long.

On 9-20 I was tried and found guilty of inciting a riot, and disrupting the orderly conduct of the entire institution for expressing my opinions. Regardless of the fact that no one asked me to be quiet (not that I was jumping up and down bellowing at the top of my lungs) or even paid me much mind. No riot occurred. For my sins they took 40 good days from me (13 more days than the charge carries), 30 more days in the hole (41 total), loss of all privileges - phone, commissary, and visits for an entire year. The warden wanted to ship me, but because I am ill there's nowhere she send me. Now I'm struggling to get my halfway house referral back because last week it was taken from me, which means I won't be released until next August, and after nine years in prison will wind up on a street corner.

My unit manager, Ms. Stevens, came by to let me know she gave me back the halfway house referral. Presently, it is on the warden's desk. Hopefully, it will be sent out soon. Each time Ms. Stevens goes away, the woman acting in her place takes the referral from me. Ms. Stevens is considerate enough to take the length of my sentence in consideration. Nine years in prison with nowhere to go should have been taken into consideration to start with, but her replacement has taken the referral from me twice.

The bottom line is, I do not care. I do not care what you do with the book [The Tallahassee Project] one way or another. I do not care what you do with the web site. I do not care about stopping the Drug War. I do not care if the entire world gets blown to hell. I only care about getting out of prison. Nothing else matters to me.

Karen