Free Marc Emery

March 9-15: This past Wednesday was extremely odd because I didn’t get a single ordinary sized letter. Odder yet when I didn’t get any letters on Thursday. Or Friday. Normally I get 8 to 10 letters a day. So today, Monday, March 7, I discovered that SIS (Security), led by Mr. Lindsay, is taking my mail from the mailroom after it has all been inspected and cleared of contraband, and then taking my letters to their office and reading each one.

I wouldn’t mind that so much but they are holding letters up to 5 days so they can read them, then I finally get them. None of my incoming letters are a security risk, threat or concern, so it can only be for titillation purposes, although I have never, alas, received a single letter I would consider licentious.

So letters I would have received last Wednesday, I’m receiving 5 days later. My outgoing mail, which in a low security facility is sealed by the inmate and is generally not opened by the facility, is taking a longer time to reach their destinations, so I can only assume security is going the same with my outgoing mail and reading it also, and delaying its posting. I find it remarkable that GEO Group never has enough money to provide fresh vegetables or fruit in our diet, or extra soccer or volleyballs or guitars, but can pay the security men here to read hours of my mail, and to no particular end that I can determine other than to upset me.

I was put on the CIM list two weeks ago, Controlled Inmate Monitoring. I did not realize that meant all my mail was now going to be detained, delayed and read. Since I have posed no threat to this facility, and in all valid assessments am a model prisoner, I find this ‘special’ treatment aggravating. I was able to pose this situation to the Acting Warden Mr. Zenk today. While he casually acknowledged I’m on CIM and my mail is being monitored, he said he would talk to security and see if the turnaround time could be lessened. I will be asking Security what they expect to find in my incoming or outgoing mail that justifies their time, effort and blatant interference in my correspondence.

Newsletter #7 was discussed with me line by line by Security when I issued it 10 days ago, which I did not mind. I was happy to have their input. I gave #8 to Security as soon as the final version was off the photocopier. I have obviously nothing to hide and consider my newsletter a window on the world of DRJ from the perspective of an inmate. In many ways, I do this facility a favor, at no cost to them, of telegraphing the problems of inmates before the problems become critical mass/crises. Many of the staff, families of inmates, and certainly SIS read this newsletter. The B.O.P. liaisons here read it. They have used my comments in their interactions with the GEO Group/D. Ray James staff.

Reading my mail and holding it up several days I regard as a betrayal of trust. I’m living up to my obligations to report fairly, truthfully and behave in a polite manner. What happens to me, matters to hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people to in North America and the world. I don’t exploit that in any way. I don’t tell people to bombard DRJ or GEO Group in protest at the inadequacies here I have regarded of egregious. But there is a quid pro quo at work whether DRJ acknowledges it or not. If I am going to be targeted for harassment, which is what I consider this mail screening and delay to be, then I am being disrespected. Mail in the United States takes only 2 or 3 days at most to get here normally, so when I see letters today that are postmarked Feb. 28th and March 1st, I know my mail is being detained unreasonably for no purpose related to the security of this facility.

Along with DRJ’s perfidious blockade of my incoming mail and the snooping of my outbound mail for obscure purposes, I have discovered a systemic error in the Keefe Commissary computer that is ripping me off as well as every inmate here. As an inmate, I have a limit on spending on commissary of $320 a month. I buy a lot of my food I eat from commissary as the food served by DRJ is monotonous, lacking in Vitamin A, B, C, calcium, potassium, essential fatty acids, Omega 3 and 6, and is really just a regurgitation of carbs, fats, sugars and protein day after boring, tasteless day. I spend my limit usually the third week of the month, so for the last 7 to 10 days I have next to no food items to eat. I couldn’t figure out why this was so. Postage stamps and health items are supposed to be exempt from the $320 monthly limit. But I’ve checked my commissary records and that of numerous other inmates and found that I and all other inmates are having stamps deducted from our $320 monthly limit!

For me this has been devastating, as I buy $21 to $26 in stamps each week (the weekly limit is $26.20). The net result of this admitted error is that I am cheated out of being able to buy $100 worth of food a month, because my postage stamps are being subtracted from the $320 spending limit. This is cruel punishment that is inexcusable. In the DRJ Inmate Handbook it clearly states that the $100+ limit on postage stamps is above the $320 monthly limit. So over 4 months I’ve been cheated of $400 on my spending limits. This has affected hundreds and hundreds of inmates as running shoes were also erroneously debited from the $320 spending limit, messing with inmate spending budgets, along with postage stamps. This is unforgivable but I have the statements from Keefe to show they are deducting expenditures on postage stamps from the $320 monthly limit, so we shall see how long it takes this crooked outfit to rectify their previous errors (if they ever will) and stop ripping us off week after week.

So much mail sent to me here has never gotten to me, and numerous letters sent by me here are interfered with and do not arrive. Along with hijacking photographs and letters I send out, they cheat me of photographs that are taken that they don’t give me. My hand is on my wife’s buttock, so they say in denying me the last photo; before that it was a similar complaint. But they don’t show you the photo nor do they refund your $1, so you have to believe their warped interpretation of things, which, considering my experience here, they are completely unbelievable. Hopefully one day you will be able to see my photographs I’ve paid for and had taken of me at DRJ but I have my doubts. [Note from Jodie: The only photographs that had failed to arrive in the mail from Marc when he wrote this finally showed up in my mail on April 1. The photos were taken February 12 and 13.]

I’ve taken to listening in on Randy and Jon’s guitar sessions. Randy is from New Westminster, BC, vocalist of the Mojo Stars, and Jon is from South Africa. I sit in on their 90 minute sessions where they play about 20 songs, from Eagle’s Hotel California to Helplessly Hoping by Crosby, Stills & Nash, Helpless by Neil Young, Under the Boardwalk (Drifters), Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison), House of the Rising Sun, the parody of life here ‘Folkston Prison Blues’ (the Johnny Cash song Folson Prison Blues reworked) and a few beautifully done original tunes as well. I’ve taken to sitting in and throwing requests at them, and filling in a few blanks in their recollection of lyrics. I did a rock and roll trivia board game in 1987 with 6,000 questions and answers, and from 1989 to 1991 had a Billboard Top 40 retrospective show on radio playing songs from 1955 to 1973 with history of the artists and the song.

While there are now up to 6 guitars for inmates to play available there is no sheet music, songbook or access to lyrics. So I asked Jodie to send me some songbooks I could lend the musicians, and she obliged by sending me sheet music of The Eagles, Sting, Tom Petty, and Neil Young. I mailed her a letter asking her to look up the lyrics of about 30 songs, including American Pie and Vincent by Don MacLean, The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot – as ubiquitous a Canadian song as you’ll ever hear, though it is about an American freighter ship plying Lake Superior (“the big lake they call Gitchee Gumee”), numerous Dylan songs, Joni Mitchell, and Cat Stevens.

If any one of my readers has any extra guitar songbooks lying about their homes or studios that you could part with, it would be greatly appreciated here. [Note from Jodie: mail cannot be sent to D. Ray James from this point on, as Marc is being transferred.] There are some songbooks that have an assortment of classic songs in them, with titles like 200 Classic Songs of the 60’s and 70’s, and that sort of thing, that would be of tremendous use here. Beatles, Bob Dylan, Talking Heads, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Neil Young (Harvest, After the Gold Rush, etc.), Arlo Guthrie, Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Hank Williams, Sr., Merle Haggard, any blues, western, pop and rock classics in guitar playing notation and lyrics (songbooks) would be appreciated.

Adam at the BCMP Vapour Lounge will be recording ‘Folkston Prison Blues’ next week, live, before an audience, and then it will be put on YouTube shortly afterward and linked to these newsletters. [Note from Jodie: The video and lyrics can be seen in Marc’s blog #8, posted here.] Our next parody song, “It’s D. Ray James As We Know It (and we’re doing time)” – REM song ‘It’s the End of the World As We Know It’ being the source song, is being worked on now for Adam to record after we perform it here. I’ll be part of the vocal chorus in our performance of ‘It’s D. Ray James As We Know It.’

I was pleased to hear that Tommy Chong was in Vancouver at the Rio Theatre doing a fundraiser for my best friend Dana Larsen who is seeking the leadership of the New Democratic Party of British Columbia, the party currently the opposition to the governing Liberal Party. The fundraiser was Monday, March 7, and the next night Tommy jammed with the house band at the BC Marijuana Party Vapour Lounge, helping raise another $1,500 toward Dana’s leadership race. The entry fee to run for the leadership was $15,000 into the party coffers, and Dana was accredited as a bona fide contender. The voting for NDP members to choose the leader of the BC provincial party is April 17. Follow Dana’s leadership campaign at www.VoteDana.ca. Naturally, repealing the prohibition of cannabis is central to Dana’s platform.

Thursday, March 10:

The D. Ray James business office spoke to me today to acknowledge that they have been improperly including postage stamps and health products in the $320 inmate monthly spending limit. The result of this for me is that I order $90-$100 in postage stamps monthly, these are supposed to be exempt from the $320 monthly spending limit; that has, in fact, been debited from my spending limit each month so far. So I’ve only been able to order $220 worth of food, which only lasts me 20 days of each month. I should be able to order $320 worth of food AND $100 in health care (ibuprofen, antibiotic ointment, etc.) and postage stamps per month. So for four months I’ve been cheated out of my full spending limit.

From the point of view of Keefe Commissary, they too have ripped themselves off of tens of thousands of dollars because inmates have been unable to spend their full limits. With 2,000 inmates, it could be hundreds of thousands of dollars of purchasing power negated all due to a computer inputting error! You’d think one of the Keefe or D. Ray James paid staff would have caught on before I had to alert them into making the correction. There will be no credit or compensation for our/my lost purchasing power, but at least I can take credit for correcting an egregious flaw here. The Business Office assures me that this has now been rectified for all future inmate purchases.

My spider bite on my left buttock is still getting a daily medical department look, and both I and they are pleased it is healing rapidly now, the draining having stopped three days ago after about ten days of blood and pus weeping out of the wound.

Monday, March 14 marks 365 days – one year – in prison so far on my sentence, including all of the time that I spent in North Fraser Pretrial Centre up in Canada before being extradited. My treaty transfer application has been in DC for two months, the decision is due to be made in the next 4 to 6 weeks.

Peter Maverick has appointed himself as a one-man books-for-prisoners resource. Peter has sent over 50 books in Spanish including a 25-volume history of each state in Mexico. I have discovered that my Mexican colleagues relate to the state they are from in a strong way, so these books about each state are read voraciously. The books are ordered through Amazon, and Peter has spent well over $750 on these books and postage to send them to me over the last 3 weeks, over 125 books. My personal collection of books, including my law & prison books, number less than 20; the vast bulk of books I have received are loaned to other inmates, and are read studiously and passed on when they are done reading it.

I just finished Michael Pollan’s beautifully written book ‘The Botany of Desire’ and I endorse this 250 page book to anyone who wants to be enthralled by every page while learning so many marvelous details and history about the apple, the tulip, the potato, and marijuana, and the co-evolution of these plants with humankind. Simply terrific book. I understand he has a contemporary bestseller on the NY Times Lists. I’d love that book.

In a triumph of anti-intellectualism here at D. Ray James Correctional Institution, I am on the bring-5-books, receive-5-books regime with the mail room here once again. Thus I must advise anyone sending me books to now only send books I have specifically requested. Recently, I have received perhaps 150 books in the last month which I have by and large lent out to other inmates, which they are devouring in a satisfying manner, satisfying to anyone interested in knowledge, literacy and disseminating knowledge. That, alas, excludes the decision makers here at D. Ray James. This decision would have come from Warden Zenk himself, with input from Security. I am reminded of that Who song ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, “meet the new boss, same as the old boss”.

Books sent to me for the benefit of the Spanish-Language inmates have been extremely useful and well-received but will now have to stop. If I can’t store them and send them out once every two weeks, I’ll have to have the 5 I return destroyed each time because I can’t buy enough postage stamps to ship the 5-returnees to my friend Catharine Leach, or my supplier-in-chief Peter Maverick. But I’ll try to return to Peter the books I’m going to inevitably receive that I can no longer take possession of.

Sigh. Mail room nonsense has returned once more. Of course, in any sane place, I could donate them directly to the inmate library, where virtually no relevant books have been purchased and added to the reading library in 5 months since this concentration camp for foreigners opened – 5 months ago! That is why the books I’ve lent around are so welcome: the library is deliberately kept as useless as possible by management here.

I got my pay for February. I’m here every morning, afternoon, and evening shift, 7 hours a day. I missed a day and a half for lockdown, and a few hours in medical getting my infection dealt with, and I don’t get ‘paid’ for Presidents’ Day (February 21). Total pay for the month: $5.10. Yes, you read correctly, five dollars and ten cents. That was 12 cents an hour, and my official reinstatement wasn’t until February 10, but I’ve been here three shifts a day, every day, since December. My pay grade has been raised to 29 cents an hour. Ah, there’s no labor like slave labor. The GEO Group Inc. motto is “GEO Group: World-class employee, performance, behavior.”

IMPORTANT NOTE: On Friday, April 1st, Marc was informed that he will be shipped out to a new prison on Monday, April 4th. Federal inmates can be shipped anywhere in the USA, and are never told where they are going.

Please stay tuned to his progress here and at www.Facebook.com/PrinceOfPot and www.Facebook.com/JodieEmery where updates are posted right away.

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Randy Clarke from New Westminster, BC performed Johnny Cash’s song “Folsom Prison Blues” for me in the prison music room, using one of the three guitars they have there. However, it’s been adapted for this prison, and is now called “Folkston Prison Blues” – you can listen to it online!

Adam Bowen of the BCMP Lounge at the Marc Emery’s Cannabis Culture Headquarters in Vancouver performed at the Tuesday night “Jams in the Key of Green”. Randy is going to adapt other popular songs with lyrics that speak about our life here at D. Ray James, so look forward to more songs online performed by Adam with lyrics by Canadian inmate Randy Clarke of The Mojo Stars, his band when he was back in BC.

Folkston Prison Blues

Music by Johnny Cash, Lyrics by Randy Clarke

I see the Chow Hall comin’
It’s rice and beans again,
And I ain’t tasted real food
Since I don’t know when

If they let me run this prison
We’d make some changes fast,
Another microwave and TV
And volleyballs that last
We’d have chicken, pizza, burgers
No more rice and beans
It’d be the sweetest prison,
They have ever seen

VIDEO AT BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE – OR CLICK HERE

The song really doesn’t do justice to the geography where DRJ is situated. At a health and safety meeting in the library, we were warned of the dangers of the blazing sun and humidity from February to October. My left buttock spider bite is in its 12th day (as of Friday, March 4th) and still weeping pus and blood. This nasty wound will take another 15 to 25 days to fully heal, so the health and safety meeting warning about spider bites, especially from the local toxic Black Widow and Brown Recluse, was too late for me. Other insect dangers include mosquitoes that carry Dengue Fever, avian (bird) flu, and swine flu. Fire ants have huge ant colonies in the sand here. There are no-see-ums, little tiny bugs that swarm and bite, and sand fleas in the sand that covers most of the terrain here.

All of these proliferate because we are beside a massive swamp area called Okefenokee (O-Kuh-Fen-O-Kuh, from the Seminole Indian meaning ‘swampland of misery for white man’). Oh, and then there are venomous and dangerous rattlesnakes that are here too. They advised us that sand and brick reflect the sun (of course, it’s ALL sand and brick here, plus razor wire and fencing), increasing the risk of sunstroke, eye damage, heatstroke and sunburn – but they don’t sell or provide sunglasses or hats! DRJ’s advice is to drink lots of the very bad-tasting water that comes out of the taps here, or consume beverages with electrolytes (such as Gatorade).

Acting Warden Zenk, who is GEO Group’s Vice President of Regional Operations, is determined to make an impact here. Today he made a commitment to have an additional microwave and television in every pod by April 10 – that’s 5 weeks away. That has somewhat mollified the dissatisfaction among inmates, so they are optimistic but skeptical that this will come to pass as promised.

As of today, visitation is now allowed on Thursday and Friday in addition to Saturday, Sunday and Federal holidays, which will ease over-crowding. At some point they will institute limits on the number of days you can have a visit in a month (possibly no more than 8 days of 16 – 20 visitation days a month). Jodie can choose to come see me on less-crowded Thursday and Fridays, or, if she is feeling indulgent, Thursday, Friday, and part of Saturday. Still no movement on the hand-holding ban in visitation, so that remains to be rectified. [Note from Jodie Emery: As of March 26th, visitors are allowed to hold hands with inmates again thanks to new policies. This is HUGELY important and sincerely welcomed!]

Six beverage vending machines will be going outside in the yard and recreation areas. They will dispense soda and power drinks (like Gatorade) for $1.50, and bottled water for $1.00. Once a week, an inmate can buy a $15 chit that the vending machine recognizes. So for me that’s 15 bottles of cold water a week, which I will appreciate. My only concern will be adequate stocking of the machines. With 2,000+ inmates and unrelenting heat, the machines will run out daily, I suspect. These machines will be operational in the next week with cards for sale in the commissary.

I put my order in for the 4 GB MP3 player, which can hold up to 700 songs out of a catalog of five million songs. At $1.60 a song, I’m going to be limited to 5 songs added each week, or 20 a month ($32.00 monthly), that counts against our $320 monthly spending limit. I already reach $320 by the third week of every month because I buy a lot of food like spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, salmon flakes, tuna, mayonnaise, etc. and that adds up. The $106 for the MP3 player however does not count against the $320 monthly limit. I believe the beverage card is also debited from the $320 monthly limit, so it will be a lean final week at the end of every month for me. Good thing photo copy cards and postage stamps are not deducted from the $320 monthly limit or I’d be screwed. [Note from Catharine Leach, who transcribes Marc’s newsletters for sharing online: In a letter to me dated March 8, Marc writes: “I just discovered that we inmates are being ripped off by having postage stamps applied to our $320 monthly spending limits. In my case, this is devastating as I spend $100 a month on postage stamps, which so far had not been deducted from my $320 spending, but while I suspected they were incorrectly deducting it from my totals, now I have receipts that prove they are screwing me and every inmate on our spending limits.” The prison has acknowledged this error but cannot refund the money taken so far from inmates.]

I should get the MP3 player around March 25. Choosing my first 5 songs to load will be a fun challenge, when it happens. They’ll have to be songs I can play dozens of times, over and over and over! [Note from Jodie: The money for MP3 players has been debited from accounts, but no players provided yet; also, the satellite is broken because they placed it where baseballs and other sport balls hit it, so for now, downloads aren't possible even if inmates had MP3 players.]

The property department said my property from Sea-Tac FDC that went to Taft CI, my original destination, was shipped here on February 18, twelve days ago. R&D (receiving and dispatch) said they are tracking it and hope to have/find it soon. Property is due to arrive within ten days after an inmates’ arrival. As of today, it’s been over three months for me without my personal belongings.

Evening of Wednesday, March 2, in the Law Library

Dr. Davis just confiscated Z Magazine and The Economist, my magazines being read by two inmates in the evening law library session. She also confiscated tattoo magazines that an inmate was photocopying designs from. I was able to get my magazines back from the Captain on duty and the other inmate recovered the Tattoo magazine, but was told can’t photocopy it because of copyright reasons.

When a number of inmates complained that not a single English Language magazine has been ordered for the law library in 5 months, and they said they wanted National Geographic, Dr. Davis reiterated her assertion, in front of 20+ inmates, “We’re never going to subscribe to National Geographic, it’s way too sexually explicit!” That nearly set off a riot, as inmates were all thunderstruck by that classic Dr. Davis remark! They got all rowdy and irate, and followed her out into the hallway to voice their outrage at being treated like children. I’m interested to see how Acting Warden Zenk deals with the anti-intellectual Dr. Davis, because she suffocates the law library and the reading library. Not one new book or magazine in English has been put in the law or reading library. She has forbidden me from donating “unauthorized” magazines like National Geographic and The Economist to the reading library. There wouldn’t be a single law book or legal periodical in the law library if it weren’t for me. There wouldn’t even be a Spanish-English dictionary in the law library if it weren’t for me. I broached this to Dr. Davis in front of the other inmates “because you won’t order any magazines for the inmates in the 5 months DRJ has been operating.”

What complicates matters is that Dr. Davis actually owns the land the prison is built on. Why Dr. Davis has this pull is inexplicable to an outsider, but according to locals who work here, her family is the political power in the community going way back. Yet the Folkston community is largely in economic ruin, so they haven’t been particularly good stewards of the community for all the “influence” the Davis clan must have. Everyone wonders what the deal is in regards to Dr. Davis working here on land she leases, presumably for 50 or 99 years, to the state, the Federal Government, or GEO Group.

Thursday afternoon, March 3, Law Library

In the library today I found myself in the unusual position of explaining to a particularly despondent cynical inmate, who is very upset about being designated here, the few advantages of being sent to D. Ray James. He is still in the “I can’t believe they sent me to this awful place” phase. I like this fellow, he’s clever and wryly funny in his assessments of this forlorn gulag, but he doesn’t have intellectual activities to keep himself busy and contented. He is bitter and brooding. I summarized 3 distinctly good things about this place:

1) We’re safe here. All inmates here are ‘deportable aliens’, so very few have ever been in a US jail before; if they have, they are certainly here for illegal re-entry, which can net 4-5 year sentences for a third or fourth illegal entry. Most have jobs and family in the USA and are highly motivated to return to the US despite the extraordinary potential prison penalties. These inmates have neither a criminal mind, nor an institutionalized mindset (a “convict mentality”, as it were). There are no prison politics here in any way like there is in a US Federal prison for Americans. In a BOP (Bureau of Prisons – i.e., not private prisons) facility for Americans, you have white supremacists, chicano gangs, black gangs, all the various urban gangs, Hell’s Angels, crackheads, tweakers, and lots of yard politics. You are far more likely to be knifed, raped, or sexually assaulted in a BOP Federal prison than in these Immigration designated federal prisons. A US state or federal prison has numerous race, ethnic, and other cliques and castes. It’s very much a segregated and tenser scene. Here there is no tension between inmates, no gang issues, no race problems; in fact, there is a great deal of unity in our non-Americanism. We are all grateful to not be among American inmates even as we complain about receiving inferior amenities than American inmates. Inmates here cooperate seamlessly regardless of language, race or social status. There is no violence or sexual intimidation of any kind in the 4 months I’ve been here. Compare that with ANY state prison or most US Federal prisons that house Americans.

2) The second distinct positive is that NONE of the Correction Officers (C.O.’s) are jaded or hostile to the inmates, as is the case in the BOP facilities for Americans or in state prisons. The C.O.’s at D. Ray James are just mostly local people trying to do a job under virtually identical conditions as inmates for 8-hour day four or five days a week. I have not seen any examples of abuse of inmates with prejudice, meaning any injustice or unfairness has been a result of institutional incompetence or dysfunctional procedures and policy, not a vindictiveness or mean-spiritedness by a C.O.

3) The third plus is that inmates here get far fewer ‘shots’ or disciplinary write-ups than are given out in BOP or state prisons housing Americans. American prisoners are far more into the prison drug scene, the moonshine scene, the prison politics of race and dominance. Those vices or attitudes are virtually non-existent here. Considering there are 2,000+ inmates, many housed 64 to 80 in a dorm, that is truly remarkable. I have never seen or even heard of any illegal drug here, not one cell phone, not one act of assault. Those vices and acts are rampant in prisons housing Americans.

At Sea-Tac FDC, eight inmates in one day were found in possession of and high on marijuana AND methamphetamines. All were sent to solitary. I knew of several inmates that failed u/a’s (urine analysis for illegal drugs), and all were American. One group of inmates produced a fruit based batch of cider each week. When it was discovered we were locked down for two days. Three inmates in my unit were extorting one for thousands of dollars in commissary or else this victim of extortion would get beat up. The victim’s PSR (Pre-Sentence Report) had indicated he was a ‘confidential informant’ for police after his arrest in order to get a lower sentence. Inmates who are found to ‘cooperate’ are usually beat-up or extorted, but this was a uniquely American thing.

The repellent white supremacist I wrote about briefly in my SeaTac FDC blogs would punch, assault and intimidate this slender, small 20 year old boy from Alaska in what I thought was a kind of sexual intimidation, but it was ostensibly because the delicate young man was playing dominoes with my black friend Robert. The 20 year old was told to fraternize less with blacks and more around whites like the white supremacist, who terrorized him unrelentingly. I witnessed first hand the young man get sucker punched in the side of the head by this thug, knocking the young man right out. On another occasion the 20-year-old walked by the white supremacist and just got punched in the thigh viciously spontaneously as part of daily intimidation and terror. These events I couldn’t write about while I was at Sea-Tac FDC, because those inmates could receive my blog comments in their Corrlinks email and, without question, would have punished me with violence if I reported (“ratted”) them out.

When I was at Oklahoma City FDC for one week prior to coming here, the most frightening week of my prison sentence was listening to these skinhead, heavily tattooed 10+ years-in convicts explain all the violence, politics, fear, suspicion, and cliques I would have to familiarize myself with, even at a ‘low’ security federal prison. Because they were all American, they had no experience in an all-foreigner prison like D Ray James, and described no doubt a fairly accurate portrait of the tension that exists in a US federal prison for Americans. They thought that they were doing me a favor, but they just succeeded in scaring me more than I have been, before or since.

While most, if not all, of us are grateful not to be among that kind of American prisoners, most of the inmates here have lived in America for 5, 10, 20 years or even all their lives since age 3 or 4 when their parents brought them to America. Many have ‘green cards’ or ‘permanent resident’ status and some have never been to the country of their birth since they were a child, and have no ties at all there, but will be deported to their birth country anyway.

I told my disillusioned fellow-inmate that while I, especially, understood his frustration, there are indeed circumstances to be grateful for, even if it is only in the absence of violence, intimidation, and mean guards. For me, however, I have to say I am grateful for my American friends, virtually all strangers to me – many of them mothers, in fact – who send me books, put money in my commissary, and write me genuinely caring and uplifting letters. My great wife Jodie has received enormous help from Americans in coping with our forced separation.

So I am blessed to have two paradoxical spheres of security and safety while incarcerated; I am in prison with non-Americans, and I am indebted and grateful to my loving American supporters. I especially salute my great helper Catharine Leach of Rhode Island. She has done incredible work on my behalf, including rallies in Washington, D.C. and Providence, Rhode Island. She sends me research, each Canuck hockey game summary, even gets me in her local newspaper. She writes me incredible letters every two or three days, all the while looking after two children and her husband, and a demanding full-time job. Many other mothers, not all but mostly American, have made it one of their duties to help Jodie return to me to Canada and be of whatever help they can to me. I will never forget the nation that incarcerated me is still the greatest source of inspiration for me. So it goes, the paradox of my relationship with the United States is one of my lifelong themes.

On March 14, I will have served one year – 365 days – on this 1,825-day (5 year) sentence. With a good time credit of 235 days, that is 600 days of 1,825. So I have 1,225 days in my sentence to go if I get marooned in the US gulags; July 7, 2014 is my release date if my transfer application to Canada is refused. As of March 16, my application for transfer will have been at the US Department of Justice for two months. Between April 16 and May 20, I expect to receive my response. If approved, the process moves to the Canadian government, where the norm to decide applications is 4-6 months.

That means by September through November 2011, the Canadian government could approve my application, and within 3 months after that, I would be back in a Canadian Federal prison. Under current law I qualify for full parole after November 16, 2011. I have included ‘Attachment A’ to show the criteria involved in treaty transfers. I qualify in the affirmative on all 26 criteria, so under the rules as outlined, there is no grounds to deny my transfer at the American end, nor under the criteria set out by the Canadian government.

My property arrived! Most prized are my wonderful photos of Jodie! Oh it was sweet to see them again. How gorgeous and lovely my incredible wife is! – sigh – Other items use are my Sony radio and my Koss headphones. The radio is powerful and can pull in more stations more clearly than the one that was issued here, so that is an improvement. I have my book light and even a replacement bulb. My autobiographical book chapters, notes, and political writings arrived also. Next week I’ll finish an editorial about Stephen Harper and his war against “change”, “the 60’s culture” and the contemporary representatives of this “culture” – the cannabis culture.

Help get Marc home with an easy phone call or message:
www.freemarc.ca

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February 19 to 28 – In this issue: Warden Booker leaves the prison; GEO Group Vice President of Regional, Mr. Zenk, takes over as Acting Warden (he spoke with Jodie Emery by phone on February 10); a disruption in Q Building on February 22 (9 inmates go to SHU, solitary confinement); and a confrontational visitation on the long weekend of February 19-21.

On Tuesday this week Hispanic inmates initiated a boycott of the larger Chow Hall at lunch while GEO Group Vice-President of Regional Management, Mr. Zenk, was here. The timing was deliberate. Inmates are frustrated and increasingly intolerant of the seemingly willful management indifference to regular and routine “low” security protocols that occur at B.O.P. and even other GEO Group and CCA facilities. Rules here are invented daily that follow little rational thought or Bureau of Prisons procedure/policy.

Later that day, it was announced Warden Booker was moving on, leaving DRJCF in any case, and V.P. Zenk would be Acting Warden for a period of weeks. I have already had a conversation with him and he’s a good listener when I recited a brief catalog of grievances. But action is what the inmates are measuring, and there is little to point to here in the way of actual results. DRJCF has been open 5 months now and very little progress is evident; indeed, in many areas (visitation, food, quality of the yard), it has gone backward.

Some critical areas of inmate dissatisfaction:

– Food is nutritionally inadequate and monotonous. Surveys will circulate by the staff next week to sound out inmates’ desires on the food in Chow Hall. But action is what is in short supply.

– Numerous essential and other items so far have been denied to us at the commissary, including hats, sunglasses, calculators, fresh vegetables, alarm clocks, bathrobes, sleeveless undershirts, digital language translators, thermos, sweatbands, sewing kits, tennis balls, knee wraps, and other items we are allowed to posses, but cannot get (unless they arrive from our previous prison property).

– Two televisions are inadequate for 60 – 80 inmates and there are numerous altercations over them already. An additional TV is promised for each Pod in April. The wait is so additional electrical outlets can be installed.

– The tap water here tastes very bad, yet no bottled water, juice or soda is made available to buy. Vending machines have been promised but have yet to arrive. [Note from Jodie Emery: Since this was written, vending machines have been installed.] Inmates cannot posses or use cash so the purchase procedure will invariably take weeks or months for DRJ to put into play, which brings us to…

– MP3 players have been promised for over 3 months but have yet to be put on sale in the commissary. The better MP2 player, a prison issue one called “Secure Media Systems”, will cost $100.00. Downloading songs will cost $1.60 per song.

– Remarkably, over 500 handballs have been rendered unusable by the looping razor wire that is on every fence throughout the compound in the five months DRJ has been in “business”. The volleyballs being used are lopsided because of lacerations from hitting the razor wire. Basketballs and soccer balls are very worn, yet DRJ doesn’t spend money to replace them. This razor wire was recently reinstalled at this facility even though “low” security federal prisons are only supposed to have razor wire atop of a perimeter fence. The previous state prison that originally had this excessive razor wire installed was a medium-security prison housing some generally bad dudes.

– The visitation room seats only 26 inmates and their guests out of a prison population of nearly 2,000 now, causing visits to be terminated early to make room for arriving visitors, and hand-holding between inmates and their spouses/mothers/family has been inexplicably banned.

Later on that Tuesday the Associate Wardens were dispatched to all the pods to make promises on these and other areas, but inmates simply put no credibility on the word of management. The so-called ‘town hall’ that afternoon reeked of desperation and disingenuousness.

It has been hot here for weeks now, and it’s only February. When the wind blows, a sandstorm blows across the compound. All the grass that was here when we arrived is long ago dead and what little remains is rooted to sand. The entire place lacks topsoil for grass to root, so for 6-8 months there will be sand blowing about, getting in our eyes and mouths. Mosquitoes and sand fleas will be here soon. We are surrounded by the United States’ most famous swamp, Okefenokee (pronounced O-kuh-fen-O-kuh).

Last Sunday I was bitten on my left buttock by something that put two holes in my skin and I’ve had a painful swelling and infection since, making sitting and sleeping painful and difficult. I’ve been applying ice-packs to it at night and taking ibuprofen but it hasn’t subsided yet. The C.O. did give me an emergency permission to visit medical Wednesday night even during lockdown, and the nurse and doctor at medical moved quickly to examine it, gave me the ice-pack and antibiotics, which has had a very good effect of reducing the pain, swelling and infection by Friday afternoon, which is good because Jodie visited this Saturday and Sunday and I had to sit on it for 5-6 hours each day! Thanks to the nurses and doctor in medical! It started weeping Saturday, and now is drained (what a mess!) by Monday. I still continue to take the antibiotics and put fresh bandages on the area. After one week I can now sit comfortably. [Note from Jodie: Marc was bitten by a brown recluse spider, one of only two toxic spiders in North America. More details in Jodie’s videos at www.YouTube.com/PotTVNetwork and in Marc’s upcoming blogs.]

Across from the law library, the ceiling caved in, a huge mess, as water from broken pipes above the ceiling was leaking for weeks with no correction from maintenance until the light fixtures and ceiling came crashing down. Inevitably, the air conditioning in various units will break down. The inmates feel aggravated plenty now; 6 or 7 months of unrelenting hot and muggy weather will fray tempers further. It took DRJ 3 weeks to fix the heat for Pod 2 in Q building back in December. There was no heat but nothing was done until temperatures dropped below freezing and it became a liability issue for DRJ.

The inmates’ photographs ($1 each per print) started being done against a wall in the yard. After lining up for several hours on Sunday and finally having their pictures taken, Coach Williamson, in charge of the photo program, somehow deleted all 150 photographs taken that day, necessitating all the inmates to line up once again in the hot sun to have their photos redone. When they received them the following week, at least half of the prints had the inmate’s head cut off at the forehead. They had the option of lining up yet a third time in the hot sun for yet another photograph! At DRJ, even the simplest of things gets bollixed, and when these aggravations happen daily, it drives the inmates nuts, and they are always talking about the latest aggravating DRJ fuck-up.

Along with photographs I have taken every visit with Jodie, last weekend I had 5 photos taken of me in the yard. One of me and my friend Peter (Mennonite, with 9 children), one of me and another friend Bradley (a great fellow from my area at home), one of me in my khakis, one of me holding the clutch of envelopes I routinely carry to and from the library, and one of me wearing a khaki ball cap, sunglasses, and a pen clenched in my teeth, channeling the Hunter S. Thompson or General Douglas MacArthur, my alternate persona on the yard here.

I heard that visitation last weekend was tense. Eight women who came to visitation wore open-toed or open-backed shoes. They were ordered to buy closed-toed shoes at the only nearby store in tiny Folkston, a dollar store, before they could be admitted to visitation, as the visitation area was now considered a “construction” site due to painting – which, of course, makes no sense at all. Hand-holding is still forbidden, yet permitted at all other GEO Group and B.O.P. “low” security facilities. Guards have been standing right beside inmates and their guests instead of standing in the guard area at the front of the room. Several inmates and guests got into shouting matches with guards standing closely adjacent to visitation tables.

Vending machines, the source of lunch for visitors and inmates, are frequently empty or dysfunctional. The staff, apparently, purchase bottled water during the week from these vending machines so that by visitation days on Saturday and Sunday, there is no bottled water left in the vending machines for inmates and their guests! This has been true for numerous food items too. The following weekend, February 26 and 27, Jodie and I had a wonderful visit, but not being allowed to touch each other’s hands – or anything at all – for the 7-hour visit is very irritating and upsetting.

I did the paperwork this week (before I was locked down Wednesday and Thursday morning) for the inmate who has been trying to get GEO Group to replace his dentures that they lost last June, and have refused to replace with the excuse that since last June, the inmate has had less than a year remaining in his sentence (he is scheduled for release mid-June 2011), so they don’t want to spend the money. This despite that GEO Group or Federal Marshalls lost the dentures in transit and this fellow’s guns are swollen and bleed with most meals!

On Tuesday night, February 22, there was a noisy display of disruptive behavior in Q-2 Pod (my pod) when I was in the law library. At 7:00 pm I saw an inmate having some kind of seizure in Q-2. Two inmates went to the pod door leading into the sallyport where typically there is a C.O. There wasn’t one at this time – and, in fact, it would be 10-15 minutes (disputed) before a C.O. appeared to respond to the inmates pounding on the door. The emergency buzzers in each pod have been disabled, as my friend Bradley found out when he complained two weeks earlier (see Attachment A) “because a C.O. is always on duty” in the sallyport! The C.O.’s first remark, I heard it, was “If y’all didn’t cry wolf so often I would have responded sooner.”

The fellow was taken away, and then brought back 30 minutes later, where he had another seizure. This time the C.O.’s responded promptly, but took him out to the sallyport and laid him on the floor and held his head, which probably the correct response for a seizure or seizure-like situation. Quickly after this, however, inmates in Pods 1, 2 and 3 all got rowdy and threw objects at the guard observation window that towers above the door to the sallyport, made noise, and were rebellious. No one was harmed or attacked; it is really an expression of disgust with how every aspect of this place is aggravating and frustrating to the inmates. GEO Group receives $1,008,000.00 a WEEK to operate this facility, but it is very slow to spend any of it on amenities that are common at all other GEO Group Federal Prisons and B.O.P. Federal Prisons.

After the inmate required medical attention the first time, I was in the law library, where I was held until 10:30 pm and then returned to the Q building, which was locked down all through Wednesday until Thursday morning, when we were allowed to go outside and to work. Nine inmates from Q building were put in solitary and may get a disciplinary transfer to a medium-security prison, which nonetheless, might be a step-up in terms of living conditions compared to D. Ray James Correctional Institution.

If I were there in Q-2, I would have tried to discourage what I regard as futile and foolish over-reaction. It made a mess of our pod, got 7 people from Pod 2 in solitary, and had us locked down for 36 hours. I tend to believe venting and writing complaints to management and officials is painstaking, but ultimately more effective than disruptive behavior, which virtually forces the institution to take retaliatory action. But I am fairly alone in seeing that point of persuasion and communication, and DRJ makes it very challenging for most inmates to find satisfaction using the exasperating grievance process to motivate institutional change and improvement.

It’s probably just as well I wasn’t there because I might have been regarded as a traitor for speaking out against it, plus I am only one of few English speakers and without speaking Spanish I probably would not have prevailed.

On Wednesday, I received about 25 books in the mail, half in Spanish, about 7 magazines, and 3 catalogs, so they were distributed around to the inmates who needed some calming activities during lockdown. The timing was good for those books! Many of these books arrive with receipts from ABEBOOKS, Thriftbooks, or Amazon.com among others, but no clue as to who paid for them or sponsored them. Peter Maverick of Massachusetts has been a HUGE contributor of books, over 50 so far about spiritual matters, in Spanish and English, history, fiction, biographies.

Brand new books I received include #7 & #8 in the #1 Ladies’ Detective Series, Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, and The Fountainhead, four new books by Herman Hesse (Demian, Narcissus & Goldmund, Steppenwolf & Siddhartha), Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, a Biography of Henry Ford, Mark Twain’s Autobiography Vol. 1, and American War Machine, which I wrote of in “Injustice & Cruelty As A Laughing Matter”, my editorial on Canadian and American politicians who laugh off the marijuana question. (Read that editorial in my previous blogs at www.cannabisculture.com, with a wonderful over-the-top painting of me nailed to a cannabis crucifix in ‘The Garden of Weeden’, juxtaposed as a sacrificial Jesus straddling the US and Canadian borders. Lady Liberty licking the blood flowing from the nails in my feet is quite the touch. I look forward to comments about the painting and the editorial it is paired with. The painting was done by Chris Wright of London, Ontario, Canada, someone I’ve known since he was a youth, whose work I truly admire and love.)

While I personally have enough reading material for a month, I still won’t discourage my supporters and friends from sending books and magazines in Spanish because the need is huge, especially in the infirmary where sick inmates can’t get out of bed. Books in English are greatly prized by the few other Canadians here. All the many magazines I receive get circulated to dozens of inmates each until I lose track of them. I even received, from Cindy Sleeman of North Vancouver, copies of Hispanic newspapers from the Vancouver ‘Latin American’ community of my hometown. Cindy has sent me a slew of great books, magazines, Spanish, English, including four from Alexander McCall Smith.

Thank to Mary Dague and Jimi Lawrence of Farifax, Virginia for books they sent. Mary sent Cutting Stone and The Longest War and the biography of Henry Ford. Jimi sent me some #1 Ladies Detective books and a 100 years of the GPO (Government Printing Office). Jimi has worked at the GPO for almost 30 years now, and is proud of his work there.

I very much appreciate the flood of books and magazines. I supply them to the infirmary, particularly Spanish magazine and books, as well as the inmates throughout D. Ray James. Today I had a ‘Santa Claus’ bag of new books that I simply will not be able to read (I have 20 lined up in my ‘Must Read’ box) so I supply the 12 other Canadians here and other English speakers I know who need books. Randy got my History of Black Sabbath because he’s a professional musician (and a delightful person), Grant from Montreal chose The Trial by Franz Kafka, and Short Stories by D.H. Lawrence.

I received some excellent books on Mexican folklore, histories of each Mexican State, in Spanish. The Mexican inmates relate to their state (Sinoloa, Chihuahua, etc.) and even have gatherings with food in the yard. It is a bonding thing, but also a bit of a mutual protection if the need arises. My friend, Peter, who is Canadian but was raised in Chihuahua state in Mexico until he was 13, is considered one of them, so Peter has 85 amigos here who hail from that state. Peter says this protects me too, as Peter and I are known to be best friends; we always eat and hang out together, as Peter is in pod 2 with me. I don’t need any protection as I have no enemies among staff or inmates, but it may one day be handy to have.

Thanks to Chris Goodwin and Erin Gorman for sending many wonderful Facebook pages of comments and political debate (which I really enjoy, so encourage people to send), and their frequent personal letters. Chris and Erin are setting up a downtown Toronto retail store and activist center for freedom called Freedom Culture Headquarters, or The Freedom Store. It will be a retail store selling libertarian, anarchist, anti-government, pro-freedom t-shirts, stickers, books, buttons, DVDs, magazines, posters, and all manner of product that speaks to liberty. Another part of the building will be used for Freedom Music nights, Freedom Debates, readings, lectures, even Freedom Comedy. Another part of the complex will be used as the Freedom Party of Ontario recruiting and campaign office.

Freedom Party is a pro-freedom registered political party in the province of Ontario, Canada that was founded by Robert Metz and I in 1982. It is now headed by a brilliant man, Paul McKeever, who did the remarkable video documentary of me called “Principle of Pot”. I have actually never met Paul McKeever in person, but we have a wonderful correspondence while I’m in jail. Paul is brilliant and I recommend his writings and blog as genius. Paul is a national treasure on the threshold of discovery by the people of Ontario and Canada. My great friend and a man I have admired for 32 years as a staggeringly lucid thinker and advocate for individual freedom is Freedom Party’s President, Robert Metz.

Watch "The Principle of Pot" for Marc's life mission and accomplishments explained! CLICK HERE!

Chris Goodwin currently heads up Ontario’s famous Vapour Central, a marijuana consumption lounge in downtown Toronto, 667 Yonge St. Chris was inspired by me in 2003 to open ‘Up In Smoke’ in Hamilton, Ontario, where baked goods were sold and marijuana consumed on the premises until the final visit after over 300 police visits put it out of business, and Chris was sentenced to jail for 4 months. Then Chris headed up Vapour Central in 2006, and has made it an incredible success. Chris and fiancé Erin will jointly be running both Vapour Central and Freedom Culture Headquarters.

The name is meant to be a tribute to me as co-founder of FREEDOM Party and Cannabis CULTURE HEADQUARTERS. I love this project and name. It is a retail project I have dreamed of doing myself and think Chris and Erin are perfect for doing this even better than I could. I can’t wait to see the “Jefferson is my homeboy” t-shirt and others by Bureaucrash at the Freedom Culture HQ. They will stock Free Marc t-shirts and all manner of FREE MARC material too. Chris and Erin expect to be open by mid-April; the location is the old Toronto Art Glass location at 2B Dundonald St, Toronto, Ontario, right off Yonge Street, and the website is www.FreedomCulture.ca (it will be online in the coming weeks). Naturally, repeal of prohibition and legalization of consensual activities will be a priority of this unique retail activism store, and I wish them all the best.

Send a quick letter to help get Marc home:

www.FreeMarc.ca – click “How You Can Help”

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To begin with, on Monday, January 31st, I received a treasure trove of new books, nine of them, including Marc Twain’s Autobiography Vol. 1, ‘Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Writers and Artists Who Made the National Lampoon Insanely Great’, ‘Ain’t Nobody’s Business if You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in our Free Country’, ‘The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare of the 1950s’, ‘Last Call: The Rise & Fall of Prohibition’, ‘Uncle John’s Giant Bathroom Reader’, two prisoner lawyering books, some Buddhist philosophy books, 10 excellent letters from my serious correspondents, some photos from Jodie, and a few magazines. I’m receiving Surfer and North American Hunter magazines, gift subscriptions that my fellow inmates find interesting. I was denied a musical greeting card, but I’m aware of that because I received the proper paperwork advising me of its rejection by the mailroom.

 

All this unimpeded flow of books, magazines, and letters to me without having to go through the bizarre rigmarole I was required to do up till a few weeks ago had me reflect on progress here at D. Ray James. I got all my ‘cop-outs’ (complaint/request forms in the prison argot), and surprised myself with how many of my cop-outs have been resolved. I am often frustrated by the apparent lack or slowness here of progress at this facility, and I make it clear I think treating Canadians and other foreign nationals in the US federal prison system in a discriminatory manner is unjust. I regard myself an eyewitness, a truth teller, a journalist. So, I got out my file of official complaints/requests to management for a review.

 

This next section would have to be titled:

 

“In Defense of The Management at D. Ray James Correctional Facility”

 

Friday, November 19th, 2010:

To the Case Manager: “I would like to begin the treaty transfer process to return to the Canadian Correction system.”

 

Result: Process completed 7 days ahead of schedule when all my transfer paperwork is FedEx’ed to the US Dept. of Justice in Washington, D.C. on January 16th, 2011. The deadline was January 21st, 2011.

 

December 12th, 2010:

To Business Services: www.accesscorrections.com does not take Canadian credit cards for inmate deposits into their commissary accounts. It is also not possible to send inmates at D. Ray James Correctional Facility money orders to deposit into their accounts, nor are Western Union deposits allowed either. This makes the situation for Canadian inmates extraordinarily problematic. Will we be able to receive money by Western Union ever?

 

Result: On January 31st, 2011, it became possible for families and friends of inmates to deposit money in inmate accounts via Western Union. Canadians or Mexicans or individuals outside the USA must use cash and take the money physically to a Western Union location (in Canada, these are at Money Mart). The cost is $15.00 (which goes to Keefe Commissary Network) plus the fee that Western Union normally charges, anywhere from $5.00 to $39.00, depending on the $5.00 up to $2,000.00 being sent to an inmate’s account. This is a huge convenience for those who can afford these service fees, but it’s noteworthy that in the B.O.P. system for American citizens, a money order for the same amount, costing only $1.50 to $5.00 at most, can be mailed to that US citizen inmate’s account. Because these ‘for profit’ foreigner prisons must exploit every situation for the profit of GEO Group, the money order option is not available to us here.

When sending money to an inmate at D. Ray James (like myself, for example), you take cash to a Western Union, use the BLUE QUICK COLLECT form, with the following information:

Pay to: D. Ray James CF
Code City: DRayJames
State: GA
Acct. #: 40252-086 Emery
Attention: Marc Emery

(For any American depositing into my account, using credit cards at www.accesscorrections.com is a lower service charge.)

– 8(f) Nutritional information cards will be displayed for all prepared menu items listing calories, fat, cholesterol, and sodium content of each item.

– 9(a) A nutritional analysis will be conducted annually by a registered dietician to ensure they meet the Daily Reference Intake (DRI) for nutrients published by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of the Sciences.

– 9(c) All nutritional analyses will be certified in writing by a Registered Dietician. This certification will cite compliance with the DRI’s.

I have not been able to find a single staff person here at D. Ray James who can confirm that the filter in the water tower holding all the drinking water has been replaced recently or regularly. I believe, since the surrounding area around Folkston is swampland and Jodie and I saw flecks of blue and black debris in the drinking water provided to us in the visitation room (bottled water has hardly been in the vending machines in visitation for 3 weeks), that the filter in the water tower – if in fact there is one – is not sterile or effective, and that the water here is unfit for human consumption. The water here should be tested; Jodie says it smells and tastes strange compared to the tap water at home in Vancouver. I believe a public safety official would order the water tower filters changed regularly. The water in the surrounding area smells of sulphur and other brackish elements; considering the huge area around Folkston is a famous swamp (the Okefenokee Swamp), the water should be plainly suspect here. GEO Group just spent thousands of dollars painting its blue GEO Group logo on two sides of the tower, a 10’ x 30’ job, to cover the “Cornell” logo from the private prison company that was bought out by GEO Group. Here’s hoping they’ll invest that much in clean water.

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