Letters from Detention

We are getting fewer here. When I first arrived, we were around 95 people and around 30 that came only to sleep. 17 cells, almost all meant for a single person. Now we are 24 and around 20 more during night. People keep getting released. I’m glad for...

STATEMENT: ON COLLABORATION In yesterday’s bail hearing, both the prosecution and the judge claimed repeatedly that I have not been collaborating with the legal process. The implication was that keeping me in prison is a punishment for this perceived...

Boredom and the occasional brush with violence is probably the worst part of prison. Boredom, frustration, anger, depression. They all come from the same place. No one here is unaffected and I suspect many will have lasting psychological damage from...

It’s evening in the cellblock. Things are fairly quiet. It was a long day. Many had visits from their lawyers, a few got released; mos of them finished their sentence on Thursday, but Friday was a holiday and due to the slow administration, they only...

Most of the time we are between 80 and 90 prisoners in my cellblock. Around half of those are always sick. Part of that is bad sanitation, we have little clean water, but mostly it’s because we are a lot of people crammed together in one small space....

I’m tired. Sleep deprived. Prison is much louder than I could ever imagine. And add to that sleeping on the floor, in a small room with 6 other inmates, getting rest is a significant challenge. I’ve been thinking about my situation and the case...

Just outside the door to my cellblock, is the “calabozo”, the dungeon. Officially, they are called “reflection cells”. This is where people who misbehave are sent for 12 hours or more, without food and in ugly conditions. The door has a small grid...

El Inca é uma prisão que contém todo tipo de gente. Pessoas que não pagaram pensão, pessoas que cometeram fraude, usuários de drogas recreativas, traficantes de drogas, assassinos – e eu - . Uma coisa que me surpreendeu um bocado quando eu vim pra cá...

Nessa prisão não há muitos livros. Há algumas bíblias e uma cópia de Ben Hur no meu bloco de celas. Mas é isso. Eu vi uma biblioteca enquanto eu entrava na prisão, mas eu nunca vi pessoas lá, ou com livros novos. Ninguém parece saber ou se importar....

Duas semanas. A prisão aqui no Equador é um misto enlouquecedor de longos períodos de isolamento e tédio intercalados com ameaças e atos de violência aleatórios. Hoje foi uma quebra na estrutura: dia de visitação. Você pode receber, no máximo, dois...

Estou sentado na prisão, estou na minha cela. Está escuro, alguém tirou todas as lâmpadas da cela. Então estou sentado perto da porta, assim a luz do corredor lá fora pode me permitir ver o que estou escrevendo. Estive aqui por uma semana, mas parece...