7 WOMEN IN PRISON

"In an institution for both men and women, the part of the institution set aside for women shall be under the authority of a responsible woman officer who shall have the custody of the keys of all [of] that part of the institution.

"No male member of the staff shall enter the part of the institution set aside for women unless accompanied by a woman officer.

"Women prisoners shall be attended and supervised only by women officers. ... " [MINRULE, Part 1, Institutional Personnel, 53: (1) to (3)]

Women write from Arizona, Texas, Missouri, New York:

"The only thing you get in isolation is a peanut butter sandwich in the morning, a cheese sandwich in the afternoon and for supper another peanut butter sandwich. If you want a drink here, you have to drink toilet water ..."

"The guard sprayed me with pepper spray because I wouldn't take my clothes off in front of five male guards. Then they carried me to a cell, laid me down on a steel bed and took my clothes off. They left me there in that cell with that pepper spray in my face and nothing to wash my face with. I didn't give them any reason to do that, I just didn't want to take my clothes off."

"When I refused to move into a double cell, they came into my cell and dragged me out and threw me on my back. I was beaten about my face and head. One of the guards stuck his finger in my eye deliberately. I was rolled on my stomach and cuffed on my wrists with leg irons on my ankles ... I was made to walk a thousand feet with the leg irons. Then they put me in a device called a restraint chair. When they put you in this chair your hands are cuffed behind your back and tucked under your buttocks. They stripped me naked ... and kept me there over nine hours until I fouled myself on my hands which were tucked underneath me through a hole in the chair."

"I am tired of being gynecologically examined every time I am searched."

"That was not part of my sentence to perform oral sex with officers."

Women report giving birth handcuffed and shackled.

YW, Camden County Correctional Facility, Camden, New Jersey

"From the time you change your clothes down stairs and put on one of their uniforms you as a human being die and all your rights [are] taken away from you.

"The Camden County Jail has no unit to house women. It is a men's jail and everyone knows it. The female inmates are reminded every day that they have no place here and terrible horrendous things happen to women here. We are forced to sleep on the floor in the middle of winter with bad backs and aching bodies; cold air still blows from the vents no matter what the temperature outside.

"We are also forced to sleep four females to a room. The officers disrespect us and use foul language and any response from us they lock us in our rooms without cause. No matter what the problem they turn a deaf ear until trouble or something happens and then they punish everyone. Even if you had nothing to do with it.

They come in sometimes [at] two o clock in the morning, wake you up out of bed and tell you to clear the room for a shake down. Then they go through your personal belongings and they put your things in the trash - after they give you permission to purchase them from the commissary [in the first place].

"If you go to Internal Affairs with a complaint against an officer they retaliate against you along with other officers and many others on staff.

"Since I have been here I have had all kinds of infections with no proper treatment from the health department. I keep going back for the same problem with a charge of ten dollars per visit each time [and see] only a nurse.

"I fell from a top bunk ... I was left in bed with no food or [medication] because I could not walk many days. I went to the bathroom on myself. They will not give me a crutch to help me walk with a cast on my leg. My leg was broken. I had what is called a compound fracture of my right leg. In that fall I also injured my back. They have repeatedly refused my request for treatment. I [am] in a lot of pain and sometimes unable to walk.

"I understand this is a jail. America goes around the world to defend other people against abuse and violent crimes ... while right in our own backyard, county jail inmates are mistreated and their rights violated. ... It is the [responsibility] of the State of New Jersey and the Corrections Department to see to it that inmates are treated like human [beings] for they are people too. While we may want to turn our backs let us all remember these may turn out to be our sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, fathers, and mothers. "

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