[Dryerase] AGR SOA watch

[Shawn G]

Asheville Global Report
www.AGRNews.org

SOA Watch activists to serve their time in county jail

By Melissa Fridlin

Crisp County, Georgia, Aug. 27 (AGR)—  Three School of the Americas Watch 
prisoners who were due to be transferred to a federal prison will be held in 
a county jail for the duration of their six-month sentence.
The prisoners were among 10,000 who gathered last fall to call for the 
closure of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation 
(WHISC), formerly known as the School of the Americas. They were charged 
with trespassing after peacefully crossing onto the property of Fort 
Benning, the site of the school, on November 18, 2001.
The SOA/WHISC is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers that 
operates at Fort Benning, Georgia. Many human rights organizations have 
published reports that directly link graduates of the school to human rights 
abuses and atrocities. In December 2000 Congress passed legislation which 
created the WHISC to replace the SOA. The renaming of the school was widely 
viewed as an attempt to diffuse public criticism and to disassociate the 
school from its reputation. Critics say that the school has changed little 
of its notorious curriculum.
On July 12th, 2002, a federal court in Georgia found 36 SOA Watch activists 
guilty and sentenced them for committing civil disobedience on the Fort 
Benning military reservation. Twenty-nine received prison terms ranging from 
three to the maximum of six months.
Toni Flynn, 56, a Catholic Worker and mother of four from Valyermo, CA, 
Peter Gelderloos, 20, an activist from Harrisonburg, VA, and Father Jerry 
Zawada, 65, a Franciscan priest from Cedar Lake, IN refused the option to 
self-surrender at a later date. On the day of sentencing, they were taken to 
Crisp County Jail in Georgia. Based on previous experience, SOA Watch 
organizers and the three prisoners assumed that this was to be a brief stop 
in transit to a federal prison near their homes.
However, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has designated Crisp County 
Jail as the location where the three will serve the remainder of their 
six-month sentence. SOA Watch has charged that the Crisp County Jail does 
not comply with federal standards for the treatment of prisoners.
Code of Federal Regulations sections 540.41 and 540.42 provide requirements 
for proper visitation facilities and visiting times for inmates, stating 
that “at a minimum, the Warden shall establish visiting hours at the 
institution on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.” It is also the policy of 
the BOP “to encourage visiting by family, friends, and community groups to 
maintain the morale of the inmate and to develop closer relationships 
between the inmate and family members or others in the community.”
“The Crisp County Jail does not permit visits on weekends and the visitation 
facilities do not meet the BOP criteria,” said Jeff Winder of School of the 
Americas Watch.
A BOP official said, however, that inmates are frequently placed in halfway 
houses or county jails when they are considered a low risk and have a short 
sentence. “The Bureau of Prisons has a joint contract with Crisp County Jail 
to house federal inmates when needed. Under this contract, visitation is 
conducted in accordance with county jail regulations, not federal 
regulations,” stated the official. “We can’t change their visiting hours 
around just because there are a few federal inmates there.”
The three prisoners have also reported major concerns with the health and 
sanitation conditions in the Crisp County Jail, including a lack of access 
to health care. One inmate, Toni Flynn, wrote from the jail that “a woman in 
my cell block has for weeks complained of ‘sores and bugs’ on her body. The 
only response was to be given a can of Lice Spray for us to use on our 
bodies… the label says ‘dangerous for humans & animals’ and further 
instructs that it is toxic if inhaled or absorbed. Our cell was nonetheless 
sprayed & some women sprayed their bodies. The infected woman was isolated 
for one day and then returned, still infected. We are all at risk and the 
woman is as yet untreated or at best treated ineffectively.”
The BOP says that “medical care is provided under our contract, and it is up 
to community standards.” Officials do plan to make a site visit to Crisp 
County this week to check conditions and investigate Flynn’s complaint. “If 
we find that conditions are not up to our contract specifications, the 
inmates will be placed in a Federal facility. However, it may take four to 
six weeks for a transfer,” the BOP official said.
“We are still concerned about conditions in this county jail. Regardless of 
what happens with the SOA Watch prisoners, the situation at Crisp County 
Jail has to change for all prisoners,” Winder stated.


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