Denied.
This life, a collection of sweet and bitter memories. The dreams are fantasies, made up of forgotten tomorrow that may be played out or remain forever lost, deep within the deception of the mind. What’s wrong? She asked. Why are there no smiles?
If I was on the streets, it would be different. My heart doesn’t know that for love has no boundaries, no time, nor place. So how can there be rules to govern the flow? How can what is limitless, be binded and bound? It will flow when you allow it to be, to be.
I do not imagine you to be a lovely sunset. I do not imagine you to be a lovely wildflower in a rich green meadow. I do not imagine you to be a sweet summer’s day. I imagine you to be such as you are; and you are love. The heart and spirit tire sometime, if only for a moment, from being so full of love and having no outlet to truly share. For being denied the magic of a hug for so long. A hug that will juvenate the heart and spirit, like a roaring tempest wakes to a drought-stricken land.
Stop asking how to convenience what’s wrong. Your heart and spirit knows. Today’s made up of yesterdays and tomorrows, and tremendous amounts of love seeking a hug. No words, no smiles, no stares. What can be said or done, when one is denied a hug for so long. For I choose not to be lonely. But loneliness has chosen me.
(Sound of a cell door closing.) These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
![Prison Radio is sharing an abbreviated version of a press release covering recent racist incidents at SCI Rockview in PA and the organizing to demand accountability. We are reaching out to people incarcerated at Rockview as well as recently transferred folks, inviting them to call, in hopes of hearing commentaries from them.
Benner Township, PA.-
On November 24th, 2023, imprisoned people at SCI Rockview found two nooses hanging in the CO’s office, displayed visibly for many prisoners to see. When the prisoners asked the staff why the nooses were hung, they were told it was a joke.
By December 4th, prisoners filed a grievance to document what they saw, noting that the hanging of the nooses was “unethical, racially motivated, hateful, [a] deliberate debasement of black inmates" and “unsafe for inmates, staff, [and] the whole prison in general.” In the grievance, they demanded that Sgt. Mosser and CO Richard be fired and investigated for a hate crime, and for CO Kirchner to get therapy. Captain Andrews, the head of security, denied the grievance.
The sergeant and COs are still working in the prison to this day, with no repercussions...
As of March 10th, prisoners have reached out to Pennsylvania officials at the Dept. of Corrections in a letter campaign, sending 100 copies of the grievance. Copies of the letter also were mailed to Governor Shapiro, Senator Fetterman, Senator Street, and various advocacy groups. The demands for relief in the original grievance have now become the platform of demands for this campaign. About 20 of the 100 letters were withheld by the prison.
Activists on the outside are joining forces with prisoners to elevate their demands, flooding the phone lines of DOC offices, assisting with outreach to media, and circulating the stories of prisoners who have found unity in opposition to the facility's virulent institutional racism.
In any other workplace, hanging a noose would be grounds for immediate termination. However, Nicki Paul, the superintendent's assistant and "grievance coordinator" informed the public that they self-investigated their staff and found they did nothing wrong.
Read the full article at i
https://conta.cc/4ayDxlB](https://www.prisonradio.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)