My name is Christopher Trotter. I’m calling from inside the belly of the beast at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility.
I served 20 years in solitary confinement. And I just wanted to share something with you so to give you an idea of what it’s like. And I want everybody to imagine. Imagine, for 20 years of your life being entombed in a windowless cell and held up under sensory deprivation and isolation from human contact. And the only human touch you feel is the unwanted touch of prison guards. The conditions are very dehumanizing, demoralizing, and every day is a struggle just to keep your mental liberty and self-respect, which are the last two things that you have.
Everywhere you go, you are- you are- you are escorted- escorted on a dog leash like an animal in a cage. This was my life in solitary confinement. How long- how long are you going to imagine that I don’t exist. I’m strong, but human. They tried to turn me into a monster, and I used to ask myself, “Who’s the real monster?” And I wrote this poem called “Frankenstein.” And it goes like this:
Frankenstein. The moment you created me, you crucified and despised me, abandoned me emotionally. Unleashed the very hell in me. You treated me like I had committed a felony. I feel unfairly judged, looked upon as an ugly being, frightful and aghast. No one has ever stopped to notice that my movements are poetic. My stride is determined, my spirit is free. For those who claim to recognize beauty for all its worth: look at me and see nothing to love. I am not a monster. I am you. The tragedy of life is what dies inside of a human being while he lives. How long are you going to imagine that I don’t exist?
Prisoners’ lives matter too. My name is Christopher Trotter. I am inside the belly at the beast at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility. Thank you for listening to 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)