From: New Liberation News Service <nlns@igc.apc.org>
Subject: NLNS: The Terror's Revenge
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 13:22:37 GMT

/* Written  9:57 pm  Dec 20, 1992 by nlns@igc.apc.org in igc:nlns.samples */
/* ---------- "NLNS PACKET 3.6 *** 12/11/92" ---------- */

The Terror's Revenge
Adrian Lomax, The Madison Edge
(with notes by NLNS staff)

[NLNS note: On November 18, 1992, a regular column by Wisconsin 
prisoner, Adrian Lomax appeared as usual in The Madison Edge, a 
Madison, WI progressive bi-weekly community paper. "Chronicle of a 
Death Foretold," as the column was called, told the story of Lomax's 
experience with a guard commander who was particularly viscious to the 
inmates of the Waupun Correctional Institute. When Lomax was transferred 
to another prison, he felt safe enough to write about this "Terror of 
Waupun" freely and publically--thinking it to be his first amendment right. 
The title of the article refers to a statement made by sociologist Kelsey 
Kauffman in her research on prisons regarding a certain type of prison 
guard she calls a "Hard Ass." Lomax printed this statement in his column, 
which, taken together with his title, could give the reader of the column the 
impression that the "Terror of Waupun" probably won't last much longer. 
Kauffman, herself a former prison guard, said,: "[t]he Hard Ass role is a 
poor way to survive, [behaving that way in the long run] is an open 
invitation for a shiv in the back."
	The same day the column ran, Lomax's feeling of safety was proven 
unsound when he was put into solitary confinement without a charge. 
Shortly after Lomax's column ran, the Madison Edge was approached by 
Department of Corrections officials and told to remove Lomax's column 
from any copies they mailed to prisoners. At the present time, Lomax is 
only allowed to use a pen for two hours a day. Nonetheless, he managed to 
write and mail the following column for release in the December 2nd issue 
of the Edge.]

MADISON, WI (NLNS)--In my last column I wrote about Captain Patricia 
Garro, "the Terror of Waupun." Noting that I'd recently been transferred 
from Waupun to the Racine Correctional Institution, I confessed that I 
would not have written the column had I still been confined at Waupun, for 
fear of the Terror's wrath. I concluded by expressing hope that Captain 
Garro had no like minded friends working here at Racine.
	So much for hope. On Wednesday, November 18, Lieutenant 
Ronald Molnar and his minions descended upon me as I was playing a 
game of chess in the dayroom of my cellblock. They clamped the steel 
bracelets on my wrists and transported me to the RCI segregation unit. I sit 
in "the hole" as I write these words.
	Lieutenant Molnar signed the order to throw me in the hole. The 
segregation placement form states Molnar's reasoning as follows:
	Inmate Lomax was placed into TLU under DOC 303.11(4b) due to a 
newspaper article in the Madison Edge (11/18/92) that encourages 
disrespect for Captain Patricia Garro (WCI). The articlee encourages 
inmates to defy the Captain's authority and her ability to control a particular 
situation. Because this same article can easily be communicated to other 
inmates it has the potential for encourging desrespect and defiance of all 
staff authority. Possible violations of DOC 303.16--Threats, 303.271--
Lying About Staff.
	So I'm serving time in the hole for writing a newspaper column. 
And the reasoning is curious. "The article encourages inmates to defy the 
Captain's authority. . ." Of course, my column didn't encourage anyone to 
do anything. I merely reported some of Captain Garro's particularly abusive 
actions and repeated a nationally-known sociologist's conclusion regarding 
the fate likely to befall prison guards who behave as the Terror does.
	Captain Garro's respect among prisoners and her ability to exercise 
control is indeed being eroded, but the cause is her own outrageous 
behavior. Throwing me in the hole for writing about her is a classic case of 
killing the messenger. Prison administrators have no objection to a guard 
acting as Garro does. In fact, they cherish guards who are willing to go far 
beyond the call of duty in ruthlessly degrading prisoners. That's why 
they've promoted Garro to such a high rank.
	But prison administrators do object to anyone informing the public 
about these guards. Widespread knowledge of the psychotic guards running 
amok in our prisons would damage public confidence in the correctional 
system. So rather than rein in the sadistic guards, prison officials instead 
seek to silence anyone attempting to speak publically about their mischief.
	"Because this same article can easily be communicated to other 
inmates it has the potential for encouraging disrespect and defiance of all 
staff authority." The column's real crime, apparently, is that it can be easily 
communicated to other prisoners. As it happens, any time I put words on 
paper they can be easily communicated to other prisoners. If I write a letter 
to my mother, for example, expressing criticism of prison officials, my 
mother could make photocopies of the letter and mail it to numerous 
prisoners. By Lieutenant Molnar's logic, no inmate may ever put into 
writing words critical of prison authorities. Any such writing could be 
easily communicated to other prisoners and would have "the potential for 
encouaging disrespect and defiance of staff."
	All of Molnar's concerns about disrespect and defiance of staff 
authority, however, are shown to be pretexts by the fact that no prisoners 
are likely ever to see the edition of the Edge with my column about Captain 
Garro. If officials at the various prisons in this state believe my column is as 
prone to cause trouble as Molnar makes it out to be, they will surely prevent 
prisoners from receiving it. [Editor's note: On Monday, November 23, the 
Department of Corrections issued a memo saying the Nov. 18 issue of the 
Edge could only be distributed to prisoners if Lomax's article was first 
removed from it.] State law grants prison administrators authority to censor 
publications that "present a clear and present danger to institutional security 
and order."
	Prison officials also know quite well that my column about the 
Terror of Waupun was not written for prisoners. The circulation of this 
newspaper is 17,000. About 100 subscribers are inmates in Wisconsin 
prisons. I wrote the column to inform the general public about one of the 
particularly abusive guards who find refuge in the Wisconsin prison 
system. But that, of course, is the correctional administrators' real fear. 
Lieutenant Molnar couldn't care less if I tell every prisoner in the state about 
Captain Garro's mayhem. What worries him is my telling the general 
public.
	By saying that my column may have violated the prison rule that 
prohibits "lying about staff," Molnar suggests that the facts I reported about 
the Terror are untrue. When my first column for the Edge appeared last 
March, Department of Corrections spokesman Joe Scistowicz contacted 
Nancy Rost, the Edge's editor. Scistowicz questioned the accuracy of the 
facts I'd reported and attempted to convince Rost that she shouldn't publish 
any more of my writings. Rost told Scistowicz that if the DOC wanted to 
write a rebuttal to my column, she would gladly print it. Despite that 
invitation, the DOC has never yet sought to rebut any of my columns in 
print. How telling it is that prison officials respond to my criticism of them 
in a pulic forum not by taking advantage of the same public forum in an 
attempt to demonstrate their rectitude, but by tossing me in the dungeon
	Speaking of my very first column for this newspaper, I pointed out 
in that column that correctional officials very often talk a lot about prison 
security when the underlying issues have no impact on prison security. My 
confinement in segregation is a lucid example of that truth. Lieutenant 
Molnar's statement of his reasons for throwing me in the hole is couched in 
the rote language of concern for prison security. Yet my column about 
Captain Garro cannot possibly affect prison security since the administrators 
will surely prevent any inmates from reading it. The decision to confine me 
in segregation has nothing to do with prison security and everything to do 
with discourging me, and all other inmates from publically criticising prison 
officials.

--   --   -- 

	In the early morning of November 7, a woman by the name of 
Christine Bohl was arrested in Madison for her involvement in a sale of 
crack cocaine. It so happens that Ms. Bohl works as a guard at the Waupun 
Correctional Institution.
	Bohl's arrest was reported in the November 8 edition of the 
Wisconsin State Journal. The WCI library subsribes to the State Journal, 
but prison officials censored the article about Chirstine Bohl before 
delivering the newspaper to the library. That's right, they broke out the 
scissors and clipped the article right out of the newspaper.
	A year ago several Waupun inmates were arrested for selling 
cocaine. WCI officials trumpeted the incident to the hilt, issuing press 
releases and declaring the need for increased security to combat prison drug 
dealers. Now why do you suppose it is that prison officials publicize the 
story of inmates arrested for dealing cocaine, yet they do precisely the 
opposite when a prison guard is arrested for the same thing? Maybe they 
don't want people to laugh out loud every time correctional officials try to 
deflect criticism about harsh treatment of prisoners with the time-honored 
canard that prison guards are highly-trained professionals who, after all, are 
watching over a bunch of criminals.

[NLNS Endnote: Poor Adrian Lomax's scene has gone from bad to worse. 
. .to even worse since he wrote this article. His attempt, with attorney 
Gillam Kerley, to get a court injunction against his placement in solitary 
confinement without charges was stymied when Dane County circuit Judge 
Nowakowski rejected Lomax's arguments that he was under lockup solely 
for exercising his First Amendment rights--according to a UPI report.
	The hearing, held on the 13th day of the 42 days the Wisconsin 
Department of Corrections is allowed to hold a prisoner without charges, 
ended with the court allowing the DOC to keep Lomax in solitary the full 42 
days.
	As NLNS goes to press, however, the DOC is preparing to press 
trumped-up charges on Lomax in their own Kangaroo court that could mean 
a much longer stay in solitary or even an extension of his prison sentence. 
According to Nancy Rost of the Edge, he is now being charged-- in addition 
to the "Lying" and  "enocouraging disrespect" charges hinted at in the 
preceding column--with "adding-and-abetting battery" and one other charge. 
Lomax is not allowed to have a lawyer present at the DOC court.]

Those readers who wish to lodge a protest against the unjust solitary 
confinement of Adrian Lomax can do so by calling the Racine Correctional 
Institution at (414) 886-3214 and telling Warden Oscar Shade to release him 
from segregation

The Madison Edge can be reached at: The Madison Edge, PO Box 845, 
Madison, WI 53701-0845; (608) 255-4460. 

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