A call for reason and fairness in the case of
U.S. vs. Walter Anderson

by Walt Anderson

July 25, 2006

During my stay in the Central Detention Facility in Washington DC (DC Jail). I have been lucky enough to have friends and family send me reading materials. I have received over 400 paperback books which were sent directly from vendors (Amazon.com, Borders, etc.). Most of the inmates here are not so lucky. They have nothing to read while they spend 19 to 20 hours per day locked in their cells.

I have been lending out my books after reading them. Some particular novels are so popular that they have gone out over 20 times. Overall, I lent out books over 160 times. Most of them have been returned. My private library activities have fulfilled only a small amount of the need for reading material in my unit which houses 160 people. The DC Jail often houses over 2,000 inmates.

The DC jail has no reading library. Most of the inmates here have no access at all to reading materials. When I discovered this I could not believe it. Virtually all other detention facilities in the world have a reading library or some other way to provide reading materials to inmates. Even at prisons in most third world countries, reading materials are available.

Most of the inmates prefer books about crime or adventure. I have some of books like that. When I run out of those, I offer science fiction and classic literature. I have been surprised to see that inmates enjoying Jane Austin, Pride and Prejudice and the Bronte Sisters as well as John Grisham novels, The DC school system has left many of these inmates with limited reading skills, but this has not stopped many of them from making the effort to read very sophisticated works.

I could not believe that any public institution could be so cruel. I could not believe that anyone could keep humans locked up in a small room for 19 to 20 hours per day, month after month sometimes for years and not even provide some reading materials. How does keeping people from reading prevent future crime? How could something so basic be ignored? What type administration would allow this type of torture to go on day after day. I decided to try and get the answers to these questions.

I knew that it would be easy to get the local community to donate paperback books and recent magazines to the DC Jail facility. I knew that a significant portion of the inmates wanted materials. I knew that providing reading materials to the inmates would benefit both the inmates and help make the institution safer and more humane. I decided that I would try to help create a reading library at the DC Jail.

As a Pt step I wanted to make sure I had some outside support. I contacted the “Visitor Services Center”, a not-for -profit organization which provides help for inmates, families and visitors to the facility. I had worked with the Visitors Service Center a few months ago to help another inmate who did not speak English well, to get into a post release
program. This inmate had lost his job and home while incarcerated and he needed some help re-entering society. The Visitor Services personnel were very effective and responsive in helping me find a program for this inmate and he was able to get some help during his 1st 6 months out back in the world.

I spoke to the Director of The Visitor Services Center, Ms. Ann Cunningham over the phone. She was immediately supportive of this idea. She said that that her organization already had the contacts with the DC Jail administration to move reading materials into the facility if a program could be set up. She gave me a few names to contact in the Department of Correction administration. She also agreed that the Visitor Services Center would support collection boxes for the reading material in their offices and other locations.

Then I began the more difficult task inside the DC Department of Corrections. I tried to arrange a meeting with the DC Jail Chaplain. I have requested a meeting 3 times with no result. I arranged a phone call to a senior case manager (Leona Bennett) and when I could not reach her left a detailed message. I have since sent a letter to this senior case manager with no response.

I spoke to the case manager in my unit when he put in his hours there. The unit case manager told me he “intended” to get some shelves and have some reading material in the unit. He did not know when that would occur and had no specific for how to secure the materials or other timetable. I asked him to arrange a meeting with the Warden for me to discuss this matter. He refused to even pick up the phone. While I was trying to discuss this library issue with him another case manager came into his office and they began discussing some other topics which interrupted our conversation. This was clearly not very important to him.

The DC Department of Corrections has recently had a change of management. The new administration claimed that they would resolve all problems. This was the claim of the previous administration and the one before that. No real changes have actually occurred in the DC Correction facilities.

I have still not gotten anywhere trying to talk to the Department of Corrections administration. I will continue to pursue the meetings with officials here. This response is consistent with the overall history of this facility. No amount of “management”, court orders or outside pressure has ever been able to make any changes at the DC jail. No effort is actually ever made here to provide rehabilitation or “corrections”. This is just a storage for humans and the conditions are so bad that it would be illegal to treat a cat or dog the way inmates are treated here.

My goal is that the DC jail will set aside a small space for a reading library. I will work with others to arrange for donation of shelving, books, magazines and work with the Visitor services Center to arrange the continuing collection and delivering new reading materials. All I am asking the DC Jail to do is provide some small amount of space and
arrange a schedule so that low and medium security inmates can visit the library for 15 to 20 minutes per weak to obtain reading materials.

The inmates here are still members of this community. Many people here have not even been convicted of a crime and are being held pre-trial or on unproven parole violations. Having access to reading material is a basic right. I am hoping that my efforts will be rewarded and the DC jail will have a reading library in the near future

This story will be continued…………………………………….

[WEBMASTER'S NOTE: All articles submitted by Walt Anderson are handwritten by him, and either mailed to me directly, or transcribed by a volunteer third party, then e-mailed to me for placement in a web template. These articles are only spell-checked and style-edited. They are never edited for content - these are Walt's own words, and are respected as such.]

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