Prisons: Well according to USA Today, April 30, 2009, the California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation wasted $580,000 it never used in San Diego. I’m not surprised at all; I watch the Dept. of C7R in this prison waste money every single day. Hell, I watch staff steal the good state supplied ice cream we sometimes get for dessert. Because of that, some of the last to get fed that night just get jello. But $580,000 for wasted unused office space. Think of all the re-entry and substance abuse programs that money could have been used for. Better yet, that money could have been used as an incentive to pay inmates money-upon parole- to get their GED or VOC training. That money could have been used to pay for college books for inmates who wish to go to college…I could go on but what’s the point? The CDCR is only a warehouse for the drug addicted, mentally ill and poor. So in the eyes of the CDCR, wasting the money on unused office space is just as good as wasting it on the prisoners who don’t deserve anything. Prisons: I read a part of the US Justice Department Interrogation techniques approved in 2002. I noted that one of the techniques is the “Attention Grasp”. It says: Grasping the individual with both hands, one hand on each side of the collar opening, in a controlled and quick motion.” Well, I don’t know about controlled, but if this is now torture, hell, this has been going on in California State Prisons since I’ve been in the system since 2000. Getting grabbed by the shirt by staff is common. So is the “Facial Grasp”; “Insult Slap”; “Cramped Confinement”; and “Sleep Deprivation”. For Example: I was taken to an outside medical clinic for a test. I was handcuffed. Then a plastic black box was secured between my wrists and locked to another chain that went around my waist. My ankles were also secured with a cuff on each and a chain between them. This is a new way they transport. The effect of the black box is to completely restrict any hand and arm motion. We, there were several of us, were then put in a 6’ long X 4 ‘ high sealed steel cage inside a normal van. Due to my inability to move my hands and arms, I could not put my seat belt on. The cage was shut and double locked. Then the back doors of the van were shut and locked. There are two bench seats to sit on. WOW, now I did eight ballistic missile patrols on board U.S. submarines (1980-1986 SSBN 630 Gold, SSBN 627 Gold) so I’m okay in close spaces-but what the hell, I almost lost it. This was a (8) hour round trip. The correctional officers who drove stopped for half an hour to eat breakfast, and on the way back they stopped for 40 minutes to eat lunch. The whole time I simply got freaked out because I could not move my hands. I had to ask one of the other inmates to itch my nose! And every turn we took I went tumbling and there was nothing to hold on to. I knew if we got in a crash I was done for, there were no air bags or cushioning in that cage to stop my impact. A fire would have been “all she wrote”. There is no way that if that van caught on fire, that those “brave” correctional officers could unlock three locks, get the doors open and get me and the other inmates out. No, I had to keep the fiery crash scenario out of my mind. My swelling wrists and the small amount of blood now coming from where the cuff, on my tight wrist, was cutting into my now quickly swelling flesh was keeping my mind occupied. But having my hands pinned and so immobile was rapidly causing me to freak OUT! I took several deep breaths and started talking to the others about anything and everything just to keep my mind off the situation I was in. Of course I, we, made it back to the prison- an 8 hour round trip of torture. As I read the interrogation techniques from the justice dept. I noted in the section detailing “Cramped Confinement” “…lasts for no more than two hours.” Well, mister CIA or NSA or whatever agency who wishes to interrogate someone… Just bring them to any California State Prison and have them taken out for “medical” to an outside clinic”. I think that your suspect will sing like a bird when the c/o’s bring him/her back. Because I’ll tell you something-I had a Top Secret Clearance in the U.S. Navy and I would have told them everything—Now that is TORTURE! And we allow it every single day to be done to our fellow Americans. What kind of people are we? Please Wake UP! With Respect, Veritas