Several times, during weekday evenings, students pursuing careers as "correction officers" have peered through the window of our rooms, they tour the compound, visiting various units. Their teacher, an Assistant Warden at Pekin FCI (Federal Corrections Institute), guides them.

I wonder what students think and say after completing the tour.

I'm surprised, myself, at how manageable the room I share with 9 other prisoners seems to be, just now. Sunlight floods the 18' x 18' space which contains 6 bunk beds, one single bed, 8 lockers, a wooden table and 4 plastic chairs. It could pass for a dorm at an inexpensive youth hostel. Catholic Worker houses of hospitality across the country similarly try to utilize space to shelter as many people as possible. With warmer weather here, some women have replaced olive colored wool blankets with white bedspreads. This brightens the room. Today is Sunday. Soft snores sound comforting to me, as several women, who worked all week, most earning 12 cents per hour, are "sleeping in" and sleeping soundly.

The Pekin, IL Federal Prison Camp, FPC, assigns new prisoners to this space, called "the bus stop," until a bed is freed in one of the two "alleys," or corridors. Prisoners who violate a rule are also sent here, as punishment. Four of us are newcomers. Six have been placed here for discipline.

"The bus stop is turning into a war zone," one young prisoner observed, earlier today, over breakfast. "Didn't you hear that argument last night?" I'm glad I slept through it. My friend told me that several women returned from a card game, close to midnight and awakened others by rustling through lockers and slamming doors. An argument erupted, leading to an exasperated threat, by one woman, to "snitch." Squabbles between crowded, anxious prisoners are predictable, and they surely wear on people. But the most remarkable feature of prison life, from my limited experience, (I served 9 moths in a maximum security prison in 1989), is the quiet courage that generally prevails amongst the majority of women prisoner's I've met.

The living conditions in prisons may not appear onerous to visitors on guided tours. Decisions to limit possessions, issue clothing, and regulate fixed daily schedules can be justified as sensible measures. Many communities, such as the Catholic Worker Houses of Hospitality, struggle with issues that arise over sharing space, meals, tasks, and house rules. The cruel flaw in the prison system lies in the intent to punish people rather than help them. Women must develop and draw from extraordinary reserves of positive, creative energy to battle against the tedium, the routine, and the enforced idleness that descends on people-"the prison fog," as one former prisoner described it.

Mothers separated from their children face deepest grief, often feel intense guilt, and yet try to mother their children from afar. Throughout long days, months and years of imprisonment, women learn to cope with resentment toward those who profit from their incarceration-the judges, prosecutors, prison architects, corporation executives and the paid employees of the prisons.

Apparent "management" was on display for our wide-eyed student visitors this month. But systems, regulations, routines and carefully designed units mask the futility and stupidity of the US prison-industrial complex. Just a few conversations with prisoners swiftly uncover the chaos and confusion caused by wrongheaded policies, which the student visitors are prepared to enforce.

"I was abused every day of my life, as a child," said one young prisoner. "I felt like the only added thing they could do to me was kill me." She's a talented artist. Almost every day, she sketches and colors portraits and scenery on starched handkerchiefs. Working on the floor, next to the bus stop table, she carefully letters "I am the resurrection and the life," next to the visage of Jesus' face which she has just drawn. She can't leave the bus stop until she agrees to pay a court imposed fine. "I'm not going to impose that fine on my relatives," she states, while shading Jesus's cheekbones. "There's nothing these people can do that scares me. I don't care if I spend my whole sentence in the bus stop."

Imagine a young woman who recalls suffering abuse almost everyday of her childhood growing up to learn that authorities who never helped her then have now set up a decade of punishment for the beginning of her adult life. Once, she escaped into drug use. A court convicted her of a nonviolent drug-related crime. Now she dreams of becoming a missioner in a far away land.

Some may say that the prison system is necessary so that society can isolate abusive people from defenseless victims. That's not true. Abusive people can be separated from victims and helped to cope with their sick behavior without losing every other human freedom. Again, the Catholic Worker Houses of Hospitality come to mind. Working as volunteers, seeking merely the chance to join communities dedicated to the works of mercy and simple living, hundreds of idealistic, kindly people have set up havens for their fellow human beings, aiming to treat them as guests and together form community. At no cost to US tax payers, these communities have been replicated in many of the neediest sections of urban and rural America. They make it plausible to envision alternatives to lengthy incarcerations of people who've committed nonviolent crimes. They offer a shining testament to the wrongheaded inadequacy of the US prison system as a means to solve human problems.

Five cottonwood trees grow on the compound, plus one maple tree and one fir tree. Some women prisoners have watched these trees grow since they were seedlings, planted six years ago. The Pekin prison camp doesn't attract many birds, but during early morning hours we hear birdsongs from nearby fields. I'm often reminded of a bird taking flight when I see a woman's spirits soar because of an unexpected compliment or simple, sincere words of appreciation.

I see women's spirits uplifted many times each day. Equally edifying are the persistent efforts to generate legislative action on prison reform bills, particularly those that would reduce long sentences. This weekend, an efficient team of women created and distributed information about way to build support for HR 4036 which Rep. Danny Davis D-IL introduced into the House of Representatives on March 25, 2004. The bill would revise the system of parole for federal inmates. Even "short-term" prisoners eagerly notify their friends and relatives "on the outside" to push for this legislation.

Mail call, a particularly intense half-hour, follows the 4:00 p.m. daily count, on weekdays. Women cluster around a plastic mail bin. A guard reads aloud a name on each envelope in the bin and waits for the recipient to say "Pass it."

"We live for mail call," said a long-term prisoner. "It's our only lifeline to the outside." Pangs of disappointment flash across many faces, as most women walk away empty handed. But that quiet courage returns.

The Assistant Warden's curious students probably won't study stories of quietly courageous women who survive the managed but cruelly stupid criminal justice system in the US. They'll very likely read, write and talk about security and safety, learning ways to supposedly safeguard US communities from threats to their well-being. I believe they're being taught by people who've engendered a false sense of security, amongst US people, by helping expand a burgeoning network of "correctional facilities." If teachers and researchers concerned with security issues were to address the gravest problems that threaten US people today, they would study ways to abolish the manufacture, storage, sale and threatened use of nuclear weapons. They would work to abolish the causes of war. They'd identify and help prevent the devastating environmental damage that rages against our planet's biodiversity. They'd promote honest assessment of the major causes of premature death in our society, e.g., traffic accidents, many of them caused by drunk driving; tobacco use, obesity, and use of firearms. They'd challenge themselves to promote a healthier society, educating young people to resist slick marketing strategies that lure them into consuming and paying for bad products.

Initiating and pursuing wide curricula that would revamp current notions of providing security would require courageous innovators who could persevere when the odds are against them. Where can we return for role models who exemplify determined, persistent courage? One place I'd recommend is Pekin FPC. In the short span of time I'll spend here, it will be a privilege and a gift to absorb even a fraction of the quiet enduring courage I observe.

The Warden's Tour is too short, too superficial. I wish he and his students would venture inside the "bus stop," and stay for just three days. It could save them from participating in an abysmally failed system.

Kathy Kelly, co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness and three-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, began a four-month prison sentence April 7th for her actions of civil disobedience at the School of the Americas/WHISC and an ELF tower in Wisconsin. Kathy  and other prisoners at Pekin are strongly encouraging legislative action in support of House Resolution 4036 introduced by Rep. Danny Davis, (D, IL) on March 25, 2004. The resolution would revive the system of parole for federal inmates. Calls and letters to elected officials seeking their support for this bill are crucially needed. The number of the Capitol switchboard is 202-225-3121.

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