"It was a cold Saturday morning, and the rest of the women and I were catching up on sleep. I awoke to banging on my door. "Get up and get dressed!" a voice yelled. I began frantically asking where I was going. My bunkie woke up and tried to assure me that I was probably being drug tested or taken on a medical trip; she told me that I would be back shortly. "A medical trip on the weekend? No way," I thought to myself."
"One of the officers told me to place my hands behind my back. The cold metal of handcuffs hugged my wrists, and my heart began to echo my mind's suspicions. But the officers kept talking, claiming that they did not know what was happening, as they escorted my trembling body to the place no prisoner wants to go: the Special Housing Unit (SHU), solitary confinement."
On January 25, 2025, a woman incarcerated in a federal prison was abruptly awakened and escorted by multiple male officers to the Special Housing Unit. She was handcuffed, forced to strip, squat, and cough, and issued a thin orange jumpsuit. She spent hours in a holding cell with only a stool and a cage door, repeatedly asking staff for an explanation. Staff claimed ignorance and told her to calm down while a lieutenant was said to be arriving. The experience produced fear, confusion, and a reminder that outside events and prison procedures can profoundly disrupt incarcerated lives.
Read at Truthout
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