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Saturday, June 14th, 2008 周六， 2008年6月14日

Corporations are getting rich using federal prisoners as captive labor pools. 公司是致富使用联邦囚犯作为专属自保劳动泳池。

By 通过 Betty Brink 贝蒂的边缘 | Unless she’s dying or recovering from surgery, a patient at the Federal Medical Center-Carswell must work. |除非她的死亡或康复手术，病人在联邦医学中心- carswell必须的工作。 The hospital out on the banks of 医院列于银行

Lake Worth湖值得 is run by the Bureau of Prisons, and its patients are women who have been convicted of federal crimes.是由主席团监狱，和病人是妇女，谁被定罪的联邦罪行。 Bureau rules require all prisoners — even those in wheelchairs — to work at whatever jobs their infirmities will allow, from scrubbing floors to cleaning toilets.主席团议事规则，要求所有囚犯-即使那些在轮椅-工作，在什么职位，他们将允许的毛病，从擦洗地板清洁厕所。

Just across the street from the hospital complex is a camp for minimum-security women prisoners who are not ill. 街对面的医院复杂的是一个营的最低安全女囚犯谁是没有生病。 They get most of the hot, hard jobs — cleaning boilers, welding, mowing. 他们大部分的热点，勤奋工作-清洁锅炉，焊接，刈割。 The pay is a lousy 12 cents an hour with no raises. 薪酬是一个糟糕的12美分一小时没有提出。 That’s why a job that many on the outside would take only as a last resort is the most coveted in the compound: Ernestine the telephone operator. 这就是为什么一份工作，许多对外界将采取只作为最后的手段，是最觊觎在复合： ernestine电话营办商。

So when you call directory assistance using, say, Excel Telecommunications, chances are good your inquiry might be answered by a federal prisoner. 因此，当您呼叫的目录援助使用，也就是说， Excel中电信，机会是好的，您的查询可能会回答的一个联邦囚犯。 At Carswell, a fifth of the prison workforce — most from the camp but a few from the hospital as well — get to sit in cubicles in an air-conditioned building, start at almost double the pay of the regular prison jobs, and, if they behave and don’t make mistakes, get regular raises until they reach the maximum pay of — hold onto your hat — $1.45 an hour. 在carswell ，五分之一的劳动人口监狱-大部分从营地，但数从医院以及-去静坐在房间，在一个有空气调节的建设，开始在几乎增加了一倍的薪酬，经常监狱的职位，以及如果他们的行为和不犯错误，得到定期提出，直到他们达到最高的薪酬-举行到您的帽子- 1. 45美元一小时。 Of course, they have to work seven and a half years to reach that maximum. 当然，他们要工作7年半，以达到最高的。 And since this center hasn’t been open long enough for anyone to make the maximum, the highest pay at Carswell is $1.15 an hour. 由于这一中心尚未开放，只要足以让任何人作出最大的，最高支付carswell是1.15元一个小时。

With toothpaste at $5.95 in the prison commissary, inmates who take those calls for Excel have to work between five and 25 hours to earn enough for one tube. 与牙膏在五点九五美元在监狱小卖部，犯人谁考虑这些要求的Excel有工作之间的5和25个小时赚取足够为一管。 But by comparison, they’re lucky: Women who work at other prison jobs have to sweat out 49 hours for the luxury of brushing their teeth. 但相比之下，他们很幸运 ： 妇女谁的工作在其他监狱工作要流汗出四九小时为奢侈品，刷牙他们的牙齿。

The math on the other end is even simpler, if grander in scale: Excel, a $2.5 billion global company, comes out the clear winner. 数学上的另一端，是更简单，如果在宏伟的规模： Excel中， 25亿美元的全球性的公司，出来的明确的赢家。 If the 19-year-old Irving-based long-distance carrier had to pay no more than minimum wage to non-prison 如果今年19岁的欧文为基础的长途承运人支付不超过最低工资的非监狱

US美国 workers to field calls from its worldwide network, it would cost the company $900 a month per worker, plus benefits and payments to Social Security.工人从外地呼吁其全球网络，它将成本，该公司900元，每月每名工人，加上福利和支付社会保障。 The 370 prison workers in Excel’s call center at Carswell make $180 a month at most, with no benefits. 370监狱工人在Excel中的呼叫中心在carswell作出180元，每月最多，没有任何好处。

But the Carswell prisoners are far from the only ones participating in this exercise in government-assisted capitalism. 但carswell囚犯远远唯一参加本次演习在政府资助的资本主义。

How many people know that when they dial 411, the operator at the other end of the call is often a federal prisoner? 有多少人知道，当他们拨打411 ，营办商在另一端的呼吁，往往是一个联邦犯人？ Or that when they call to reserve a camping space at a national park, the person taking their personal information may be sitting in a cubicle in a maximum-security prison? 或者，当他们要求预留一个空间，露营在一个国家公园，该人以他们的个人资料可能会坐在一个房间，在最高安全监狱？ Or that the body armor for the soldiers fighting in 或该机构的铠甲为士兵的战斗 Iraq 伊拉克 and 和

Afghanistan阿富汗 is being manufactured by federal inmates?目前正在制造的联邦犯人？

In what critics call slave labor and advocates call job training, more than 100 factories and service centers in federal prisons across the United States employ inmates in jobs such as those above and hundreds more, making everything from underwear to military gear to intricate electrical components, all under the umbrella of a near-billion-dollar corporation known as the Federal Prison Industries, Inc., trade name Unicor. 在什么批评者呼吁奴隶劳动和主张呼吁在职培训， 100多个工厂和服务中心，在联邦监狱美国各地雇用囚犯的工作，如上述，数百人，使一切从内衣到军事装备，以错综复杂的电气元件，所有的保护伞下一个近10亿美元公司称为联邦监狱工业公司，商标名称unicor 。

This little-known and wholly owned arm of the BOP has come under fire in recent years from environmentalists, prison reform groups, and congressional investigative committees for, among other things, exposing inmate workers to dangerous levels of lead and other toxins in its computer recycling centers. 这个鲜为人知的全资拥有，旗下的国际收支平衡表已受到火警中，近年来从环保，监狱改革团体，以及国会的调查委员会，除其他事项外，揭露犯人工人危险浓度的铅和其他毒素，在其电脑回收中心。 The company has also been investigated for profiting from sales of tens of thousands of excess Defense Department computers that were supposed to be given free to low-income schools around the country and, what may be worse, failing to remove sensitive data from the computers it resold. 该公司也被调查，从中获利的销售数以万计的过剩国防部的计算机被假定得到免费向低收入学校周围的国家，什么可能是更糟的是，未能删除敏感的数据，从有关的电脑资讯科技转售。 Unions and even the US Chamber of Commerce are up in arms over its use of dirt-cheap prison labor to take jobs from the private sector. 工会和甚至美国商会的成立是在武器使用的污垢-廉价监狱劳动采取的职位来自私营部门。

The prison workers are just as unhappy. 监狱工人正如不满。 Unicor and the companies it contracts with “are making a killing off of us here,” one of the Carswell workers wrote recently to Fort Worth Weekly. unicor和公司的合同，它与“作出了杀害过我们这里， ”其中的carswell工人写了最近Fort Worth的周刊。 “And then we leave prison and have nothing to fall back on. “然后我们离开监狱，并没有任何依傍。 Just think how beneficial it would be if they paid at least minimum wage, paid into Social Security … so that we would have something when we leave, old and broken down.” 试想想，如何有利于便，如果他们支付至少最低工资，存入社会保障…让我们希望能有一些当我们离开，旧和碎下来“ 。

There’s another Carswell prisoner who may be in a better position than most to help shine a spotlight into this dark corner of the federal prison system. 还有一个carswell囚犯谁可能会处于更有利的地位比大多数，以帮助聚光灯照耀到这个黑暗的角落，联邦监狱系统。 “This prison is making huge profits off of nothing more than slave labor and then marking up prices by as much as 50 percent in the commissary, making even more profit off of all us,” Karen Lucchesi Lewis said. “这个监狱是赚大钱小康从无到有以上的奴隶劳动和标记，然后由价格上涨高达50 ％ ，在小卖部，决策，甚至更丰厚的利润起飞，所有我们， ”克伦lucchesi刘易斯说。

Lewis has been a lot of things in her 42 years. 刘易斯一直是很多事情在她42岁。 She has known fame as the daughter of legendary Texas Rangers baseball manager Frank Lucchesi. 她已知的美誉的女儿传奇德州游骑兵棒球队经理弗兰克lucchesi 。 She has owned and managed a multi-million-dollar spa and wellness center. 她拥有和管理的一个多万美元的水疗和健康中心。 She has been an honored volunteer fund-raiser for charities in her hometown of Colleyville. 她一直是荣幸义工筹款慈善在她的家乡colleyville 。 And, as a sufferer from lupus, she has been a proponent of naturalized medicine. 和，作为一个从红斑性狼疮患者，她一直主张归化医药。 What she never dreamed of becoming was an advocate for women in prison — especially one advocating from inside the walls. 她从未梦想成为一个倡导妇女在监狱中-尤其是一主张由内墙壁。 But that is exactly what she is these days, turning a shattering life change into a “mission from God,” as she calls it. 不过，这正是她这些天来，把破碎的生活改变成一个“的使命来自上帝的， ”她呼吁。

For the last three years Lewis has been doing time at Carswell, after getting caught up in a money-laundering sting aimed at the man who at that time handled legal matters for her business and who got off with a light sentence after testifying against her. 在过去的三年刘易斯已经做的时间carswell ，后却被挡在了洗钱斯汀，着眼于男子，谁在这个时间处理法律事务，为她的生意，谁下车，与从轻发落之后，对她作证。 In court, her criminal lawyer presented a defense so weak that even the sentencing judge commented on it. 在法庭上，她的刑事律师，提交了一份防御薄弱，所以，即使判刑法官评论。 Still, Federal Judge John McBryde sent her to prison for 78 months. 不过，联邦法官约翰mcbryde发送她的监狱，为78个月。

While her new attorney, her family, and supporters such as North Side businessman Mike Costanza are working to get her conviction overturned, Lewis is on another quest. 而她的新律师，她的家人和支持者，如北边的商人麦克costanza工作得到她的定罪被推翻，刘易斯是在另一追求。 She wants to expose the injustices that she said she has witnessed since she entered the Carswell compound in 2004 — everything from “terrible medical neglect to women being used as slave labor for the prison to make millions in profits.” 她要揭露不公正她说，她曾目睹以来，她进入carswell复合在2004年-一切从“可怕的医疗忽视妇女被用来作为奴隶劳动，为监狱，使数百万的利润” 。

Regardless of whether one believes in her innocence, Lewis is a high-profile inmate who is unafraid to speak out about a culture of abuse at Carswell that has been reported by the Weekly in an ongoing series since 1999. 无论是否有人认为在她的清白，刘易斯是一个高姿态的犯人，谁是不怕讲出的文化，滥用carswell已报告的在每周一进行了一系列自1999年以来。 Now, to the prison’s litany of well-documented medical horror stories, rape, and sexual misconduct cases, are added allegations that the inmates are being exploited by a government industry that few citizens have ever heard of — even though it has been around since 1934. 现在，监狱的一系列证据确凿的医疗恐怖故事，强奸，和性行为不端的情况下，加上指控说，犯人是被剥削的由政府行业数公民有听说过-即使它已围绕自1934年以来。 Someone’s making millions off the labor of the women at Carswell and thousands like them across the country — but it sure isn’t the inmates. 某人的小康，使数百万的劳动妇女在carswell和成千上万像他们整个国家-但它肯定的是，不是犯人。

During the depths of the Great Depression, 在深处的大萧条，

US美国 federal prisons were filling up with men and women who in many cases had done nothing more heinous than stealing bread to feed their families or hopping a freight train to search for work.联邦监狱被填补与男人和女人谁在许多情况下，做了什么更令人发指的比偷面包养活他们的家人或跳频一列货运列车，以寻找工作。 In that swelling population, President Franklin Roosevelt saw not only a need but an opportunity.在这膨胀的人口，总统富兰克林罗斯福看到的不仅是一个需要，但一个机会。 With a stroke of his pen, the Federal Prison Industry/Unicor was born, designed as a work program to teach inmates skills they could use when they were released.与中风，他的笔，联邦监狱工业/ unicor出生，设计为一个工作计划，教导犯人的技能，他们可以利用时，他们被释放。 The presidential order, later made into law, carried with it a requirement that all federal agencies would have to buy from FPI when they needed any of the products manufactured by the prison industry.总统令，后来成为法律，带有规定所有联邦机构将不得不购买外国证券投资当他们需要的任何产品的监狱工业。 The initiative got $4 million in tax-revenue seed money but was required to be self-sustaining from then on.倡议得到了400万美元的税收种子资金，但须自我维持的，然后从对。 Private businesses could not bid for the work, even if they offered lower prices and better quality.民营企业不能申办工作，即使他们提供更低的价格和更好的质量。 Conversely, Unicor was prohibited from selling to private businesses — a limitation honored more in the breach these days, thanks to Bureau of Prisons legal maneuvering.反过来说， unicor被禁止销售给民营企业-限制荣幸，更在违反这些天来，感谢主席团的监狱法律机动。

Prison industry advocates say the “factories with fences” train inmates for jobs on the outside. 监狱产业的倡导者说， “工厂与篱笆墙” ，列车在囚人士的工作对外部。 They say the work reduces recidivism and boredom and gives inmates a source of income to help pay their court fines, support families, or spend at the commissary. 他们说，工作减少累犯和无聊，并给出在囚人士的收入来源，以帮助他们支付法院罚款，支持家庭，或花费小卖部。 Critics, on the other hand, describe them as Dickensian places where laborers have no workplace protection, are routinely exposed to cancer-causing toxins, and are exempt from federal labor laws, which means they can be forced to accept wages lower than those in 批评，另一方面，形容他们为dickensian地方的劳动者没有工作保障，经常暴露于致癌毒素造成，并免受联邦劳动法，这意味着它们可以被迫接受工资低于那些在

Third World第三次世界 countries.国家。 Private companies seeking government business complain they are forced to compete unfairly with Unicor.私营公司寻求政府业务的抱怨，他们被迫不公平的竞争与unicor 。

For the last several years, the US Chamber of Commerce, labor unions, and prison reform groups such as FedCure have all pushed for legislation that would outlaw Unicor’s preferential treatment and require the corporation to pay minimum wage. 对于过去几年，美国商会，工会，及监狱改革团体，如fedcure都被推为立法会unicor取缔的优惠待遇，并要求该公司支付最低工资。 Members of Congress from states whose manufacturing businesses have lost millions in government contracts to Unicor have taken up the cause, but to date the corporation has been able to fend off all such efforts. 国会议员们从国家的制造企业失去了数百万美元的政府合约，以unicor已采取行动的原因，但至今该公司已能击退所有这些努力。

By 2006 Unicor had come a long way from that initial $4 million. 2006年unicor已走过了漫长的道路，从最初的400万美元。 Last year, according to its annual report, the corporation held assets of $730 million in 108 factories and service centers at 79 prisons across the country. 去年，根据其年度报告中，该公司举行了资产七三〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇 〇美元在108工厂及服务中心，在79个监狱的该国各地。 Its gross sales were $718 million with profits of $71.2 million. 其销售总额分别为7.18亿美元，与利润七千一百二十○万美元。 Those profits were produced by more than 21,000 inmate laborers who made, on average, $1,700 for a year’s work. 这些利润所产生的超过21000的犯人，劳动者是谁，平均一千七美元了一年的工作。 The profits aren’t, as one might suspect, plowed back into the prison system to, say, improve healthcare services at Carswell or reduce the inflated prices for basic personal hygiene supplies at prison commissaries. 利润，并非如人们可能怀疑，拨到监狱系统，例如，改善医疗服务，在carswell或减少价格膨胀，为个人基本卫生用品在监狱commissaries 。 Instead, it is plowed back into Unicor. 相反，它是拨到unicor 。

One its harshest critics is US Rep. Pete Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican who has been trying since at least 2000 to get legislation passed that would reform Unicor and force it to compete with private companies. 一，其最严厉的批评者是美国众议员皮特hoekstra ，密歇根州共和党谁一直在试图以来，至少2000年获得通过的法例，将改革unicor和迫使它竞争，与私营公司。 He said that the requirement that federal agencies must buy from Unicor allows it to perpetuate itself without regard to whether that is the best option for agencies and for prisoners themselves. 他说，规定联邦机构必须购买从unicor允许它长期存在本身没有考虑这是否是最佳的选择，为机构和为囚犯本身。

One congressional aide, who asked for anonymity, said that Hoekstra has found no evidence that those who run the corporation are enriching themselves. 一国会助理，谁要求匿名，他说hoekstra没有发现任何证据证明这些谁运行，该公司是充实自己。 But, he said, it’sa “giant Ponzi scheme,” that requires more and more millions to feed its ever-expanding enterprises. 但他说，这是“巨人ponzi计划 ” ，需要越来越多的数百万养活日益扩大的企业。

In recent years, Unicor has added to its list of factory-made products what it calls “services”: computer recycling centers, industrial laundry services, printing shops, and call centers — all for sale to private, for-profit companies in spite of the law’s prohibiting language. 在近年来， unicor增加了其名单工厂制造的产品它所谓的“服务” ：电脑回收中心，工业洗衣服务，印刷店，和呼叫中心-所有出售给私人，非营利公司，尽管该法的禁止的语言。 BOP Director Harry Lappin, who is also head of Unicor, maneuvered around that little obstacle in the law, apparently successfully, when he testified before a congressional committee last year that the corporation’s new offerings are “a service, not a product” and that therefore the law does not apply. 国际收支平衡表的主任哈里莱萍女士，谁是负责人也unicor ，机动左右的小障碍，在法律上，显然是成功的 ， 当他作证之前，国会一个委员会去年该公司的新产品是“服务，而不是一个产品”因此，法律并不适用。 Unicor now advertises its call centers on its web page and in its catalogs as “domestic outsourcing at offshore prices.” unicor现在宣扬其呼叫中心在其网页，并在其目录为“外包在国内的离岸价格” 。

Three major national communications networks use the “domestic outsourcing” call center at Carswell for their directory assistance services, according to FPI program director Todd Baldau. 三个主要国家的通讯网络上使用“国内外包”的呼叫中心在carswell为他们的目录援助服务，根据外国证券投资的项目总监托德巴尔道。 Baldau refused to name the clients, citing “proprietary information.” However, two inmates who currently work at the center, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, said the companies are Excel Telecom, Cricket Communications, and Metro 411. 巴尔道拒绝客户的名称为由， “专有信息” ，但是，两个囚犯谁的工作，目前在该中心，谁询问，不要被确定为害怕报复，说该公司的Excel电信，板球通讯，及新城411 。 Calls and e-mails to the three companies were not returned. 电话和电子邮件向这三家公司均没有回来。 Baldau would not say what the companies pay Unicor for inmate labor for their call centers, but the corporation’s 2006 annual report listed sales of $27.8 million from its 18 service centers, including Carswell, with profits of $2.5 million. 巴尔道不会说什么，公司的薪酬unicor为犯人劳动，为他们的呼叫中心，但该公司的2006年年报上市销售二七八〇 〇 〇 〇 〇美元从18个服务中心，包括carswell ，利润250万美元。

The policy that all prisoners in federal lockups must work, including the less critically ill patients in prison hospitals, is designed to keep prisoners occupied as much as anything, bureau spokesman Mike Truman said in an interview for an earlier story. 的政策，所有囚犯在联邦拘留所必须工作，包括较低的危重病人在监狱医院，目的是让囚犯被占领高达任何事情，局发言人麦克杜鲁门在接受采访时说，为较早的故事。 “Life can get very boring in prison,” he said, and reducing boredom reduces the potential for trouble among inmates. “生活可以变得非常沉闷，在监狱中 ， ”他说，减少烦恼，减少潜在的麻烦之间的囚犯。

Working for Unicor “is a privilege for good inmates with a smidgen of education,” said a former Carswell prison employee who asked not to be named. 工作unicor “是一种特权，良好的囚犯与smidgen教育，说： ”前carswell监狱雇员谁要求不具名的。 “They are monitored heavily, are lectured frequently, and really do their jobs in fear of losing them if they mess up. “他们是监察重，讲学，频繁，确实他们的职位，害怕失去他们，如果他们的烂摊子。 … The work is easy, conditions are better [than any other jobs there], and the work is useful on their resumés once they get out. …工作是容易的，条件更好的[比其他任何职位，有] ，和工作是有益的就其resumés他们一旦失控。 … That’s why jobs with Unicor are coveted.” The call center at Carswell has been open for more than five years. …这就是为什么职位unicor是觊觎的“呼叫中心在carswell已开放的5年以上。 Women sit in a small, guarded, air-conditioned building near the center of the compound, taking directory assistance calls in eight-hour shifts, 24 hours a day. 妇女静坐在一个很小的，森严，设有空气调节系统建设的中心附近的复合，以目录的援助呼吁，在8小时轮班，每天24小时。

Sweatier non-Unicor jobs basically cover maintenance work at the prison camp and hospital, including groundskeeping, floor-scrubbing, plumbing, welding, carpentry, and cleaning the boilers that provide hot water and heat for the compound. sweatier非unicor工作，基本上涵盖维修工作，在监狱和医院，包括groundskeeping ，地板擦洗，管道，焊接，木工，和清洁锅炉提供热水和热复合。 “They even work on the elevators,” said former inmate Dana Corum. “他们甚至工作，对电梯，说： ”前犯人德纳乔鲁姆。 “And that’sa full-time job because those dang elevators were always out.” “ that'sa全职兼职工作，因为这些党的电梯总是出来” 。

Prison officials also refused to discuss details of Unicor pay scales. 监狱官员也拒绝讨论细节， unicor薪级表。 But one of the inmates who provided the names of the Unicor client companies wrote to the Weekly that the pay starts at 23 cents an hour with incremental raises that top out at $1.15 an hour. 但其中一名囚犯谁提供的名称，该unicor公司客户写信给周刊的薪酬始于23美分， 1小时与增量提出了最列于1.15美元一小时。 She said that after 18 months on the job, the women get an additional 10 cents an hour for “longevity” and another 5 cents an hour for each 18 months after that up to 80 months. 她说，经过18个月对就业，妇女得到额外的10美分一小时的“长寿”和另外5美分， 1小时每18个月后，高达80个月。 At that point, they will have “maxed out” at around $1.45 an hour. 在这一点上，他们将有“ maxed ”在靠近1.45美元一小时。 “There are a few ‘premium pay’ positions that rate an extra 25 cents an hour … for being extra important to the operations — or the most liked,” she wrote. “有几个'的保费支付'的立场，率一额外的25美分一小时… …为被额外的重要行动-或最喜欢的， ”她写道。 It takes “political … shit to get these spots.” 它以“政治… shit外围得到这些景点” 。

The Spokane Area Journal of Business reported last year that regular call center jobs in this country start their workers at more than $11 an hour, plus benefits. 该斯波坎地区商业杂志报道，去年，经常呼叫中心的工作在这个国家，开始他们的工人超过11元一小时，再加上利益。 Call center personnel in 呼叫中心的工作人员在

India印度 , by comparison, make between $159 and $204 a month, although those salaries are expected to rise soon, as other offshore costs of business have already begun doing. ，相比之下，使美元之间， 159和二〇四美元一个月，虽然这些薪酬预期上升很快，其他境外的营商成本已经开始这样做。 Then there’s Carswell, where monthly pay ranges from $36 to $180 a month.然后还有carswell ，如果每月支付范围从36元到180元一个月。

And since the prison laborers receive no benefits: and no Social Security, the private companies that contract with the prisons save on those substantial costs as well. 由于监狱的劳动者没有获得任何好处：没有社会保障，私人公司的合约与监狱保存对这些巨额费用，以及。 Average cost to an employer for health insurance for a family of four in 2007 is around $9,000 a year according to Towers Perrin, a global business financial management firm. 平均成本，以雇主为健康保险，为一家四口在2007年左右，九○○○美元1年，根据韬睿，一个全球性企业，金融管理公司。 And then there’s that 9.1 percent matching contribution to Social Security and Medicare for each employee. 然后还有的认为， 9.1 ％的匹配的贡献，社会保障和医疗保险，为每名雇员。

Unlike Indian workers, American inmates don’t have to pay for all their living costs from those salaries — but Indian workers, on the other hand, don’t have to pay almost $2 for soap. 不像印度工人，美国的囚犯没有支付他们所有的生活费用从这些薪酬-但印度工人，另一方面，不必缴交几乎2元的肥皂。 Inmates are required to buy all personal items, and often meet some dietary needs, from the prison’s commissary. 犯人被要求购买的所有个人物品，而且往往满足一些饮食需要，从监狱的小卖部。

Most can’t afford just the basic things that are necessary for their health and hygiene, said Lewis, who is one of the few who has a family able to put money into her prison account, to a maximum of $300 a month. 最不能只是基本的东西是必要的对他们的健康和卫生，刘易斯说，谁是少数谁有一个家庭能够把钱存进监狱，她的帐户，最高300元一个月。 A commissary price sheet lists a bar of bath soap at $1.65, deodorant at $2.80, and a box of regular tampons at $5.30. 一小卖部的价格表中列出了酒吧的浴皂1.65美元，除臭剂在2.80美元，和一个方框，定期卫生巾在五点三○美元。 For diabetics, who must buy their own non-sugar products, a 50-count box of Equal packets costs $3.80. 为糖尿病患者，谁必须购买自己的非糖产品， 50计数框平等包成本3.80美元。 Many of the women at Carswell come from poor families. 许多妇女在carswell来自贫困家庭。 Some have been abandoned by their families, and only a few have loved ones who can send them money for such basic needs. 一些人已被遗弃他们的家人，只有少数有亲人谁可以把他们的钱等的基本需要。

Corum, a diabetic, spent five years at Carswell, off and on. 乔鲁姆，糖尿病，花了五年在carswell ，起飞和对。 She was sent to 她被送往

Marianna marianna , ， Fla.佛罗里达州 , for a year midway in her sentence as retaliation, she believes, for speaking to the Weekly for an earlier story about the hospital’s poor medical care. ，一年中间，在她的一句作为报复，她认为，向每周一较早的故事医院的穷人的医疗照顾。 Her condition deteriorated so badly at the她的病情恶化，这么差在

Florida佛罗里达州 facility that she was finally sent back to Carswell.设施，她终于被送回carswell 。 She finished her sentence two years ago.她完成了她一句两年前。 She did not work in the call center but had friends who did.她没有工作，呼叫中心，但谁没有朋友。

Even though the women work under strict guidelines, which forbid them to ask callers for personal information or tell them their calls have been routed to a prison, the jobs can be enjoyable and provide some relief from the rigidity of prison life, Corum said. 即使妇女工作，根据严格的准则，禁止他们要求来电者提供个人信息，或告诉他们，他们的呼吁已改为以一所监狱，工作可以愉快，并提供一些救济，从刚度监狱生活，乔鲁姆说。 “They had some fun, but the pay is still lousy,” she said, “and the whole thing is a racket that’s making money for the prison and unfairly competing with legitimate businesses.” “他们有一些有趣的，但薪酬仍然是糟糕的， ” 她说， “整个事情是一个球拍说的赚钱监狱和不公平竞争与合法企业” 。

Unfair competition with private business is high on the Communications Workers of America’s list of concerns with the federal call centers because of the resulting loss of jobs for its members, said Candice Johnson, a spokeswoman for the national union. 不公平竞争与民营企业是高对通信工人美国的名单上的关注与联邦的呼叫中心，因为造成的损失的就业机会为其成员说， candice约翰逊的一位女发言人全国联盟。 “Generally, outsourcing has been the big issue” with American communications workers, she said. “一般而言 ， 外包一直是大问题”与美国通讯工人，她说。 “But if those [outsourcing] companies are now bringing back that work to the federal prisons, and still paying the same low wages, that is still an unfair advantage over the other companies that have stayed here and are trying to provide good-paying jobs and good service.” Johnson said the CWA believes the prison jobs do not provide the training that such work requires in order to give good customer service. “但如果这些[外包]公司现正带回这项工作向联邦监狱中，仍然付出同样的工资低，这仍然是一个不公平的优势超过其他公司留在这里，并正设法提供良好的高薪工作而良好的服务。 “约翰逊说， cwa认为，监狱工作，不提供培训，这样的工作需要，为了使良好的客户服务。 “Good companies value good customer service,” she said. “良好的公司价值，良好的客户服务， ”她说。 That was a big problem with the call center jobs that were sent overseas in the first place, she said: Foreign workers read from scripts, and if the customer’s problems didn’t fit the script, the employee was stumped and the customers ended up angry and frustrated. 这是一个很大的问题，与呼叫中心的工作，被送往海外摆在首位，她说：外国工人从阅读剧本，如果客户的问题并不合适的剧本，雇员stumped和客户结束截至既愤怒又沮丧。 For that reason, she said, companies like AT&T and US Airways are in the process of bringing their call centers back to this country. 出于这个原因，她说，公司如AT ＆ T公司和美国航空公司是在这一过程中实现他们的呼叫中心回到这个国家。 “People [in prison] need the opportunity to learn skills” but Unicor is not the answer, she said. “人[在监狱中]需要的机会，学习技能” ，但unicor不是问题的答案，她说。

The system has its defenders outside the prison system. 该系统有其捍卫者以外的监狱制度。 Journalist Harry Sheff, in an article for a web-based business magazine, wrote in July that “Unicor call centers don’t compete with American jobs — they only take on contracts that were about to be outsourced overseas.” 问哈利sheff ，在一篇文章中为一个基于网络的商业杂志中写道， 7月， “ unicor呼叫中心不竞争，美国就业机会-他们只需要对合同即将外包海外” 。

Other voices of protest are coming from the US Chamber of Commerce, whose director of legislative affairs told National Public Radio in September, “We do not believe Federal Prison Industries should continue its unfettered expansion into the commercial marketplace. 其他的声音，抗议都来自美国商会的 ， 其主任法制办告诉全国公共广播电台在9月， “ 我们不相信美国联邦监狱工业应继续其不受约束扩展到商业市场。 … The business community is extremely concerned about this.” Future expansion by Unicor is possible because of the enormous increase in the prison population in recent years — an involuntary workforce numbering close to 200,000 now and increasing by about 2.5 percent annually. …商业界是非常关心这一点。 “未来扩张的unicor是有可能的，因为大量增加，在监狱人口在近几年-非自愿的劳动力号码接近二十万，现在增加约2 .5％每年。

Unicor now offers more than 140 products and services for sale to other government agencies, with more than half its output bought by the Department of Defense — by far its largest customer, especially since the beginning of the Iraq war. unicor现在提供超过140个产品和服务出售给其他政府机构，一半以上的产量买了由国防部-到目前为止，其最大的客户，特别是自伊拉克战争开始。 Like every other defense contractor, Unicor has benefitted from the war and dislikes competition. 像每一个其他的国防承包商， unicor亦受惠于战争的好恶竞争。 “While we expect the continuing war effort [to] provide another year of excellent work opportunities for our inmates, that situation will not last indefinitely,” Unicor directors wrote in the 2006 annual report. “虽然我们预期持续不断的战争努力， [ ]提供另一年的出色工作机会，为我们的犯人，这种情况不会持续下去， ” unicor董事中写道， 2006年年度报告。 “We are positioning to a post-war environment.” “我们的定位，以战后的环境” 。

Another similarity between Unicor and other military contractors has been its propensity for corruption. 另一之间的相似性unicor和其他军事承包商已被其倾向腐败。

When she was at the Federal Correctional Institution Marianna in 当她在联邦惩教所，在marianna

Florida佛罗里达州 , “there was a big Unicor scandal,” Corum said. “有一个大unicor丑闻” ，乔鲁姆说。 “They were selling stuff, government stuff, out of open-air sheds on the grounds, just like a flea market.” Corum said she witnessed huge trucks pulling up and unloading all kinds of computers and electronic equipment: “There was a real racket going on. “他们卖的东西，政府的东西，走出露天鸡舍，所持理由，就像跳蚤市场” 。乔鲁姆说，她目睹了庞大的卡车拉动和卸载各种计算机和电子设备： “有一个真正的球拍正在进行中。 People who worked there were buying the stuff dirt cheap.”人谁工作有买东西的污垢廉价“ 。

Corum wasn’t exaggerating. 乔鲁姆是不是夸大。 In 2000, Rep. Hoekstra, chairman of the House subcommittee on education and the workforce, opened an investigation into the “racket” that Corum had witnessed, albeit a small part of it. 在2000年，众议员hoekstra ，内务委员会主席的小组委员会，对教育和劳动力，开设了一个调查， “球拍”乔鲁姆曾目击，尽管一小部分。 The FPI “has been taking tens of thousands of items in excess federal government equipment, especially computer equipment, and using them to fuel an entry of unknown scope into the commercial marketplace,” he said at the opening of the subsequent hearing. 科特迪瓦人民阵线“已采取数以万计的项目，超过美国联邦政府的设备，特别是计算机设备，并利用他们的燃料一进入未知的范围，进入商业市场，他说： ”在开幕式随后的听证会。 In other words, they were selling used government equipment, improperly and in huge quantities. 在其他换句话说，他们销售二手设备的政府，不当和庞大的数量。

According to Hoekstra’s office and transcripts of the hearings, Unicor acquired the computers through a process that allows federal agencies that are replacing equipment to pass along outdated but still operable items for use by other agencies. 据hoekstra的办公室和誊本的听证会， unicor收购电脑经历一个过程，允许联邦机构正在取代的设备，通过沿过时，而且仍然可操作性的项目使用的其他机构。 If other federal agencies don’t need the hand-me-downs, the equipment is supposed to be dispersed, free, to nonprofit groups, schools, or state governments. 如果其他联邦机构，并不需要手我下调，该设备是为了分散，免费，自由，以非营利性团体，学校，或州政府。 It is never supposed to be sold. 这是从来没有要出售。

In this case the computers were destined to be sent to poor school districts under a presidential order of Bill Clinton. 在这种情况下，电脑注定将被送到贫困地区的学校，根据总统令的比尔克林顿。 Somehow, FPI got to them first, hauled them out of the warehouses, and began a huge, illegal, garage sale, Hoekstra said. 不知何故，外国证券投资到了他们的第一，拉他们走出仓库，并开始了巨大的，非法的，车库出售， hoekstra说。 He noted that at the time the US Department of Justice was conducting a criminal investigation of Unicor. 他指出，在当时的美国司法部进行的刑事调查unicor 。 “It is high time,” he said. “这是高的时间， ”他说。 “FPI has been out of control for years, exceeding its statutory authority and running wild through the marketplace without any Congressional … authority.” “外国证券投资已失去控制，多年来，超过其法定权力和运行野生通过市场没有任何国会的权力… ” 。

Hoekstra’s evidence showed that during 1999 FPI took almost 60,000 excess items from the Defense Department alone, worth $481 million, and in 2000 added 83,000 more excess items with value estimated at just under $89 million. hoekstra的证据表明，在1999年期间，外国证券投资了近6.0万过剩的项目，由国防部，就有值得四八一零零零零零零美元，并在2000年补充说： 83000更多过剩的项目价值估计在刚刚下的8900万美元。 The company would have topped the $1 billion mark in illegal sales, the chairman said, if not for the “vigilance of a dedicated public servant” who blew the whistle. 该公司将超过10亿美元大关，在非法销售，主席说，如果不是为了“警惕一个专门的公仆”谁引爆了哨子。 FPI’s defense was the “dubious claim” Hoekstra said, that it did not break the law governing its existence because selling the equipment was a service and not a product, the same justification echoed by Lappin last year when Congress questioned the call centers. 外国证券投资的国防是“不三不四索赔” hoekstra说，它没有触犯法律的管治其存在的，因为出售的设备是服务而不是一个产品，同样的理由，赞同莱萍女士去年，当国会质疑的呼叫中心。

As a result of his own investigation, Hoekstra introduced legislation that would have reined the corporation in. It didn’t pass that year, but his spokesman said Hoekstra will keep reintroducing the bill for as long as it takes to get it passed.The most recent scandal involved Unicor’s recycling centers. 由于他自己的调查， hoekstra介绍了立法会reined该公司英寸，它没有通过这一年，但他的发言人说： hoekstra将继续恢复条例草案，只要它需要得到passed.the最最近的丑闻，涉及unicor的回收中心。 A single personal computer contains a toxic cocktail of cancer-causing chemicals, including up to eight pounds of lead, according to a report by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. 一个单一的个人电脑包含的有毒鸡尾酒的癌症造成的化学品，包括多达8磅的铅，据报道，由硅谷有毒物质联盟。 In 2002 SVTC found that prisoners at a maximum-security prison in 在2002年svtc发现囚犯的最高安全监狱中

Merced默塞德 , ， Calif.加州 , were “recycling” computers there by smashing them with hammers or raising them over their heads and slamming them on a metal table.被“回收”电脑有由粉碎他们与锤或提高他们对自己的元首和砰击他们上的金属表。 They were being showered with glass and toxic chemicals.他们被showered与玻璃和有毒化学品。 None was issued protective clothing or face or eye protection, the coalition reported.没有发出的防护衣物或面对或保护眼睛，联合报。 Air quality tests in the room showed high levels of toxins just a few feet from a food-processing area.空气质素测试，在房间内发现高水平的毒素在短短数英尺，从食品加工领域。 Prison personnel refused a supervisor’s repeated requests for improved safety measures.监狱工作人员拒绝了上司的一再要求改进安全的措施。 The supervisor went public, ultimately filing a whistleblower lawsuit.监到公众，最终提起诉讼，举报人。

By 2005 the BOP had admitted that in at least three of its factories, prison workers had been exposed to higher than safe levels of toxic chemicals — but officials said the problem had been fixed. 由2005年的国际收支平衡表已承认，在至少有三个工厂，监狱工人已暴露在高于安全水平的有毒化学品-但官员说，这个问题已被固定。 Not true, said the government’s Office of Special Counsel and called for an investigation by the Justice Department. 但事实并非如此说，政府的办公室特别律师，并要求调查，由司法部。 The investigation is ongoing. 调查工作正在进行中。 In the meantime, Unicor clients such as Dell and the state of 在此期间， unicor客户如戴尔和国家的

California加州 have cancelled their computer recycling contracts with Unicor under pressure from environmental groups, labor unions, and prison reform advocates.已取消他们的电脑回收合同unicor的压力下，环保团体，工会，和监狱改革主张。 Dell chief executive Michael Dell was met at a computer industry gathering by protestors in striped prison garb accusing him of hiring “a high-tech chain gang.” Still, the scandal did not deter戴尔行政长官迈克尔戴尔了在电脑业的聚会，由示威者在监狱条纹外衣指责他雇用“高科技链钢”仍然是，丑闻并没有阻止

Arkansas阿肯色 from giving Unicor an exclusive contract to recycle all of the state’s used computers.从给unicor专访合同回收所有的国家的使用电脑。

Worker exposure to deadly lead, followed by denials and cover-ups, is not new in the prison agency. 工人暴露于致命的铅，其次是否认和隐瞒的UPS ，是不是新在监狱机构。 The Weekly reported on a similar incident that happened at Carswell in 1999, when three federal maintenance workers and a half-dozen female inmate workers were ordered to dismantle a lead-lined medical radiology room at the hospital. 每周报告了类似的事件发生在carswell在1999年，当三个联邦维修工人和半打以上的女性犯人的工人被勒令拆除带头内衬医疗放射室在医院接受治疗。 They were given no protective clothing or breathing equipment, even though they were working in a small room and had to crawl into some of the lead-lined cabinets and grind the lead out. 给他们没有任何的防护衣物或呼吸设备，即使他们工作在一个小房间，并已检索到的一些带头内衬机柜及研磨带头作用。 Three of the civilian workers suffered such serious and irreparable lead poisoning that they can no longer work, and their doctors have said it will shorten their lives. 三的民工遭受如此严重的和不可弥补的铅中毒他们可以不再工作，和他们的医生已经表示，它将缩短他们的生命。 Even their wives and children had high levels of lead in their blood. 甚至他们的妻子儿女了高浓度的铅，在他们的血液。

Karen Lucchesi Lewis wishes that the same kind of pressure brought against Dell could be brought against the telephone companies under Unicor contract at Carswell. 克伦lucchesi刘易斯希望同种带来的压力，对戴尔可能带来的对电话公司根据unicor合同carswell 。 But she is realistic enough to know that it is unlikely to happen. 但她是现实的，足以知道这是不大可能发生。 Women in prison, she said, are forgotten by the public and the Congress — and that includes a woman who ran an $8 million business before her conviction. 妇女在监狱中，她说，被遗忘，由公众和国会-这包括一女，谁然1 8 00万美元的业务之前，她的信念。

Lewis has much more outside support than the average inmate. 刘易斯更为外部的支持，比平均的犯人。 Nelson Thibodeaux, editor of a Colleyville online newspaper, Localnewsonly.com, has written extensively about her case. 纳尔逊thibodeaux ，编辑一colleyville在线报纸， localnewsonly.com ，写了广泛的关于她的案件。

But others from the Colleyville business community and women’s groups she once participated in have abandoned her. 但其他人从colleyville商业社会和妇女团体的她曾经参加了在已经放弃了她。 She was a major fund-raiser for many charities in Colleyville and North Texas including the Colleyville Woman’s Club, the Christ Haven Shelter for women, the 她是一个重大的筹款为许多慈善机构在colleyville和北德州包括colleyville妇女俱乐部的，基督收容所的妇女，

North北 Texas德克萨斯州 Cancer癌症 Center中心 and the Bobby Bragan Foundation that provides college scholarships.和鲍比bragan的基础，提供大学奖学金。 Lewis said that when she asked a prominent woman from one of the charities if she would be a character witness for her at her trial, she declined.刘易斯表示，当她问的一个突出女子从其中一个慈善机构，如果她将是一个品格证人为她对她的审判，但她拒绝。

At Carswell, Lewis was at first put to work mowing the grounds. 在carswell ，刘易斯是在首先把工作的刈割的理由。 “They never considered the fact that someone with lupus is supposed to stay out of the sun,” she said. “他们从来没有考虑过的事实，有人与红斑性狼疮是留出太阳， ”她说。 Later she was moved inside to help clean the boilers. 后来，她提出内协助清洁锅炉。 She has not applied for work with Unicor, she said. 她没有申请的工作与unicor ，她说。 Instead, she has established a health education and exercise class for the women. 相反，她已成立一个健康教育和习题课为妇女。 That takes up “all of my spare time,” she said. 采取“我所有的空闲时间， ”她说。 Her lupus is currently in remission, she said. 她的红斑性狼疮是目前在减免，她说。

Lucchesi said that her memories of growing up as Frank and Kathy Lucchesi’s youngest child sustain her. lucchesi说，她的记忆，成长的坦率和Kathy的lucchesi的最年幼的子女，维持她的。 “We had a very old-fashioned Italian upbringing,” she wrote in one letter. “我们有一个非常老式的意大利的成长过程， ”她写道，在一信。 “I used to love to go to the games to watch Papa on the field and then eat late at night.” But her famous dad, who was manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, the Chicago Cubs, and the Texas Rangers, kept her away from the players he managed, she said. “我用爱去的游戏，观看爸爸在外地，然后吃在深夜” ，但她的著名的爸爸，谁是经理，费城，芝加哥小熊队，以及德州游骑兵，把她远离球员，他管理的，她说。 “I was never allowed to date them.” After Frank retired, the whole clan lived near one another in Colleyville. “我从来没有让他们的日期 。 ”后，坦率地退休了，整个氏族居住附近的一另一个在colleyville 。

All of that familial happiness came to a crashing end in 2004 when Karen was taken in handcuffs and leg-irons through the clanging prison gates of Carswell, bringing her to a cramped, four-person cell in the austere prison where she was destined to spend the next six and a half years. 所有的家庭幸福，来到一个撞毁在2004年年底，当凯伦是采取在手铐和腿铁杆通过clanging监狱的大门， carswell ，使她一狭窄， 4人细胞，在过紧监狱里，她注定要花费未来六年半。

“I was in shock. “我当时在休克。 I couldn’t believe it was really happening,” she said. 我不能相信这是真的发生， “她说。 “I have never even had a traffic ticket.” But in October 2003, a traffic ticket was not the issue. “我从来没有，甚至有一个交通票证” ，但在2003年10月，交通票证，是不是问题。 Dirty money was. 脏钱是。 That month Lewis was found guilty by a federal jury in 当月刘易斯被裁定有罪，由一个联邦陪审团在

Fort Worth沃思堡 of laundering $20,000 for an assumed cocaine and marijuana dealer through her business bank accounts for an alleged eight percent fee, about $1,600.洗钱二〇 〇 〇 〇美元为假设的可卡因和大麻的经销商通过她的生意的银行帐户被指控的8 ％的费用，约$ 1600 。

Her long-time friend and business attorney Anand “Ani” Alloju had introduced her to a wealthy Mexican citizen and supposed drug dealer allegedly interested in investing in her business. 她长的时间给朋友和商业律政司阿南“新华社” alloju已介绍了她的一个富裕的墨西哥公民和假定的毒品交易商，据称有兴趣投资在她的生意。 Lewis said she was never told by Alloju that the man was a dealer. 刘易斯说，她从来没有告诉alloju ，该名男子是一个经销商。 In fact, he was an undercover agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration working a sting operation aimed at Alloju. 事实上，他是一名卧底的代理人，为禁毒执法工作，政府当局一螫行动的目的是在alloju 。 The lawyer, who had access to Lewis’ bank accounts, laundered the $20,000 through those accounts without her knowledge, she said, even forging her signature on some checks. 律师，谁获得刘易斯的银行户口，清洗该二○○○○美元通过这些账户无据她所知，她说，即使她的签名伪造的一些检查。

The DEA agent claimed she was a willing participant. 该DEA的代理人声称，她是一位愿意参加。 On the stand, Alloju’s testimony about Lewis’ knowledge of the scheme was vague and contradictory. 关于立场， alloju的证词对刘易斯的知识，该计划是模糊和矛盾。 The jury believed the agent. 陪审团认为，代理人。 And even though Alloju was the primary target of the sting and admitted in court that he had washed $200,000 in what he clearly understood was illegal drug money through various other phony accounts he set up, he was sentenced to two years and spent only 11 months in prison, getting out early after completing a drug rehab course. 即使alloju是主要的目标，支杆，并承认在法庭上，他曾水洗二十○点零零万美元在什么，他清楚明白，是非法的贩毒黑钱，通过其他各种假帐目，他成立后，他被判处两年和只花11个月监狱，失控后早期完成了戒毒所治疗的过程中。 By pleading guilty and testifying against Lewis, Alloju got a reduced sentence and a pass for his psychiatrist wife Lisa Alloju, who, according to her husband, deposited the drug money in Lewis’ accounts. 由承认控罪，作证和对刘易斯， alloju获得减刑及考试合格，他的精神科医生的妻子丽莎alloju ，谁，根据她的丈夫，存放毒品的钱在刘易斯的帐户。 Lisa had just completed a probated sentence for drug possession and was never charged in the money-laundering case. 丽莎刚刚完成了一项probated判处持有毒品，被收取的费用绝对不会在洗钱案件。 The 41-year-old Alloju did not enjoy many days of freedom; he died of unknown causes a little more than a month after his release in 2005. 今年41岁的alloju不享有许多天的自由;他死于不明原因的稍多于1个月后，他于2005年上映。

“Even if you don’t believe [Lewis] was railroaded — and I do — the trial was a farce,” said Costanza. “即使你不相信 [ 刘易斯]是railroaded -我这样做-审判是一场闹剧，说： ” c o stanza。 “Then she gets three times the sentence that the slime-bag who set her up got. “然后，她得到的3倍一句说，泥袋谁定她了。 It makes no sense.” He and other supporters of Lewis think that the undercover agent went after her as a trophy. 它使没有任何意义。 “他和其他的支持者刘易斯认为，特工前往后，她作为一个奖杯。 “A big name gets more print and more glory for the undercover guy,” Costanza said. “一个很大的名称得到更多的打印和更多的荣耀为卧底家伙， ” costanza说。 “Karen wouldn’t be in prison if her name had been Smith.” “克伦族不会在监狱中如果她的名字已被史密斯” 。

The pain her incarceration has caused her close-knit family seems to weigh heaviest on Lewis these days. 痛苦，她的监禁引起了她的严密的家庭似乎是最重的重量对Lewis这些天。 “When a family member goes to prison, the whole family goes to prison,” she said. “ 当一个家庭成员去监狱，全家人去监狱， ”她说。 “Everyone’s life is put on hold.” “每个人的生活是暂时搁置” 。

But she seems to have come to terms with her imprisonment. 但她似乎已经来计算，与她的监禁。 She’s campaigning to let the world know of the injustices she has witnessed there. 她的竞选活动，以让世界知道的不公正，她曾目睹有。 The most recent, she wrote to the Weekly, was the death of Genevieve Ramirez, 64, who on Aug. 1 fell in her room and hit her head around 1 am Lewis and several other inmates “couldn’t find or get medical help till after 3 am,” she wrote. “She had a brain aneurysm. They took her to [an outside] hospital and she was put on life support for two days, then they pulled the plug.” The BOP has not returned calls requesting information on Ramirez’ death.

Weekly reporters, except in rare instances, have been banned since 1999 from entering the prison to interview women such as Lewis. But she is one of the many who have managed to be the eyes and ears for reporters in keeping tabs on what goes on there. It takes courage. Many who have done so say they have suffered retaliation — including Corum, who suffered such gross medical neglect that when she left two years ago, her kidneys were near failure and her heart was critically damaged. She has had multiple surgeries since she got out. Other women have been sent to solitary on trumped-up charges or transferred to other prisons where they could not get the medical help they needed.

Lewis said that, even when she gets out, she won’t give up on her efforts to help the women at Carswell. And others, including current and retired judges, are working to focus congressional attention on the conditions there.

Congressional attention apparently is what it will take to change anything in

US federal prisons. Prison officials routinely turn down journalists’ requests for information into their operations. A decade of pleas and inquiries by family members of women who have died — including one who may have been murdered — due to inadequate medical care or worse at Carswell have produced no apparent reforms. A General Services Administration investigation into FPI’s theft of the computers concluded that officials of the prison industry “demonstrated a pattern of deceit” and that its officials lied and obtained and sold federal property under false pretenses. But the subsequent Justice Department criminal investigation on that topic “went away,” according to one Hoekstra aide. No one was ever prosecuted.

And then there were the women prisoners who also worked in the lead-contaminated rooms at Carswell eight years ago. They, too, showed signs of higher than normal levels of lead in their blood. But they were scattered to other prisons, and the bureau refuses to release information on their whereabouts.

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