“Why don’t you Americans drop the bullshit about the land of the free and the home of the brave? Admit you’re now basically a tinpot dictatorship.”
This, from my playwright friend Diane in London, with whom I’m Skyping. I’ve just told her about what happened to Herman Bell, my friend in prison. He’s a former Black Panther who turns 70 this January and has been locked up since 1974. On September 5, Herman survived a “beat-down” by five to seven white correctional officers half his age at Great Meadow prison — one of the more Klan-friendly joints in upstate New York. Two of Herman’s ribs are broken; he’s lost some vision in one eye; probably has a concussion.
Diane continues. “The mind fuck: ‘Everybody’s created equal?’ Please…”
I find it refreshing to hear my United States besmirched by a non-American (even one who shops at Banana Republic when she comes here). This means a lot when it pertains to Herman, who, after 40-plus years inside, only wants to get out on parole, to live what’s left of his life with his wife and grandchildren. Herman isn’t a saint; he isn’t my hero. He is my friend, one of the kindest, funniest people I know. Now, he’s badly hurt.
What happened to Herman isn’t unique in New York State, where brutal — sometimes fatal — assaults by guards on prisoners have persisted for years. As an American, though, I don’t usually hear about this, since the normalizing zeitgeist in this tinpot land o’ the free is that people behind bars — especially “convicted cop killers” — deserve whatever they get.
Herman’s beat-down happened when he was out in the rec yard. There’s a bank of phones there, and he was talking with his wife, Nancy, who was coming in a few days for a contact visit — their first in almost three years. Herman and Nancy have been allowed to see one another sitting across a divided table in a crowded visiting room. Recently, though, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) allowed them family, or “trailer,” visits, which is…