LAST TIME I MENTIONED that I’d been thrown into the hole, otherwise known as the Special Housing Unit (SHU), after a “random” breathalyzer test that I passed was nonetheless followed by a “random” targeted search of my locker, not unlike the “random” drug test for which I just happened to be selected out of 350 inmates in my unit a few months back, shortly after filing a complaint against prison officials regarding — wait for it — retaliation. In fairness, they did find a cup of homemade alcohol in my locker this time, the clever rascals, but I was only going to use it to drink a toast to the Bureau of Prisons and wish the agency luck in defending itself against the various lawsuits that have been filed against it lately. Also I wanted to look cool in front of the bigger kids.
Getting put back in Disciplinary Segregation was actually in some ways fortuitous, as I’m now able to make a long-overdue inspection tour of this institution’s Special Housing Unit. (I’m very much the Eleanor Roosevelt of the federal prison system.) The timing is grand, too, as the nation’s tendency to keep prisoners in these sorts of 23-hour-a-day lockdown settings for no good reason has come under a rare spate of scrutiny in recent months. But going to the hole isn’t all champagne and roses. By policy, one doesn’t receive one’s property, including legal papers, until after two weeks of confinement. And by negligence, one is usually left without one’s prescribed medications for at least three or four days. Bizarrely enough, there was also a shortage of the little pencils we’re supposed to receive upon arrival, and so it took me a while to get one of my very own. And after over a month of confinement, despite countless requests to the ranking lieutenant, I’ve still yet to receive a high-end gaming laptop loaded with a Super Nintendo emulator, a complete set of Super Nintendo ROMs, and the latest stable release of Dwarf Fortress, although I guess I can see how this might be regarded as a not altogether reasonable demand.
But the most jarring aspect of going to the hole is always that period between arrival and the point at which one is able to get one’s hands on a worthwhile book. Some previous occupant had left a couple of paperbacks in my cell, one of which was an early ’90s thriller called The Mafia Candidate in which a major presidential contender turns out to be a tool of the mafia and not of Northrop Grumman or Booz Allen Hamilton or Lockheed Martin or Bell Helicopter or Kellogg Brown & Root, like the more respectable candidates. As the story begins, an undercover FBI agent joins some suspected drug runners on a Caribbean yacht cruise in order to gather evidence, rather than simply lying to a grand jury to obtain a warrant like a real FBI agent would do. Alas, the narc’s cover is blown and he’s held at gunpoint by the mob henchmen. “If this were an Indiana Jones movie, he might throw himself to the floor and roll under the table while all these guys with cannons blazed away at each other,” explains the author. “But this wasn’t the movies and things like that didn’t happen in real life. Or real death, either.”
PROUD THOUGH I WAS at having discovered the worst line ever written, I was now in full-on lit-crit final form blood frenzy battle mode, and so instead of resting on my snide and pompous laurels, I went ahead and picked up the other paperback. This was Holiday in Death by Nora Roberts, a contemptible writer who appears to have amassed an unwarranted fortune for herself and her foul publishers by catering to the gauche sexual fantasies of the American soccer mom, cursed among demographics. Having already written every possible combination of English words that can be jammed into a conventional 300-page romance novel and having thereby churned out some 900 trillion bestsellers, this arch-priestess of darkness next saw fit to concoct an entirely new genre, “futuristic romantic suspense,” of which this “Holiday” title is listed as being just one of two dozen in a series.
The setting: New York, 2043. The hero: a female cop who just happens to be married to THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD WHO IS ALSO RUGGEDLY HANDSOME. As the story begins, our pig protagonist is feeling sad because THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD WHO IS ALSO RUGGEDLY HANDSOME is on a business trip to space, presumably to attend the ribbon-cutting for the Palantir-Pentagon Joint Orbital Omniscience Satellite Array or something of that nature. But then he picks up the space phone and makes a space call to tell his jack-booted thugget that he’s coming home early because he just misses her so much. So he heads back to earth, perhaps catching a space ride on one of Elon Musk’s space yachts along with Palantir chief Peter Thiel and the biomechanical meta-clone of Admiral Poindexter that serves as Thiel’s handler. (I should probably explain that I spent a pleasant afternoon creating a dystopian geopolitical backstory for Roberts’ setting whereby the U.S. and its client states have fallen under the dual control of DARPA’s Office of Perpetual Data Supremacy and the Shadow Council of Misguided Tech Billionaires. I wish I could say that this took a great deal of imagination.) When he gets home he takes his little cop wife by the hand, and what do you suppose he tells her? He tells her this: “The wanting of you never stops.” Rather than do the only decent thing by shooting him in the back and casually tossing her taser next to the body in support of a falsified police report, this wanton cop-tart actually responds positively to her space husband’s deranged and over-written declaration of space lust. There follows what is likely intended to be a sex scene, though it’s all rather abstract so they might just be doing Tai Chi in a humid room.
Among the various tacked-on elements by which Roberts occasionally sees fit to remind us that this is the future, a list of the contents of someone’s apartment will usually include an “entertainment unit” or some such thing. Science fiction authors have been pulling this shit for literally 80 years now, sprinkling their projected futures with “comm units” and “food preparation units” and whatnot. It’s time to accept that no one is ever going to market their consumer appliance as any sort of “unit.” Things like that don’t happen in real life. OR REAL DEATH, EITHER.
ANYHOO, I SPENT MUCH of the first couple of days talking to my cellmate. (Note that a stint in the hole doesn’t necessarily entail solitary confinement, which is not always viable due to overcrowding.) As far as SHU cellmates go, it would be hard to top the one with whom I was initially placed last time I was thrown into the hole a year ago, after allegedly inciting a demonstration: a white, red-bearded Texas Muslim with the words “Death Rain Upon My Enemies” tattooed across his back in Arabic, and who, when asked by a staff officer if he had anything to say to the disciplinary committee in his own defense, quoted Saddam Hussein’s reply from his war crimes trial that he did not recognize the authority of their court, and who enjoyed not only gangsta rap and PCP but also the work of Phil Collins and, I swear to God, Oscar Wilde. I wrote two whole columns about this guy and was crestfallen when he was shipped off to the maximum security prison which he has no doubt since claimed as a province of Islamic State. Indeed, the truly heartbreaking thing about federal prison is the absence of video cameras by which to fully document the almost supernaturally bizarre array of people that the FBI has managed to bring together.
To give you a better sense of this, my new cellmate here in the SHU snuck over to Dallas from Mexico when he was 15, became the leader of a gang, did a year in state prison for shooting another drug dealer with a shotgun, sometimes consulted a local television psychic called Indio Apache for intel by which to better plot his criminal strategy, and worships Santa Muerte, the skeletal narco-deity beloved throughout the Mexican underworld. He has three kids, is currently serving a 15-year sentence for conspiring to distribute methamphetamines, is listed on his indictment as having seven different aliases, and is, he tells me, “almost 20 years old.” In the federal system, this qualifies him as a moderately interesting person. And, yes, here in Texas dealing meth is 15 times more serious than shooting someone with a shotgun.
Panchito Villa, as I’ll call him, is actually a very good cellmate. For one thing, he gives me the bread from our food trays, which is a big deal here in the SHU where one can’t get commissary, and particularly at this prison, where the rations have been inexplicably reduced over the last two years. Apparently his old boxing coach weaned him off bread products during training and the lesson stuck. Also he drew some very impressive decorations on our cell wall, including a life-size depiction of what would appear to be Princess Zelda wearing a handkerchief over her lower face gangster-style and sporting the tag “Vata Loca” tattooed above her eyes.
One morning, the two of us discussed the possibility that, this being Wednesday, which is hamburger day, our lunch might perhaps include potato wedges — a relatively beloved dish that the prison manages to provide once or twice a month — instead of the potato chips that it pawns off on us more often than not. Panchito knelt before the photograph of a robed skeleton that serves as a makeshift shrine to Santa Muerte and prayed to her on our behalf, asking that she intercede in this matter. An hour later, we received our hamburgers accompanied by potato wedges, and afterwards Panchito led me in a Spanish prayer of thanksgiving to our benefactress. The sad thing is that, given the alternative explanation is that the prison administration decided to feed us a sufficient lunch in accordance with the national standards, and given how rarely this actually ends up happening on any given day under the reign of our jerk-off warden, Rodney Chandler, and also taking into account what I’ve already documented in prior columns regarding this prison’s ongoing failure to meet a whole range of such standards on everything from hygiene to due process, there’s a better than even chance that it really was Santa Muerte who got us the fucking potato wedges.
On a day when we happened to receive cornbread with our dinner, Panchito handed it over to me as usual.
“Are you sure you don’t want this?” I asked. “I think cornbread isn’t as bad for you.”
“I don’t want to risk it,” replied the shotgun-wielding child soldier who makes pacts with demons for potato wedges.
SHORTLY AFTER ARRIVAL I received my incident report in which the “reporting officer” relates, with some apparent effort: “ON JUNE 17 2015 AT APPROXIMATE 8:35 PM DURING A RANDOM BREATHALYZER TEST I DECIDED TO SEARCH INMATES BROWN 45057-177 LOCKER AND FOUND A COFFEE MUG FULL OF PRISON MADE INTHOXICANT. OPERATION LT WAS INFORMED AND INMATE BROWN #45047-177 WAS ESCORTED BY THE COMPOUNP OFFICER TO THE SHU.” How it was that the benighted man-child should have been taken by a sudden fancy to search, er, “INMATES BROWN #45047-177 LOCKER” in the midst of a “RANDOM BREATHALYZER TEST” that I passed is left to the imagination. Luckily I received a gratuitous confirmation that this account was nonsense a few days later, when a Special Investigations Service officer by the name of McClinton came by the hole to give me yet another drug test and to brag about how they knew the hooch was in my locker due to the informants they have watching me. That just leaves the mystery of how the reporting officer managed to render “compound” as “compounp.” And if anyone out there is having trouble deciding on a name for their ska band, you could do worse than “PRISON MADE INTHOXICANT.”
There’ve also been some exciting new developments in my ongoing quest to get the BOP to explain why its D.C. liaison, Terrance Moore, switched off my ability to email the public an hour after I used it to contact a journalist about wrongdoing by bureau employees. Recall that the Administrative Remedy coordinator, a fellow named McKinney, fraudulently back-dated receipt of my original complaint about this to indicate that he received it on June 4, when in fact his office received it on April 30. Then, he failed to reply within the allotted 20 days of his make-believe date of receipt (and likewise missed his other self-declared deadline of June 29 for my second complaint regarding his failure to follow procedure on my first complaint, by golly!). According to the BOP’s own guidelines, I’m permitted to take this failure to respond as a refusal of my claim, thereby finally allowing me to file a BP-10 form, which goes to the regional office. But — hark! — on June 30, McKinney belatedly filed for extensions on the illicit deadlines that he’d already missed, giving himself 20 more days to respond to both complaints. And then he missed his fake deadlines, too.
Meanwhile, the prison has failed to inform me immediately and in writing of the various media interview requests I’ve been receiving, as policy requires it to; actor and documentary filmmaker Alex Winter has even sent his latest application via certified mail, to no effect. It also turns out that I’m on the BOP’s Central Inmate Monitoring system, billed in a BOP program statement as being used for prisoners who “present special needs for management,” which is one way of putting it. Naturally, they’ve failed to “ensure that the affected inmate is notified in writing as promptly as possible of the classification and the basis for it,” as is also required by policy. On a totally unrelated subject, I was sentenced recently to another 30 days in the hole beyond the month I’d already done, plus 90 days of phone, commissary, visiting and email restriction, which will certainly teach me to break BOP rules without first getting a job with the BOP.
Luckily I’ve gotten lots of nifty books in the mail from supporters, including The Muqaddimah, the 14th-century scholar Ibn Khaldun’s treatise on world history. Early on, Khaldun presents us with an example of an old story he deems unreliable: “Sea monsters prevented Alexander from building Alexandria. He took a wooden container in which a glass box was inserted, and dived in it to the bottom of the sea. Then he drew pictures of the devilish monsters he saw. He then had metal effigies of these animals made and set them opposite the place where building was going on. When the monsters came out and saw the effigies, they fled.” Ibn Killjoy goes out of his way to discredit this charming tale: “Now, rulers would not take such a risk. Any ruler who would attempt such a thing would work his own undoing and provoke the outbreak of revolt against himself, and be replaced by the people with someone else. … Furthermore, the jinn are not known to have specific forms and effigies. They are able to take on various forms.” Whatever, asshole.
18th-Century German Parenting Technique of the Day:
[Goethe] had the sort of superstitious dread which is usually the inheritance of children with a poetic nature, and suffered greatly in childhood from fear. He was obliged by his father, who was a stern and somewhat opinionated old man, to sleep alone, as a means of overcoming this fear; and if he tried to steal from his own bed to that of his brothers, he was frightened back by his father, who watched for him and chased him in some fantastic disguise.
—Hattie Tyng Griswold, “Home Life of Great Authors”
Very entertaining, please go on. No better way to stay healthy in a crazy system.
Ever thought of applying for Russian citizenship?
I’m going to link to John Kiriakou’s piece “The Government’s Hypocrisy on Hacked Information,” at Reader Supported News, where he describes how selectively our government applies the laws that say hacked information is legally speaking, stolen property. Linking to hacked information is technically a crime, though many journalists/people do it frequently and are not prosecuted. The government goes after who it wants to, when it wants to, turns a blind eye to the rest.
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/32148-the-governments-hypocrisy-on-hacked-information
For those of you who don’t know, Kiriakou is a retired CIA agent who was recently released from prison after blowing the whistle on the George W. Bush administration’s torture program. In 2007, Kiriakou became the first CIA official to publicly confirm and detail the agency’s use of waterboarding.
Kiriakou speaks about these issues pertaining to hacked material, including the Ashley Madison hack, before bringing up Barrett Brown. I’ll quote below, but it’s worth reading the entire post, linked above:
I remember back in the day reading Mr. Brown’s various postings and thinking to myself “he is a lot of things, but journalist is not one of them.” I also thought he was likely involved several miles over the line with the activities of hackers.
He is a good writer, and an entertaining read. But he is also a criminal who really has no one to blame for his current address but himself.
“Under the accessory-after-the-fact charges in the Stratfor case, authorities say Brown tried to help the Stratfor hacker avoid apprehension by creating confusion about his identity “in a manner that diverted attention away from the hacker,” according to court documents. This included communicating with Stratfor employees after the hack in a way that authorities say drew attention away from the hacker. The hacker is not named in court documents filed in Brown’s case, but Anonymous hacktivist Jeremy Hammond was sentenced in 2013 to 10 years in prison over the Stratfor hack.
The obstruction charge relates to an attempt by Brown and his mother to hide a laptop from authorities during a search of her home in March 2012. Brown’s mother was separately charged with obstruction and given six months probation.”
And then there was the not-so-bright Youtube posted threats against a federal agent. But if he learns anything from his experience, he could have a pretty good future something many celebrity felons have managed to attain.
However, he still needs to grow up a tad, maybe man up a bit. He went to bat for a criminal conspiracy as their spokesman and needs to admit it and move on.
I forgot to add allegedly went to bat….
A well-reasoned comment. I’m on a fence about the use of allegedly at this point, as legally I believe that term no longer applies once you’ve been conviced; then again the number of false convictions and accusations in the system right now is truly staggering. My definitions have generally been accrued by witnessing him in print and video calling himself their spokesperson. I’m not really sure he actually was, though. While I’m no big fan of Anonymous in general (mostly because of the bullet-spraying methodologies that often hurt people unnecessarily and cause misunderstandings), my understanding of it was that it was originally meant to be leaderless (even though, of course, there’s no such thing as a leaderless organisation — it bucks the entire concept of what an organisation is, and nothing can be productive without communication.
Not a disparaging word for the Fascists he exposed, or the sadistic system that punishes weak shit harshly and war crimes not at all. Nice.
Okay, I hear you on that. While BB is swept up in a system that is unbelievably brutal, he is no Nelson Mandela. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for him and from his behavior, I would take it that he is taking it somewhat like a brat. He has a shot at a pulpit and what does he do? Brews prison hooch and gets punished for it. He needs to grow up, if not for himself, than for the people who will not be walking out the doors anytime soon. Places like Pelican Bay are extra-judicial torture chambers. We have all read ( or should have read) the stunningly horrific mental effects of near total isolation. No jury voted for that. No judge order a sentence reading “You shall be incarcerated in such a fashion that you shall become psychotic, eat your own shit, gouge out your eyeballs and otherwise manifest the grip of deep psychosis.” I haven’t seen that in any sentencing memorandums, but I’ve seen exactly those results. So, yeah Barrett is having a go at entertaining us and being prissy about his small universe of regulations denied. There are much, much bigger fish to fry and with his writing talent and current position, he should take it on.
Brown “threatened” an agent with the prospect of investigation, maybe a little outing. The agents threaten Brown by locking him up with stone cold murderers. And when exactly did it become a crime to “divert attention” away from someone by not holding up an ID card wherever you go? And the mother — how can you defend that? What kind of mother is going to deny her son the chance to shove a laptop someplace out of sight while he’s there, _even if_ she knew about it? Remember, plea bargains are not proof —— of anything except that people rightly have NO CONFIDENCE IN THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM.
That’s not at all what he ‘threatened’ an agent with. He basically threatened an agent and that agent’s family, friends, children, neighbours, and distant relatives with at least a year or four of persistent harassment, life-ruining crowdsourced mayhem, and never-ending looking behind his back. Frankly if they hadn’t arrested him, that’s PRECISELY the precedent that would have been set: that that sort of behaviour wouldn’t be punished, and then it would multiply profusely. While ‘justice by example’ isn’t always a good idea, when it comes to nipping a trend in the bud that could blossom into a world of kudzu for the legal system, I’d generally say this instance wasn’t a terrible call. I sort of agree with you on the laptop issue, but the problem is that that’s still a crime, and (generally speaking) while I might be willing to do the same thing for a close friend, there’s tremendous precedent for punishing such things — often with far harsher consequences (look at the recent example of the kids trying to help out the person they thought was just their friend from University; they’re serving what, 3 years just for tossing a backpack/laptop). I’d be quite surprised if they knew what they were getting into.
(I probably should have specified, those kids were just friends with Tsarnaev, not ‘terrorists’ in on the whole thing (as far as I know, anyway)).
The rough definition of a journalist is-someone who gathers, publishes, and distributes the news. By that definition most “bloggers”, are journalists. So you stating that Brown is not a journalist is inaccurate and foolish. Perhaps you get distracted by his humorous style, but he is actually performing in his stead as a journalist and is among the many that become entrenched in a broken system that titles war criminals as patriots and freedom fighters as terrorists. In the end, it only matters who has the money and is in control of the system. Words and titles mean nothing other than to perpetuate the propaganda machine.
For example, let’s discuss “hackers”. You state that his activities were several miles over the line with “hackers”. But are indeed the NSA analysts, “hackers” by definition? Are their activities also not miles over the line as well? Where is this imaginary line and how does it get drawn on a profession or hobby whoes very nature is to cross the line. To exploit computer systems. To investigate and enhance security. To innovate upon these systems. Hacker has become nearly synonymous with terrorist, yet they are not at all the same.
My point in this reply to you is that you seem to want this to be a black & white situation, when that is impossible being that our judicial system is so compromised. Where we hold criminals only accountable when it serves private interests. That is not justice. That is the path to totalitarianism.
You’re a genius B
This just made me laugh and cry..
Thank you
Stay strong Bro
S
I didn’t know Barrett Brown was such an entertaining writer! I very much enjoyed this. I am appalled at how poorly prisoners are treated. It’s so outrageous they must be willing to do some terrible things to shut down anyone who complains and is listened to. He needs to walk a fine line.
2058. Holiday in Death takes place in 2058.
I adore your writing but hate your situation. Keep the black comedy coming…and hang in there.
Meanwhile, Palantir tops Network World’s list of “unicorns” ( http://www.networkworld.com/article/2975770/software/the-15-biggest-enterprise-unicorns.html?google_editors_picks=true ). A whole lot of communications companies follow. I wonder how many (if any) unicorns aren’t in with the NSA from the beginning.
We hear you loud and clear. Keep it coming. Thank you.
The crime of journalism
Very good illustration, Ken Knudtsen! I think you were able to capture all of the high points of Brown’s continued stay in SHU…down to the single tater wedge. Barrett, It is very nice to hear your voice and your wit and I hope you are able to continue to share. Thanks for your sacrifice.
One of my favorite artists and activists, MOLLY CRABAPPLE: “Why Solitary Confinement is Modern Day Torture” (Fusion Films, 2015)
https://youtu.be/I9xeIRpLUdc?list=PLxd0bZ1RXEztmZFgivAY7j82Sp-DtLxp_
“a_merca what a shit hole”
been watching barrett since MetalGear day’s
he’s not a criminal, he’s a freedom fighter
fu*%thensa@thecowardlymiliterizedoinker’s.net
thumbs up
Operation #SantaMuerte
We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.
Great talk from Barrett Brown about Corporate spies and Persona Management
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TTkYdHqjH8
Barrett,
“I hate all this computer shit and was actually a little relieved when the FBI finally took me down, thereby sparing me from the obligation to read another million words of e-Morlock jibber-jabber about Romas/COIN and Odyssey and persona management and whatever else the public is just going to end up ignoring until it’s too late anyway.”
I hear you and much gratitude. Thank you for trying to inform the public about these important issues. I understand that you were told you got sent to SHU because of a snitch. It seems the guard wanted you to know so it will create an atmosphere of distrust and to try to poison any friendships you have made. They will no doubt be looking for any reason to blow out of proportion in order to punish and isolate you. Do not fall for entrapment, stay vigilant and most importantly, KEEP WRITING.
They are never going to haphazardly leave paperbacks in his cell again. I wonder how he would have treatedThe Notebook.
I can just imagine whichever inmate left that in there just so he could find it and have a leetle bit of solace giving him the side eye for the rest of his term :b.
BB if you end up reading this, I just wanted to say that if you are anything like me, the writing will help. My letters home were published by the St Petersburg Times for the year I was stationed in Bosnia while in the Army. I really hated the Army… writing about the experience and getting feedback by readers helped me focus on staying positive.
I’ll donate to your fund when able sir.
My wife calls me her “Stepford Husband”.
I have never used on line sites or discussion boards for dating or hookups because of this hair this body and a killer sultry grin. Some of the things you can’t convey to a virtual audience of the blind.
Marriage also has its charms (and tax benefits) when timing the bottom of three real estate markets and rolling over the profits from one investment to the next.
Its also definitely the right thing to do before having children whose moral compasses are seeking true north so there’s that as well.
When I met my wife she was dating a foxxy Japanese stripper named Dawn. Stiff competition? Wishful thinking by lesser virtual men an the virtual women that love them? You bet.
Oops. Wrong topic. On to Ashley Madison.
My wife calls me her “Stepford Husband”.
I have never used on line sites or discussion boards for dating or hookups because of this hair this body and a killer sultry grin. Some of the things you can’t convey to a virtual audience of the blind.
Marriage also has its charms (and tax benefits) when timing the bottom of three real estate markets and rolling over the profits from one investment to the next.
Its also definitely the right thing to do before having children whose moral compasses are seeking true north so there’s that as well.
When I met my wife she was dating a foxxy Japanese stripper named Dawn. Stiff competition? Wishful thinking by lesser virtual men an the virtual women that love them?
I’m calling it Self-Imprisonment, Barrett’s style of speaking for himself rather than letting the guards frame him. Now we see how a mind writes under hostile guardians. Similar to the way oppressed communities at times burned their own dwellings down before the Klan or US Army could do it. Burn , Barrett, burn.
I think many suffer from this spill all style of go fuck yourself, GCHQ! By coercing our data carriers, we know our perverted guardians look when they shouldn’t ,so I write like I’m an insult comic cracking code about the food for thought in their cantina.
So forgive all this fucking corn, GCHQ. Your fault. Never shoulda looked, now everyone who thinks you’re looking is doing Vincent the Chin, dumbshites. Good luck sorting that shite out, Watson.
Hey Barrett, it was such a treat to enjoy my coffee this morning while reading the latest installment of your picaresque experiences. I always laugh and learn something new – in this case “Santa Muerte;” who knew and how fascinating. All that death imagery put me in mind of Malcolm Lowry’s novel Under the Volcano – if you have not read it that book is worth the effort.
But lest you think you have been casting your writerly pearls before swine, may I congratulate you on your masterful and completely organic integration of the thematic troika of sex, death and religion into your column. That is the Holy Trinity of haute literature. You nailed it! I don’t know if that was intentional or if you’re just a natural with all the right instincts, but either way I hope it means there’s a novel or five in your future, or at the very least a book of essays.
Speaking of books, I have sent you a variety you never asked for, and I select for different reasons – you can probably guess what those are. I did not send you T. Wolfe’s finest novel Bonfires, because it is so widely read, but if you haven’t read it or would like to reread it, please add it to your Amazon wishlist and I will forward a copy. Interestingly, Wolfe used Thackery’s Vanity Fair as a template – did you know? I also sent you an excellent book called Winter’s Tale, even though I thought there was a better than even chance you would despise it. Curious about that.
Well Barrett, I wish I could send you music but I can’t. If I get my act together, maybe I will mail you a playlist and you can look for songs on the prison library if you are interested. In the meantime, I will suggest the always excellent Fatboy Slim’s song “Don’t Let The Man Get You Down.” Take good care, Barrett.
Hanging the monsters around you with effigial glee is a SHU fire way of maintaining ones sanity when inthoxicating Jinn is no longer an option…. got it!
Barrett, rather than subject yourself to something those frauds can claim is not in your personal interest (boozing it up like they do on the job) might I suggest what my dear Auntie claims will cure my misery over miserable situations. Affirmations.
OK, you play those fuckers ENDLESSLY while we smuggle in cotton to save your hearing and too low blood pressure. It will drive them to drink!!
Barrett, with all that time in your hands, have you ever considered acting? I mean the kind that can’t get you busted because it’s just pretend for the money, sorta like politics. I noticed Hat Rack is in back of all this crime show bisuness, almost every scene…and who’s got a better view or access to what passes for covers these days?
So Hat Rack it is…standing up for the little guy! Because he can’t sit down. And sometimes he comes with an umbrella stand to ham it up as his side kick.
He’s the master of disguises…sleek as barreled metal, steady as a reddy oak, and sometimes he’s even dressed as a woman! OK, he is a woman, but it’s not anyone’s business but her own.
I slipped the prop master a puppety fiver to get me on the set of To Dive For. I was cast as the last standing accessory to murder, she wrote.
So who rolls on to the set but that guido from MCA, and he says to shut down production because the government needs to catch up. We all got paid, but no one stayed around to carry me back to the prop closet, and I need to get changed because Rockford is taking me out to dinner!!
So, who do I call who will understand why I’m a hat rack who fakes she’s a man while working? Can’t help that Watson listens in, but he’s NOT a gentleman. Gentlemen don’t leave ladies holding their bag handlers’ sagging shorts, SONY!
Okay, so I’ve seen you talk about ‘SONY’ (in caps) a lot like this when it comes to BB… You’re not one of those people he ran with are you? I know they upset a lot of women (and LGBT) enough to get people informing on one another and digging up doxx. I read the books and articles, but I’m sure that’s not the full story. I can’t tell if you’re ranting at BB or just doing your ‘wild weasel’ thing in general, but since you like to use BB/BlackBerry/etc a lot, your weasel’s probably a bit vague. I can’t make heads or tails of this one, but it sounds like he hurt you?
Next, they’re gonna put a black poodle in your cell, Barrett, so be sure to demand more than pure elation. How about peace for every nation before you put your soul up for debate?
Other than being too short and not one mention of a hovercraft…
Nora’s broom is off the radar?
Because her waddle was always getting in the way…She didn’t like her neck. Like I like mine, either, the clucking traitor!
I think her ex-rooster sucks eggs , too.
I spent over a year in TI’s silo and all I got to show for it is this can of corn.
But I did have time to read about the impact the printing press had upon writing in 1500s Germany. How about those Swabian Knights and their proud songs of slaughtering peasantry? What a passel of assholes!
I love ironic flattery of which Benito is our best purveyor. Best bit of all were the too common letters from the devil. And folks had no compunction about publishing a friend’s letter for distribution, EVEN without permission!!
Senator Jeff Flake’s G-Gpa lost his pencil when committed to the Yuma Pen for polygamy , so his daily diary came up short in the end. He wore his stripes at every Snowflake shakedown after his release to remind the children not to trust the gubernet.
Are you gonna get a tat, Barret? I’d get that fraud Alexander on my ass so I could sit on his face constantly.
Dammit, it’s two t’s, as in Marie Antoinette Stole My Mother’s Hair Barrette! and other dry whines I left to age in the vault.
Nods were undeserved by Bigger, Longer, Unshut, for sure — Benito’s rhapsodies are far more pure. LaVey, still pushing on the corner 18 years past popping daisies, chains; go skater.
Words have limited value in this wordy-word world, but music still help to restore. I wonder if Barrett’s read much about Knight’s Tours? Bach and Franklin both were fans. Watch those corners, Jack Horners. Up those Down Staircases one must stay sticky, Elmer. All prisoners of every shape should be secretly stronger than cyanoacrylate. Beware of rusty ice tea, BB.
Ah, such sweet saudade just Rodaning about rhyming mimes, haystack…
Dear Barrett Brown,
You have made me feel both ashamed as well as misunderstood. You write of the novel Holiday in Death by Nora Roberts. In point of fact, the Death series is by Nora Roberts writing as J. D. Robb. (Are there no fact-checkers at this joint?)
Now, it is true that Robb/Roberts is a “contemptible writer who appears to have amassed an unwarranted fortune for herself and her foul publishers,” but it is not true that this is entirely due to “the gauche sexual fantasies of the American soccer mom.” For I am not a soccer mom, and nether is the senior citizen gal — who is my best friend –who got me started on these ghastly pieces of shit.
Yes, Eve Dallas is a cop “who just happens to be married to THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD WHO IS ALSO RUGGEDLY HANDSOME.” Roark (that’s his name, just Roark) owns everything in the world. There is no enterprise on this world — or any other –in which Roark does not hold a business interest — if he does not own it outright.
And yes, Eve the “wanton cop-tart actually responds positively to her space husband’s deranged and over-written declaration of space lust.” A lot. And then, yes, there follows “a sex scene, though it’s all rather abstract so they might just be doing Tai Chi in a humid room.”
But see Barrett, the rolling of the eyes and giggling at oneself for actually spending 120 minutes of one’s life on one of these pieces of dreck is fun ! For Barrett: We Are Aware. Some of us, anyway.
Hey dude, you like some of the mood-altering chemicals a bit too much, and really, that’s not good for you, either. So don’t you go judging me and the other sisters for our occasional dose of Eve, the wanton cop-tart and her Roark, THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD, who has eyes of the deepest, most intense blue and also long, thick black hair, and an Irish brogue (especially thick when consummating his lust for Eve when he oft-times bursts forth into Gaelic) that makes any (straight) women weak-kneed, and, well, you get the picture I’m sure.
Sincerely,
Mona
Mona, I don’t think Barrett is insulting you reading for sexual fantasies. I think he is insulting Nora Roberts for writing unoriginal, ludicrous crap that happens to have some spice mixed in.
Keith, I guess I needed some emoticons. That comment of mine, while basically true, is as serious as anything in the Onion.
Brilliant!
Little harsh on the prison staff though. They’re smart enough to make it to the comment section and at least one of them seems to be able to read, poorly, but still.
So basically you’re an idiot?
Some other things: (1) you don’t need a high end gaming laptop to play SNES ROMs, (2) comedy is tough, (3) calling the SHU “the hole” makes you sound stupid [they’re 1-2 bunk cells], (4) you mock the spelling on your disciplinary report while committing the mother of run-on sentences to begin this boring jeremiad, (5) your bitching at the Warden and BOP staff is painfully unoriginal, (6) you all but say the staff are idiots but then fail to realize that these idiots were able to catch you. (7) working at a prison must suck in the first place. Dealing with dipshits like you must be the icing on the cake.
Nate, don’t ever change (as if there is any risk!). Your fuckwittery adds a dash of stabilizing to the comments section.
Nate would never miss an opportunity to go after the enemies of the establishment.
On the bright side, Nate, I bet Jeb and Hillary still have a chance.
yeah, some asshole in prison for obstruction of justice and threatening a special agent is an “enemy of the establishment”
/s
Do you say this type of shit out loud Jose, or just in the confines of TI? These BOP employees aren’t arresting the Barrett Browns of the world. They are glorified babysitter and Brown is a petulant little shit. He is a shit stirrer for the sake of writing articles about the reaction to his shit stirring! What a hero!!!
And I don’t need you and other Greenwald lapdogs to chaperone my posts. Do I intimidate you and threaten this comment section’s homogeneity? Don’t like my comments and don’t wish to discuss my points, then don’t respond. That simple! You won’t be missed.
Barrett, say hi to Jared Fogle for us.
Barrett didnt threaten anyone, he sarcastically paraphrased bob bechtel on how julian assange should be assassinated. This was submitter as “evidence” against brown, along with having a copy of the Constitution. Then he had his rant regarding power abusing and malicious prosecuting agent robert smith that no one could or can take seriously. Why dont you ask robbie smith why the emails were transferred from the federal bureau of instigation server to wikileaks, violating three counts of the computer fraud and abuse act as well as 860,000 counts of us code title 18 secs 241 deprivation of rights and 242 deprivation of rights under the color of law. Smith and every fbiciansastatedept scumbag that controlled monsegur and lulzsec and the fbi server that hosted and transferred the stratfor emails is a felon.
Um. He quite did threaten someone — namely an FBI agent and his family and acquaintances, on YouTube, and posted it to YouTube, and left it there. I may not be the world’s biggest fan of law enforcement as is practiced atm in the US of A, but he VERY MUCH did threaten someone, and given his following, there’s very little indication someone wouldn’t have acted on it — taunting his kids, wife, whatever online and ruining them in the process. As you yourself are so aptly proving, there are a lot of people who still think BB is a hero. I’m not sure what he is, and I’d certainly not call him an ‘enemy of the people’ but he’s not someone to be emulating either — even if occasionally he had a point or two that was worth making; in point of fact, other people could have and did make it, and better. He just shouted the loudest, and it suited his ego just fine.
It’s not okay to threaten people online, and it’s certainly not a good idea to threaten a federal agent in any country, online or offline. Learn your facts, kid.
That said, the entire Sabu thing was a travesty of justice, and the FBI is thoroughly corrupted in how it performs investigations. But those threats he made? Yeah, they happened.
You must be in an extremely controlled environment to have come to that opinion.
I wasn’t disputing that the linking charges were bullshit. I don’t think you’re either aware of the full facts, or else you don’t care. It doesn’t really bother me either way.
While I’m not a moralist and believe people generally should get to choose what they put into their bodies in their homes, there’s no disputing that BB got very very high and made some extremely threatening videos which he then posted on YouTube. There’s also very little contradicting the fact that he basically set his mother up to the take the fall for hiding his laptop/evidence. While I’m not sure what I would have done in the latter situation (and I’m being honest here) I can honestly say someone, no matter how angry or aggrieved they might be, oughtn’t be going around making threats to anybody’s family — I don’t care if they’re a monster, a fed, or an abusive fed, and while I believe he had the right to choose what he put into his body, I also believe he should have to deal with the consequences of what he did when he did so.
Do you have a problem with me saying that his judgment was poor? Do you have a problem with my stance on his decision to use drugs? Do you have a problem with my statement that people who choose to use drugs ought be responsible for what they do when they’re on those drugs? (If you do, then you maybe have a problem with DUI/DWI laws too?).
This wasn’t a couple of young adults going on the Twitters and making silly statements that got blown out of proportion. I find that trend beyond disturbing, and I could even see why someone might have the desire to punch someone who arrested them for doing so, but would you say it’d be logical to say “I’m going to ruin your life for doing it?” Two wrongs don’t make a right. Have you seen those videos? They’re not like 2 minutes followed by laughter. They’re LONG and they’re quite rude. Now let me ask you if you’ve seen what happens when Anonymous makes someone a target of harassment. Now let me ask you if you believe BB had the capacity, as a ‘voice’ for Anonymous (and a lot of Anonymous didn’t want him as their voice, but I won’t speak for them because I don’t speak for followers of anything) to instigate such a level of harassment? Did he say ‘oh, nevermind’?
People have gotten swatted for far less. But this is a fed, and a feds *kids*.
If you want to be treated with respect, and yea, this doesn’t work all the time, but let’s just posit — if you want to be treated with respect, it helps if you treat others with respect too. Nobody’s expecting anybody to be perfect. I’d consider it overreach if someone banged down my door because I thought someone might be of their right mind to *in their minds* sorta wanna punch a fed for making them out to be an international terrorist because they wanted to party in Vegas… But you do see a difference, don’t you?
I won’t dispute that *maybe* his actions affected his case and how the rest of his charges were handled; I’m not sure any sane person would (and I tend to favor sane people exclusively — call it a prejudice if you wish). What happened with Monsegur — that was an utter disgrace — and Hammond got completely skinned alive for basically going along with people he trusted, which turned out to have been people out to betray him all along. That was wrong. I’d even say that was criminal, and the other side of the pond was treated far more fairly…
But something’s deeply wrong with the system when you choose to overlook the harm that was done not just by law enforcement, and not just by poorly-run informants with big mouths and no ethics (I said it) in a jury-rigged system where the lawyer basically hugged a provocateur, but also by people going around demanding to be treated with respect and dignity when they’re not willing to offer the same level of respect and dignity — in fact, the most ironic twist of all may have been the vicious cycle aspect of this whole thing.
The truth is if we don’t want to be abused by those who can destroy our lives, we also have a responsibility to not threaten to destroy their lives in turn. I get that he was angry. I believe he was oversentenced. But ultimately he DID commit crimes, and there was no lack of a smoking gun when it came to those videos.
I like reading his writing. It’s funny. But he’s not a role model, and he clearly has substance *abuse* problems (being different from substance *use*). He’s getting in trouble for breaking very clearly defined rules. It’s not rocket science. And I believe if he wanted to break those rules, then that was his choice to make, but it’s also not for him to bitch and moan if he broke em and got caught.
What happened to his internet access was messed up. What happened with his case was messed up. Neither of those things should be excused. But near as I can tell those threats were about as ‘proof-bearing’ as it gets. And I don’t even think I heard him apologize for any of it.
If we want to change the system, we have to start by understanding how and why the system works. When it’s sociopathic, you don’t challenge the system to a game of chicken. I’m not sure what you DO do, but what he did was flat-out illegal.
But I do hope he continues writing — though I’d much rather read a novel or something factual than more 21st century tortured technocratic hipster memoir, once he can stop feeling sorry for himself. I’ll *pay* to read that. He’s very gifted at writing, and funny as hell. But he’s also delusional.
No offense, BB. This isn’t about you at all.
Now, what I find to be really screwed up and disgraceful, prison-wise, is what’s going on with Manning. By all means, focus your anger and outrage in that direction and fight for change. That was outright abusive. BB breaking a known rule and getting hits for it and calling it the hole… Not so much. I think Barrett would lose his marbles if he were forced to be alone for more than a few days. I don’t think he has even the slightest clue what it’d be like to be Manning. Or, for that matter, Jeremy.
(and to be clear, I wouldn’t want him to find out either)
Great to see a new column and once again had me in giggles all the way through. It would great to see all of Barrett’s columns published in a book. I was worried when I heard his email was cut off, that we wouldn’t see anymore columns. Keep them coming!
“And if anyone out there is having trouble deciding on a name for their ska band, you could do worse than “PRISON MADE INTHOXICANT.””
How can you not love this guy! That’s an awesome name for a band!
I love when they sound like they spell. DRUNK.
As per usual, I can’t make heads or tails out of your incontinent, incomprehensible posts. You need to go back on your meds.
I thought that was rather transparent…sound it out, poor listener. Inthoxicants for EVERYBODY!! I’m suggesting BB’s handler is throwing a few belts back, captain. But you aren’t the only one who can’t follow me, SAM. I’m just here to tickle your trigger, like the wild weasel I am. Fire when unsteady.
When you get your Atari, I’d suggest also demanding some Catherine Asaro novels to see how proper soccer mom futuristic novels go. You’ll thank me :>
Took a Stepford back on that news. You mean by the future moms will still have to drive their kids around? Glad I Skippered out on that shite detail, Ken!
Thanks!
Nah, definitely MAME. Go all-out console game to start with. Why settle for games made to be home substitutes for consoles? Well, unless it’s SNES Super Mario Bros or Sega Genesis Sonic. :P
Prison is, at once, extraordinarily tedious and bizarrely titillating where, as Barrett points out, the most improbable exemplars of humanity become the rule upon which one can be assured. My experience at San Quentin “Reception Center” was a lot like his tenure in a Texas federal prison and the inhabitants every bit as impossibly weird and eccentric as his companions are there. Despite that, the overriding quality which overtakes the caged spirit is one of waste and vast emptyness, of ceaseless boredom interrupted by moments of existential terror.
Wow, your life sounds more interesting than mine and I’m free-range, scratching out a retirement here in Portland. What fascinating people you live with – a Mohammadan into Oscar Wilde! Panchito Villa sounds like a thrill a minute. BTW, I like Nora Roberts, the early work.
It’s a theatrical devise that allows the audience to know that some dumbshite listening in is stealing our show. So why not take advantage of the hyper fluidity? Spill some beans they prefer not be in the scene with a slightly elevated voice.
Why can’t GCHQ explain how David Cameron’s email stored inside a criminal suspect’s BlackBerry in police custody lost all its contents, like a Tempora metadata file? I wonder….
How long did it take police to return the corrupted piece of shite to it’s Red Top owner? One month. Come to think of it, that’s how long it takes for Tempora to compress our content for Prism shipments. Do you take sugar in your tea? How about you, GCHQ?
¡Gracias a Santa Muerte para cuñas de papa!
Is any further proof necessary that what defines the US is that the wrong people are in jail and the wrong people are not in jail?
Your writing is the key to outlasting the crooks and criminals who incarcerate you. Keep on keepin’ on !
I understand The Intercept might fear the competition, but I think you should link https://freebarrettbrown.org/ prominently on these columns, since it has the old columns and other information.
Good suggestion. We’ve added a link in his bio.
Good work Barrett. I can’t say much else that hasn’t been already said… just don’t let the bastards get you down and keep it going!
Meanwhile BB, rest your soul knowing you are only there for a limited time..vs your insidious jailers are there for life. You will walk free one day, while they… will spend the rest of their working life trying to justify to themselves this is the only job they are qualified for.
Mr Brown: I find it impressive (in an extremely disturbing way) that you would go to such lengths as to get thrown into what sounds like the Mother of All Dysfunctional Prisons, just to broaden your readership and reach the likes of a borderline- illiterate like myself. You really are the king of shameless self-promoters.
p.s. in reviewing my comment I realize that I’m terribly in your debt. If I send you two potato wedges a week for the rest of my life are we squared?
quote”Mr Brown: I find it impressive (in an extremely disturbing way) that you would go to such lengths as to get thrown into what sounds like the Mother of All Dysfunctional Prisons, just to broaden your readership and reach the likes of a borderline- illiterate like myself.”unquote
Dear sctrbrn: First.. thanks for admitting you are an illiterate moron. Second, thank your mother that she didn’t let your entire DNA run down her leg that night she had an affair with the local rabid dog. Third, as an insensate, blinking calf, meaningful to nobody, abandoned by the puke-drooling, giggling beasts who sired you and then killed themselves in recognition of what they had done, compared to BB… how’s it feel to float on the surface of a cesspool.
Sorta shot your own propeller off, downer. No ribbons for you.
That was some great backhanded backlashing, whatever your handle means, sctrbrn. I’m sure it made Barrett giggle rather than recoil like hellfire’s last salvo. But only a saint can bestow the blessed wedges, so that’s another long reach. Good stretch, though.
How brave a motherfucker are you… giving the sadistic assholes running your prison such grief? Wow! You have my most awestruck admiration.
Exactamundo.
Great,
poetry of a FU system we live.
B.B…..been missing you….
Gorgeous, gorgeous fucking writing! Fantastic piece.
One bitch (there’s always a goddamned caveat, ain’t they?)
Santa Muerta is not in any way demonic & her adoption by narcos is just that: their co-opting of an saint who’s existed many decades & has special meaning to LGBT/underserved/broken. A patron of loist causes, as such.
Shit. Now I have to send you Andrew Chesnut’s “Devoted to Death.”
There’s only ONE bitch?
Malinche might want to duel with you over that one, mountain biker. I don’t consider her a traitor, just an incubator. She could do two lame translators’ jobs by integrating multiple foreign feeds and thus took over Cortez’ communications system. That’s brilliance.
I thought St. Jude was the saint of last resorts, but who worships Marlo Thomas, anymore?
Bravo for the exhilarating and creative writing!
Bravo for the guts and the unusual way of protest!
Bravo for creating new spaces of freedom in the mist of one of the worst prisons of the world!
a true fan
great article! Thank you for bringing our citizens to the realities of prisons in the USA. I worked there for 10 years til discover what I had not seen before.
keep it up
Bravo, Barrett. I hope someone is screenwriting the story of your incarceration/harrasssment as we speak.
I pray it’s animated because watching some soulless icehole with botoxed brows puppet it out will make me puke, AFLACK! Geesh, how many minutes of Obama’s telepony apology in Japan was for SONY? After all that cover work…
I am a fan of Barrett Brown’s writing and a supporter, and I think it’s unfair that he’s in prison, but my support does not extend to statements like the one above where Barrett refers to the warden as a jerk off. I got goose bumps when I read that. That’s not a smart thing to say, because what could he (Barrett) possibly get out of it except feeling the satisfaction of taunting the guy who has all the power over him? That’s not smart. That’s self destructive. Or maybe Barrett thinks this kind of “Cool Hand Luke” behavior is the kind of behavior his (Barrett’s) fans expect out of him? If that’s true Barrett, I’ve got news for you — “fans” like that are no friends of yours.
Hey Barrett Brown, I hope you read this comment and I hope you think about it. Just because people define you as a “rebel” or a “natty anarchist” or whatever the fuck they call you, that is not who *you* are. It’s just a personality style you’ve worn in the past. Maybe you ought to think about changing your outfit once in a while. You might learn something important.
The 21st century is so lame that judgment-sport is apparently all people have left to do for fun.
You are giving advice to a guy in prison. Where do you get off.
I think Barrett is doing something right because he is obviously getting under their skin. I’m glad he’s writing for the intercept now.
Where do I get off? You ass clown. If the only objective Barrett Brown is accomplishing by insulting the warden is pissing him off, then I call that flailing. And I call that self-destructive. And I think that maybe prison isn’t the best place for Barrett Brown to work out his daddy issues and his problems with authority figures, because the stakes are high.
I think if anything happens to Barrett, many of us would now question if Warden Chandler was involved.
Unsolicited advice is such a rare treasure on the internet, Fitz.
“You might learn something important.” You sound like Bill Cosby introducing an episode of Fat Albert.
“You ass clown….I call that flailing ….. I call that self-destructive….maybe prison isn’t the best place to work out his daddy issues.” All right, maybe you don’t have the gravitas of Bill Cosby.
Bill Cosby managed to destroy his entire legacy, and damage the lives of his family and co-workers. All because he thought he was above the law. Karma had other plans for him.
Really Vic Perry, I wouldn’t know. I’m not a Fat Albert fan.
But you are correct about unsolicited advice. People usually can’t hear it, at least not until they’re ready to.
quote”Where do I get off? unquote
Says one who couldn’t figure out the directional signage that says…GET OFF HERE. Meanwhile, in lieu of figuring it out, he decides to wander down a path through the authoritarian pick a mentality themes Disneyland while never getting a clue he’s lost.
I’m not sure why you doubt Barrett Brown is sincere, he is exposing corruption and human rights abuses in the judicial/ prison system with the aid of journalists while at the same time being in prison. I think that’s courageous.
Great piece. Calling the warden a jerk off is a first amendment protected activity and probably something Barrett (come and get it) Brown would do in a CHINESE Prison. Barrett Brown doesn’t have a problem with authority. Authority has a problem with Barrett Brown.
…and speaking of problems with authority. Fuck all GCHQ, FBI, NSA and DHS jerk offs and their sober no doubt celibate collection of intimate pictures and webcam videos of our mothers wives daughters and sons…because…National Security.
…
When a woman is raped, I would think what you ought to do is stand by her whatever she decides. To get a kit done or not get a kit done, get the abortion or keep the baby, to go for self defense classes or just try not to think about it, you can have strong opinions, but so what? What matters most is that someone from whom choice has been taken away knows that she has the choice now and can count on your support. And when someone is unjustly sent to prison, the situation is pretty much the same. Oh, you can say that Barrett Brown would be safer if he didn’t wear those short skirts, but who cares? The point is, you stand by him whether he wants to protect himself however possible or to shout defiance.
And if anyone out there is having trouble deciding on a name for their ska band, you could do worse than “PRISON MADE INTHOXICANT.”
“Narcissistic Bloviator”
The case for dismissing collateral damage is depressingly similar, whether we are excusing bombings or mass shamings.
Oh good lord how did that post end up on this thread? Muddah Faddah kindly disregard this lettah.
I’m seeing a movie ending coming, Robert DeNiro at the end of King of Comedy, only in 100% wholesome triumph lighting.
So that’s why she was thrown in the SHU. They recruited “informants” to aid in a witch hunt against him. I’m really not surprised. No doubt he will be placed under extra scrutiny for the remainder of his sentence.
These rat****ers helped with restricting his “privileges” and access to the press.
Rat’s tend to have an expiry date in US prisons.
Once they are found out they usually get pulled from the shelf, either by the management to keep them alive or if management is done with them the population cleans house.
The guard may have thought he was taunting him, but there’s a good chance he’s trying to set him up as well.
It is clear the guard’s plan is to create distrust, to poison the friendships he has made. All while being placed under extra scrutiny. They will look for any opportunity now to take away his rights and “privileges” .
Brilliant!
That piece right there is practically a death metal song as it is.
Hang in there Barrett, don’t let the bastards grind you down!
Is Barrett allowed to get nude pictures in the mail?
Just kidding. Maybe. Seriously, though, his writing is such a turn-on.
On some units in Texas you actually can get porn in the mail. The Roach Unit in West Texas you can for sure but I don’t know about the one Barrett is on.
note to self..file under
Great Moments in Contempt.
Keep it up. Meanwhile, be safe.
Thanks Intercept for BB posts. I’m glad you folks are guarding the wall.
“I don’t want to risk it,” replied the shotgun-wielding child soldier who makes pacts with demons for potato wedges.
????
Fucking brilliant BB, as always, bravo!
Nice piece, enjoyed the line: ““I don’t want to risk it,” replied the shotgun-wielding child soldier who makes pacts with demons for potato wedges.”
Gotta ask about that art, though: why is Barrett Brown depicted as praying for potato wedges in this article’s art when he mocked his cellmate for doing this?
“Panchito led me in a Spanish prayer of thanksgiving to our benefactress.”
I insist that you marry me
I’m financially independent, so you wouldn’t have to have a “real” “job” unless it amused you to do so, and thus would be free to concentrate on writing, fomenting revolts against oppressive governments, and Dwarf Fortress without petty distractions. Definitely hit me up when you get out of prison. I am female and, I feel it is safe to say, cuter than Panchito, if that has a bearing.
“Contact the Author”