Harmony School, 1994, Page 20

Description:	Special Jim Bakker SectionMy life in prison!Dear Students of Harmony School,Your letter came today, telling me that you had written me February 7,1994, and it was sent back to you marked Returned to Sender, NotForwardable. Thanks for spending the time to track me down as I wouldhate missing the opportunity to be in the third edition of the worlds mostunusual yearbook. I hope it’s three years and out out of prison that is,as this is supposed to be my year of release from incarceration.Yes, Ive been moved to a work camp in sunny Jesup, Georgia, from theprison in frigid Rochester, Minnesota. Prisoners are moved by a procedurelabeled by inmates as diesel therapy. Some long-term prisoners swear menhave been lost for months, even years, on the road in this twentiethcentury torture system. Most of the men are not told when they are nottold when they are going, and Ive been told this is to prevent theirfriends from somehow rescuing them during the move.The guard awakes you usually in the middle of the night and tells you toget dressed. You are then taken to a holding cell (bullpen) where you andyour fellow travelers are jammed together for several hours for waiting.Then you are lined up, single file, and told to strip naked. You areinstructed to hold up your hands palms out, and then show them the back ofyour hands. Next, you show them behind your ears, and brush your fingersthrough your hair, and then open your mouth wide and lift your tongue sothey can see under it. Most guards are giving all these instructions by aprimitive kind of sign language with a grunt or okay when they aresatisfied there are no drugs or weapons concealed in that part of the body.Next, you are told to lift your privates and then with a twistingmovement in the air of the correction officers hand, you know you are tothen to turn around and lift your feet so he can see the bottoms of themclearly. Next, he says something like spread them or smile, whichmeans bend over and pull your buttocks apart. If your besetting deadly sinis pride, this process has a way of helping solve that problem for you.You are next given a completely set of clothes and led back into a bullpenor holding cell to wait some more. After an indefinite period of time, youare all lined up for the chaining process. Your feet are cuffed andchained together with just enough chain to take small steps. Your handsare handcuffed and locked to a chain fastened around your waist. After thechaining process, you are put back in the holding cell to await the bus.As you are being prepared to board the bus or van, you must give your nameor number. If your trip is a short one, you may be driven all the way bybus or van, but as my trip was from Minnesota to Georgia, I was going byprison airlines, which inmates have nicknamed Con Air.When we pulled up to the huge aircraft, it was surrounded by officers withshotguns in their hands. After another wait, we were instructed to line onthe airport tarmac and we are told to give our names and numbers one moretime. The other prisoners and I are then led shuffling with our chainsclanging up the backstairs of the airplane...each step is painful as thesteel cuffs cut into your ankles. The inside of the airplane looks likeany other jet airliner except there are no stewards or stewardesses. Intheir place are government marshalls stationed throughout the plane and allthe passengers dressed alike and chained. This was the beginning of mygreatest prison nightmare, a trip from hell.
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-harmony/id/1779
Collection:	Harmony School

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