From behind the walls
Muslim leader decries prison conditions
By Jane Cutter
Ann Arbor, Mich.
A recent letter to a supporter from Rabih Haddad reveals
that the Ann Arbor-area Muslim community leader is being held
under inhumane conditions in Chicago.
Haddad, a Lebanese immigrant, was arrested by the
Immigration and Naturalization Services and taken from his home
on Dec. 14, allegedly for overstaying his visa.
However, it is clear to many that his arrest and detention
are part of a wider pattern of racist profiling and roundups of
Arab and Muslim men in this country in the wake of 9/11. Haddad
is founder of the Global Relief Foundation, an Islamic charity.
The U.S. government froze the organization's assets in
December, although no evidence of links to "terrorists" has
been produced.
Haddad was initially held in the Monroe County Jail in
Michigan, in the Metro Detroit area. There his wife and four
children were able to visit regularly and talk on the
phone.
Despite an outpouring of support from the Ann Arbor
community, he was denied bond after several hearings conducted
in secret. Even Congressional Rep. John Conyers was barred from
attending.
Haddad, who taught religion classes and volunteered
extensively in Ann Arbor, was declared a "threat to the
community" because he owns a registered hunting rifle. Since
then Haddad has been moved, without notice, to Chicago. He is
being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC).
Letter from inside the cell
Haddad's letter to a member of the Chicago Coalition Against
War and Racism describes in detail the conditions under which
he is being held.
"Allow me to take this opportunity to bring you slightly
into my world here at MCC Chicago. I am in a 6' x 9' solitary
cell ... The bed is situated in the center of the room with
about a foot and a half on either side ... The bed is a metal
slab with four legs bolted to the floor and fitted on all four
corners with special fittings to hold straps ...
"I have a camera fixed on me right outside my door that has
completely deprived me of any kind of privacy since that door
has a small window which allows them to check and see if I'm
still there around the clock. It's for my safety, they say.
"I am allowed one 15-minute call to my family every 30 days.
My food is handed to me through a slit in the door ... The same
opening is used to put the cuffs on me before the door is
opened for any reason. I am allowed three showers a week for
which I have to be cuffed to walk 10 paces to the shower that
has a door similar to my cell's door. I'm only uncuffed after
I'm inside and the door is locked.
"I also get one hour of recreation five days a week ... I am
led, cuffed, from my cell to a cage (literally) just down the
hall that is the same size as my cell. In it is a homemade
stationary bicycle that has no resistance and thus is worthless
for exercising. I have to wait until the cage is empty because
I cannot be put in there with anyone else, for my own safety,
they say."
In a postscript, Haddad also described "waves of
cockroaches" in his cell at night.
The conditions detailed by Haddad are very similar to those
endured by prisoners in Control Unit or Super Maximum prisons,
such as California's Pelican Bay State Prison. Solitary
confinement, with almost no human contact or stimulation for 23
hours or more a day, is the hallmark of such prisons.
Such treatment is a form of torture.
The United Nations Convention Against Torture states that
torture is any act by which severe pain or suffering, physical
or mental, is intentionally inflicted with the knowledge or
agreement of public officials as punishment, to obtain a
confession, or to intimidate or coerce. The extreme isolation
of human beings clearly inflicts psychological pain.
Even court rulings in the United States have acknowledged
this, although the findings have been limited to those who are
already especially vulnerable--those with mental disabilities.
In Madrid v. Gomez, for instance, Judge Thelton B. Hen derson
ruled in 1995 that the isolation of mentally disabled prisoners
constituted a form of psychological torture. However,
psychological research has indicated that extreme isolation,
even in the absence of prior mental disability, can lead to
symptoms such as hallucination.
The conditions under which Haddad are being held seem
intended to break his spirit. However, he remains strong.
"I have been treated like the worst criminal you can imagine
when I have not even been charged with a crime, save
overstaying my visa, which I was in the process of remedying.
All of this has done nothing but harden my will and
strengthened my resolve to overcome and persevere. Your efforts
and the efforts of others are like torches of hope that light
my way in this deep and dark tunnel that I've entered and I am
eternally grateful for that."
Haddad's supporters ask that letters, faxes and phone calls
protesting his treatment be directed to: Patrick J. Fitzgerald,
U.S. Attorney, Northern District, Illinois, 219 S. Dearborn
St., 5th floor, Chicago, Ill. 60604. Phone (312) 353-5300; fax:
(312) 353-2067. Metropolitan Correctional Center, (313)
233-0567, push option 4 for "staff directory" and ask to speak
to Mrs. Kenner, the warden's secretary.
Write letters of support to Rabih Haddad, #30189-039,
Metropolitan Correctional Center, 71 W. Van Buren St., Chicago,
Ill., 60605. Send letters certified mail, return receipt
requested.
Reprinted from the Feb. 21, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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