Hello Max,

I've been an avid reader of your site for some time now and have enjoyed the content and commentary from yourself and the other readers immensely.  I was browsing through some of the older "By the People" pages recently, and a few posts about the treatment of prisoners here in the U.S. sparked a memory.

A female acquaintance of mine spent some time in prison back in the mid to late 90's.  We exchanged several letters while she was serving her time, and I was quite amazed and often taken aback both by the circumstances that landed her in prison and some of the things she endured while locked up.

My friend is now free and living a quiet, constructive life somewhere in middle America.  While she insists on remaining anonymous, she was willing to share some of her story to help raise awareness regarding the treatment of prisoners in America in hopes that it will help to bring about positive change.

With that in mind, here are a few excerpts from her letters regarding her situation and the treatment she received while serving time.

(When asked why she was in prison): "I was involved with a man who I loved very much.  He was involved in the movement of rather large amounts of cocaine.  He promised me that he wouldn't keep anything at the house, but he did.  One day the house was raided and the authorities siezed cocaine, money and weapons.  He wasn't around when it happened.  I was.  They pressured me to tell where he was and testify against him, but I couldn't do that.  He promised my family he would make my bond and get me the best lawyer money could find.  He didn't do either.  What he did do was leave me holding the bag, so to speak.  As a result of my 'refusal to cooperate,' I got time."

So what we have here is a young woman who lost five years of her life (before she was paroled) for a crime that she had no part in.  Her only real offense was defending the man that she loved, who then left her in the lurch.  Yes, she was aware of the crimes being committed, and she accepted the fact that she deserved to be punished for that.  Fortunately, she took the
opportunity to rebuild her life and start fresh, but many people who are given such lengthy sentences for such small things only become bitter and leave the penal system worse off than when they went in.

If that was the end of it, then I would not feel it is a bad story overall.  However, in her next letter she revealed a bit more about the circumstances under which she was serving her sentence, and I found parts of it to be nothing less than appaling.

(When asked what prison life was like): "You said you'd like to know about my day to day life here, so I'll share a bit with you.  The facility I'm housed in now is a maximum security unit (known as SuperMax/State).  I'm here because I got into a fight at the other facility where I was being housed.  This facility is a 24 hour lockdown.  The only exceptions are showers and an excercise room.  We have no yard, no jobs, nothing.  Visits are behind a glass, phone
calls are twice a month.  We are handcuffed any time we are let out of our cells, whether it is to walk to the shower or go to a visit.  We are also always escorted by two guards any time we leave the cell."

"Death Row is right across from us.  In my opinion, this place is a little extreme for someone who has only been in a fight or got a hot UA (ed. note - UA is a Urine Analisys, a type of drug test), but this is where they send us.  Men usually come here for more serious reasons; assault on a cop, escape, killing another inmate, rape, etc.  Women come here for hot UAs, fighting, running a store, etc.  I've been here for nearly a year."

"Prison is a big drag wherever you are, big or small, but this place can be an especially hard way to go.  It's a hard way to do time, but I have to be grateful when I look across the hall and know that those men will never see freedom - will never see anything but those four walls until their death.  At least I still have light at the end of my tunnel."

A year spent in solitary confinement having no human contact beyond the guards taking you a short distance up the hallway.
Handcuffed any time you set foot outside of your cell.  And for what?  Getting into a fight, even though no one was seriously hurt or killed in the scuffle.  Imposing this degree of punishment for that simple an offense seems roughly akin to swatting a fly with a Buick.

(Responsing to a request for more detail about her living conditions): "Yes, 24 hour lockdown means just that (with the exception of showers, visits, etc).  We are cuffed from our cells to the shower, then uncuffed.  We are always escorted by two officers.  I don't leave my cell for school.  Any groups, memos, schooling, etc. is done via television, so we don't leave our cells for any of that.  Excercise is offered 5 days a week like the showers.  We go (one at a time) into a
room not much bigger than the cells.  There's nothing in there but a pull-up bar and a mesh-screened window that allows fresh air in from outside."

"I would guess the cells to be 8' x 10'.  They are all cement and metal.  A cement slab with a mattress is the bed.  A set of metal shelves and a metal desk and stool are the furniture (not to mention the metal toilet).  We are not allowed any appliances except for the TV.  No personal clothing items, towels, blankets - nothing.  Cards, pictures, books and magazines are allowed (no polaroids).  We are allowed to order some food items, hygeine and writing supplies from
their canteen.  Oh, we can also order an electric razor and a watch, I forgot about that."

"Our wrists are cuffed for showers, excercise room, and the telephone.  For visits, the doctor, parole board, etc. we also get shackles and the belly chain.  We are cuffed behind our back when there are no shackles, and in front for the belly chain routine.  When we use the phone we are cuffed in the front and then chained to the wall by the phone.
There are 'tray slots' in all the cell doors as well as the excercise room and shower doors.  We stick our arms out, they cuff us, escort us to wherever, lock us in, and then uncuff us through the slot.  So that's how we shower and excercise.  It is overkill!  There is no time when any two inmates are out of their cell at the same time, so I really don't see why all that is necessary, but this is the way they do things here."

Being locked down all the time, and put in handcuffs and shackles to go anywhere even while inside the prison and escorted by two guards.  Is this truly necessary to keep a 130 pound woman under control and stop her from causing problems?  No, this treatment is punitive, plain and simple.

I must admit that the thought of this woman (she is quite attractive) in handcuffs and shackles is quite a pleasant one, but not when she is being unjustly punished to an extreme degree because she had a fight in prison while serving a ridiculously long sentence for a very minor offense.

That's justice in America for you.  Meanwhile, a woman in my home state who let her own child suffocate in her car while getting her hair and nails done is filing to regain custody of her other child and will probably not serve any serious prison time, if any at all.

Thought you and your readers might find this interesting.

Brian

A little composition in homage to the Prison Officer's account ;)
from DB

Anbei schicke ich Dir ein nettes Foto, das ich bei einer Presseagentur gefunden haben. Es ist etwa vor zwei Jahren auf einer Demonstration in Deutschland entstanden und zeigt, was unangepassten "Globalisierungsgegnern" (ein seltsames Wort; ganz simplifizierender Medien-Jargon) alles wiederfahren kann.

Liebe Grüße
Hanna

Hi M.

I cannot say exactly how long this scene is , but all the different scenes are only a few minutes long . As these are supposed to be fantasy or dream scenes , we did not expand them too long - as in some  videos produced by other companies where each bondage situation is 5 to 10 minutes long ... so it becomes a little boring at the end . We try to make our videos
interesting so we include a big variety of different bondage situations .

In one of the next videos we will imagine a story where she is exclusively in medieval shackles ( from steel-bondage.com)
 

Best greetings

Max

A "must" for all handcuff collectors : Alex R. Nichols  "Guidebook to Handcuffs and other Restraints of the World " Order it here !

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