Father Daniel Berrigan once said that "writing about prisoners is a little like writing about the dead." I think what he meant is that we treat prisoners as ghosts. They're unseen and unheard. It's easy to simply ignore them and it's even easier when the government goes to great lengths to keep them hidden.
貝瑞岡神父曾說過: 「側寫囚犯有點像在側寫死人。」 我認為他所指的是 我們對待囚犯好比鬼魂一樣, 他們是不被看見、聽到的; 單單要忽略他們已是很容易的事, 而當政府竭盡所能地掩蓋這群人的存在時, 我們就更容易忽略他們了。
As a journalist, I think these stories of what people in power do when no one is watching, are precisely the stories that we need to tell. That's why I began investigating the most secretive and experimental prison units in the United States, for so-called "second-tier" terrorists. The government calls these units Communications Management Units or CMUs. Prisoners and guards call them "Little Guantanamo." They are islands unto themselves. But unlike Gitmo they exist right here, at home, floating within larger federal prisons.
身為一名記者 我認為當沒人注意時握有權力的人 做了什麼事情的這些報導 正是我們需要講出來的報導, 那是我為什麼開始調查 在美國裡最隱密和試驗型的監獄單位, 給所謂「次級恐怖份子」的人來用; 政府稱呼這些單位為 互動聯絡管理單位或叫 CMU, 犯人和警衛們叫它們「小關塔那摩」。 它們就是自家上面的島嶼, 但是不像關塔那摩 - 它們存在於這裡、在我們的家門裡, 漂泊在更大的聯邦監獄裡。
There are 2 CMUs. One was opened inside the prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, and the other is inside this prison, in Marion, Illinois. Neither of them underwent the formal review process that is required by law when they were opened. CMU prisoners have all been convicted of crimes. Some of their cases are questionable and some involve threats and violence. I'm not here to argue the guilt or innocence of any prisoner. I'm here because as Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall said, "When the prisons and gates slam shut, prisoners do not lose their human quality."
有著兩個 CMU: 一個啟用在印地安納州 特雷霍特的監獄裡面, 還有另一個啟用在伊利諾州 馬里昂的監獄裡面; 當它們兩個受啟用時 全都沒有遵照法律規定的正式審查程序。 CMU 的囚犯全都已經定罪完了, 有一些案例啟人疑竇, 而有一些則涉及脅迫與暴力; 我不是要在這裡爭論 任何受刑人有罪或是冤枉, 我在這邊是因為如同最高法院法官 瑟古德.馬歇爾曾說過: 「當監獄與門道砰然關閉, 囚犯們並未失去他們的人權」。
Every prisoner I've interviewed has said there are three flecks of light in the darkness of prison: phone calls, letters and visits from family. CMUs aren't solitary confinement, but they radically restrict all of these to levels that meet or exceed the most extreme prisons in the United States. Their phone calls can be limited to 45 minutes a month, compared to the 300 minutes other prisoners receive. Their letters can be limited to six pieces of paper. Their visits can be limited to four hours per month, compared to the 35 hours that people like Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph receive in the supermax. On top of that, CMU visits are non-contact which means prisoners are not allowed to even hug their family. As one CMU prisoner said, "We're not being tortured here, except psychologically."
每一位我曾經訪問過的囚犯都說 在監獄的沉黑裡 有著三個小光點: 電話、信函以及家人探視, CMU 並非單人拘禁不過它們 偏激地侷限所有這些事項, 達到甚或超出在美國 最極端之監獄的水準。 它的電話能被設限在 1 個月是 45 分鐘, 對比於其他囚犯所得到的 300 分鐘、 它的信函能被設限在六張紙、 它的探視能被設限在每月 4 個小時, 對比於奧林匹克公園炸彈客 艾瑞克.魯多夫 最多所獲得的 35 個小時。 更甚者 CMU 的探視是無法肢體碰觸的, 這表示囚犯就連擁抱家人也不被寬容; 如同一位 CMU 的囚犯曾講過的, 「我們在這裡並未受到折磨, 除了心理上來說」。
The government won't say who is imprisoned here. But through court documents, open records requests and interviews with current and former prisoners, some small windows into the CMUs have opened.
政府不會告知你誰被關在這裡面, 但是透過法庭公文、申請公開紀錄、 採訪當今和前囚犯, 些許探進 CMU 的窗口已經打開了。
There's an estimated 60 to 70 prisoners here, and they're overwhelmingly Muslim. They include people like Dr. Rafil Dhafir, who violated the economic sanctions on Iraq by sending medical supplies for the children there. They've included people like Yassin Aref. Aref and his family fled to New York from Saddam Hussein's Iraq as refugees. He was arrested in 2004 as part of an FBI sting. Aref is an imam and he was asked to bear witness to a loan, which is a tradition in Islamic culture. It turned out that one of the people involved in the loan was trying to enlist someone else in a fake attack. Aref didn't know. For that, he was convicted of conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist group.
那邊被估計有著 60 到 70 位囚犯, 而且絕大多數是穆斯林, 他們裡面包括了像是 拉斐爾.達菲爾醫生, 他違反了對伊拉克的經濟制裁 - 為了那邊的小孩寄送醫療用品過去。 他們曾經包括像是亞辛.埃勒夫, 埃勒夫和他的家人從海珊的伊拉克 充做難民逃往紐約, 他在 2004 年被逮捕是 FBI 臥底行動的一部份, 埃勒夫是個伊瑪目 而他受邀見證一筆貸款, 此為伊斯蘭文化裡的傳統, 結果該貸款所涉入的其中一人企圖列進 在一場虛假攻擊中某人的名字, 埃勒夫並不知情, 因為那樣他被定罪於間諜和 提供物資協助給恐怖份子團體。
The CMUs also include some non-Muslim prisoners. The guards call them "balancers," meaning they help balance out the racial numbers, in hopes of deflecting law suits. These balancers include animal rights and environmental activists like Daniel McGowan.
CMU 也包含了一些非穆斯林囚犯, 警衛們叫他們「中和成分」- 表示他們有助於平衡族群的人數, 寄望偏移法律告訴; 這些中和成分包含了動物權與 環保運動人士, 像是丹尼爾.麥加文。
McGowan was convicted of participating in two arsons in the name of defending the environment as part of the Earth Liberation Front. During his sentencing, he was afraid that he would be sent to a rumored secret prison for terrorists. The judge dismissed all those fears, saying that they weren't supported by any facts. But that might be because the government hasn't fully explained why some prisoners end up in a CMU, and who is responsible for these decisions. When McGowan was transferred, he was told it's because he is a "domestic terrorist," a term the FBI uses repeatedly when talking about environmental activists. Now, keep in mind there are about 400 prisoners in US prisons who are classified as terrorists, and only a handful of them are in the CMUs. In McGowan's case, he was previously at a low-security prison and he had no communications violations.
麥加文被定罪於參與了兩場 「大地自由前線」以 護守環境為名的縱火案, 在判刑的期間裡他擔心他可能會被送到 謠傳中給恐怖分子用的隱密監獄, 法官消除了所有那些恐懼, 說它們未受到任何事實的佐證。 不過那可能是因為政府還未詳實地解釋 為什麼有些囚犯最終到了 CMU 裡? 以及誰對這些決定有負責的? 當麥加文被移送時他被告知 那是因為他是個「國內恐怖分子」, 當提到環保運動人士時 FBI 再三用到的術語。 現在記清楚了大概有著 400 個囚犯在美國的監獄裡, 這些人被分類為恐怖分子, 而且其中只有一小部份在 CMU 裡面; 麥加文的案例他早先是在 一間低度戒備的監獄, 而且他沒有違反互動聯絡的規定,
So, why was he moved? Like other CMU prisoners, McGowan repeatedly asked for an answer, a hearing, or some opportunity for an appeal. This example from another prisoner shows how those requests are viewed. "Wants a transfer." "Told him no." At one point, the prison warden himself recommended McGowan's transfer out of the CMU citing his good behavior, but the warden was overruled by the Bureau of Prison's Counterterrorism Unit, working with the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the FBI.
所以為什麼他會被調移呢? 就像其他 CMU 的囚犯, 麥加文不斷重複地要求 一個解答、一場聽證會、 或是一次上訴的些許機會, 來自另一個囚犯的這個例子 表明了那些申請如何被看待 - 要移監!告訴他「不行」! 有一度監獄典獄長本人提議讓麥加文 轉出 CMU 來表彰他良好的行為, 不過該典獄長被聯邦監獄局 反恐單位打了回票, 該單位與 FBI 聯合反恐 任務部隊在合作。
Later I found out that McGowan was really sent to a CMU not because of what he did, but what he has said. A memo from the Counterterrorism Unit cited McGowan's "anti-government beliefs." While imprisoned, he continued writing about environmental issues, saying that activists must reflect on their mistakes and listen to each other. Now, in fairness, if you've spent any time at all in Washington, DC, you know this is really a radical concept for the government.
後來我發現到麥加文真正被送到 CMU 不是因為他做過什麼, 卻是他說話的內容; 出自反恐單位的備忘錄 引述了麥加文的反政府信念, 在坐牢期間他繼續著述環境議題, 說活動人士必須認真思考他們的錯誤, 以及聽別人怎麼講。 持平來說如果你曾經待過 華盛頓特區任何一些時間, 你就知道對政府而言 這真的是激進的想法啊!
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
I actually asked to visit McGowan in the CMU. And I was approved. That came as quite a shock. First, because as I've discussed on this stage before, I learned that the FBI has been monitoring my work. Second, because it would make me the first and only journalist to visit a CMU. I had even learned through the Bureau of Prisons Counterterrorism Unit, that they had been monitoring my speeches about CMUs, like this one. So how could I possibly be approved to visit? A few days before I went out to the prison, I got an answer.
我確實請求過要在 CMU 裡探視麥加文, 而且我就獲准了; 那真的相當令人吃驚, 首先因為如同我已經在 這個講台上討論過的, 我早知道 FBI 一直在監看著我的工作, 第二、這會使我成為第一個 以及唯一探訪過 CMU 的記者。 我甚至已從聯邦監獄局的反恐單位得知 他們早已一直在監看我有關 CMU 的言論 - 就像這一個, 所以我怎麼有可能獲准探訪呢? 在我出門去監獄的幾天前 我得到答案了。
I was allowed to visit McGowan as a friend, not a journalist. Journalists are not allowed here. McGowan was told by CMU officials that if I asked any questions or published any story, that he would be punished for my reporting. When I arrived for our visit, the guards reminded me that they knew who I was and knew about my work. And they said that if I attempted to interview McGowan, the visit would be terminated. The Bureau of Prisons describes CMUs as "self-contained housing units." But I think that's an Orwellian way of describing black holes. When you visit a CMU, you go through all the security checkpoints that you would expect. But then the walk to the visitation room is silent. When a CMU prisoner has a visit, the rest of the prison is on lockdown. I was ushered into a small room, so small my outstretched arms could touch each wall. There was a grapefruit-sized orb in the ceiling for the visit to be live-monitored by the Counterterrorism Unit in West Virginia. The unit insists that all the visits have to be in English for CMU prisoners, which is an additional hardship for many of the Muslim families. There is a thick sheet of foggy, bulletproof glass and on the other side was Daniel McGowan. We spoke through these handsets attached to the wall and talked about books and movies. We did our best to find reasons to laugh. To fight boredom and amuse himself while in the CMU, McGowan had been spreading a rumor that I was secretly the president of a Twilight fan club in Washington, DC
我被允許當成朋友而非記者 去探視麥加文, 記者是不准進這邊的; CMU 的官員告訴麥加文 如果我詢問了任何問題 或是發表任何新聞 - 他將會為了我的報導而受罰。 當我為了探視抵達時警衛們提醒我, 說他們知道我是誰以及我的工作, 而且他們還說假使我意圖 訪問麥加文的話, 這場探視就會被中斷。 聯邦監獄局形容 CMU 等同 「自我閉鎖的房舍單位」, 不過我認為那是歐威爾式的 方法來形容黑洞; 當你探視 CMU 時 你會走完所有你預期想到的檢查哨, 但是之後進入會客室的步履是一片寂然。 當 CMU 囚犯有人探視時, 其餘的囚犯就是被鎖起來了, 我被引領進一個小房間, 我伸展開的手臂能夠碰到 各面牆壁如此的小間, 那裡有個葡萄般大小的 球狀體在天花板上, 為了讓該探視被位於 西維吉尼亞的反恐單位即時監看; 該單位堅持對 CMU 囚犯 所有的探視必須使用英文, 此點對許多穆斯林家庭來說 是額外的難關。 那裡有著一片霧面的防彈玻璃, 而且麥加文就在另一頭, 我們透過裝在牆上的電話聽筒講話, 談論著書籍和電影, 我們盡一切努力找到理由來笑; 在 CMU 裡面的時候 為了打破沉悶以及自娛, 麥加文不斷播送一個謠言: 「我是華盛頓特區暮光之城 影迷會的不為人知的會長,
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
For the record, I'm not.
在書面紀錄上不是我而已,
(Laughter) But I kind of the hope the FBI now thinks that Bella and Edward are terrorist code names.
(笑聲) 不過我有點希望 FBI 現在認為 貝拉還有艾德華是恐怖份子的代號!
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
During our visit, McGowan spoke most and at length about his niece Lily, his wife Jenny and how torturous it feels to never be able to hug them, to never be able to hold their hands. Three months after our visit, McGowan was transferred out of the CMU and then, without warning, he was sent back again. I had published leaked CMU documents on my website and the Counterterrorism Unit said that McGowan had called his wife and asked her to mail them. He wanted to see what the government was saying about him, and for that he was sent back to the CMU. When he was finally released at the end of his sentence, his story got even more Kafkaesque. He wrote an article for the Huffington Post headlined, "Court Documents Prove I was Sent to a CMU for my Political Speech."
在我們的會面裡麥加文談到最多、 最長的是他的姪女莉莉、他的老婆珍妮, 以及永遠沒辦法去擁抱她們、 親執她們的雙手感覺有多麼折騰。 在我們的會面的三個月後 麥加文被轉出了 CMU, 接著完全沒有警訊,他再次被送回去了; 我已經在我的網站上公開發表過 外流的 CMU 的公文資料, 還有反恐單位說麥加文曾經致電他的妻子 請求她把它們寄出, 他想要知道政府將會如何說他, 因為這樣他被送回了 CMU。 當他終於在他刑期結束被釋放了出來, 他的事蹟變得甚至更加「卡夫卡式」, 他寫出一篇文章給赫芬頓郵報做標題為 「法庭文件證實因為我的政治言論 我被送去了 CMU !」 。
The next day he was thrown back in jail for his political speech. His attorneys quickly secured his release, but the message was very clear: Don't talk about this place.
隔天就為了他的政治言論 他被逮回監獄裡去, 他的律師迅速地確保了他的開釋, 不過訊息非常明確 - 不要講到這地方。
Today, nine years after they were opened by the Bush administration, the government is codifying how and why CMUs were created. According to the Bureau of Prisons, they are for prisoners with "inspirational significance." I think that is very nice way of saying these are political prisons for political prisoners.
在它們被布希政府啟用九年後的今天, 政府正在將 CMU 如何以及 為什麼被創造出來建立規章, 根據聯邦監獄局所指 它們是用來關帶有 鼓舞型特別意義的囚犯, 我認為這是非常棒的方式來說 這些單位是用來關政治犯的政治監獄。
Prisoners are sent to a CMU because of their race, their religion or their political beliefs.
囚犯們被送往 CMU 是因為其種族、 宗教信仰或是政治理念,
Now, if you think that characterization is too strong, just look at some of the government's own documents. When some of McGowan's mail was rejected by the CMU, the sender was told it's because the letters were intended "for political prisoners." When another prisoner, animal rights activist Andy Stepanian, was sent to a CMU, it was because of his anti-government and anti-corporate views.
此刻要是你認為該特點強烈到不行, 看一些政府自己的公文就好; 當部份麥加文的信件 被 CMU 拒收的時候, 寄件人被告知那是因為信函 蓄意要給政治犯的。 另一個囚犯 - 動物權運動人士 安迪.史迪佩尼恩 被送到 CMU 是因為他的 反政府以及反企業觀點。
Now, I know all of this may be hard to believe, that it's happening right now, and in the United States. But the unknown reality is that the US has a dark history of disproportionately punishing people because of their political beliefs. In the 1960s, before Marion was home to the CMU, it was home to the notorious Control Unit. Prisoners were locked down in solitary for 22 hours a day. The warden said the unit was to "control revolutionary attitudes." In the 1980s, another experiment called the Lexington High Security Unit held women connected to the Weather Underground, Black Liberation and Puerto Rican independent struggles. The prison radically restricted communication and used sleep deprivation, and constant light for so-called "ideological conversion." Those prisons were eventually shut down, but only through the campaigning of religious groups and human rights advocates, like Amnesty International.
我知道這所有一切很難置信, 此時此刻在美國它持續發生中, 不過沒人知道的現實 是美國因為政治上的信仰 有著過度地處罰人民的黑暗歷史。 在 1960 年代早在馬里昂 是 CMU 的所在地前, 它是惡名昭彰的超級戒備單位監獄, 囚犯一天被鎖在緊閉室 22 個小時, 典獄長曾經說該單位是要管控 具顛覆現狀的品行。 在 1980 年代另一個實驗 叫做萊辛頓高戒備單位, 關收與「地下氣象人組織」、 「黑人解放軍」、「波多黎各 獨立奮進會」有牽連的成年女性, 該監獄嚴厲限制通信, 以及採用不讓你睡手段、 以及為了所謂的思想改造 不停歇的照亮。 這些監獄終究被關閉掉了, 不過唯有透過宗教團體 以及人權運動者像是 「國際特赦組織」的持續奔走。
Today, civil rights lawyers with the Center for Constitutional Rights are challenging CMUs in court for depriving prisoners of their due process rights and for retaliating against them for their protected political and religious speech. Many of these documents would have never come to light without this lawsuit.
今天民權律師加上「憲法權力中心」 正在法庭裡質疑 CMU 剝奪囚犯的正當法律程序權利, 以及為了他們受到保護的政治、 宗教性言論找他們算帳, 許多這些公文要是沒有這場訴訟 可能永遠不會曝光。
The message of these groups and my message for you today is that we must bear witness to what is being done to these prisoners. Their treatment is a reflection of the values held beyond prison walls. This story is not just about prisoners. It is about us. It is about our own commitment to human rights. It is about whether we will choose to stop repeating the mistakes of our past. If we don't listen to what Father Berrigan described as the stories of the dead, they will soon become the stories of ourselves.
這些團體和我在今天要給你們的訊息 是我們必須見證對這些囚犯 做過些什麼事情, 他們的處置是監獄牆內價值的映照, 這個故事不只是跟囚犯有關, 它跟我們有關、 它跟我們本身對人權的承諾有關、 它跟我們是否將會選擇停止重複 我們過往的錯誤有關。 要是我們不聽教神父貝瑞岡 對前車之鑑的描述, 它們很快就會變成我們自己的寫照,
Thank you.
謝謝你們!
(Applause)
(掌聲)
(Applause ends)
(掌聲結束)
Tom Rielly: I have a couple questions. When I was in high school, I learned about the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, freedom of speech, due process and about 25 other laws and rights that seem to be violated by this. How could this possibly be happening?
湯姆.萊利:我有幾個問題啦, 當我還在高中的時候我學過權利法案、 憲法、言論自由、 正當法律程序以及 25 種其他法律與權利, 那看起來都被這個內容所違背了, 這種事如何有機會發生呢?
Will Potter: I think that's the number one question I get throughout all of my work, and the short answer is that people don't know. I think the solution to any of these types of situations, any rights abuses, are really dependent on two things. They're dependent on knowledge that it's actually happening and then a means and efficacy to actually make a change. And unfortunately with these prisoners, one, people don't know what's happening at all and then they're already disenfranchised populations who don't have access to attorneys, not native English speakers. In some of these cases, they have great representation that I mentioned, but there's just not a public awareness of what's happening.
威爾.波特:我想那是我所有的工作 從頭到尾想到的頭號問題, 而簡短的答案是一般人全然無知, 我認為對任何這些情境種類、 侵犯權利的解套方法 真的要靠兩件事情; 它們有賴於得知這真的在發生中、 還有接下來有方法和效度 來實際做出改變。 很不幸地在這些囚犯週邊的事情, 第一大家根本並不知道 正在發生些什麼事情, 接著的是他們早已經是 被剝奪權利的人口 - 接洽不到律師、不是天生英文使用者。 在這裡面的一些案例中, 我提到過他們有很棒的代言人, 不過就是沒有公眾在意 什麼事情正發生中。
TR: Isn't it guaranteed in prison that you have right to council or access to council?
萊利:在監獄裡你有權利去委員會 或是接洽委員會不是受到保證的嗎?
WP: There's a tendency in our culture to see when people have been convicted of a crime, no matter if that charge was bogus or legitimate, that whatever happens to them after that is warranted. And I think that's a really damaging and dangerous narrative that we have, that allows these types of things to happen, as the general public just kind of turns a blind eye to it.
波特:在我們的文化裡 看待當人已經被定罪時有著一種傾向, 不管是否這些起訴是非法或是正當的, 他們之後會發生些什麼事情都是必要的; 而我認為那真的是我們所會有 造成傷害的、危險的描述, 那放任了這些種類的事情發生, 如同一般大眾就是像視而不見。
TR: All those documents on screen were all real documents, word for word, unchanged at all, right?
萊利:所有在銀幕上頭的文件 都是真實的文件, 字字句句完全都沒改過對吧?
WP: Absolutely. I've actually uploaded all of them to my website. It's willpotter.com/CMU and it's a footnoted version of the talk, so you can see the documents for yourself without the little snippets. You can see the full version. I relied overwhelmingly on primary source documents or on primary interviews with former and current prisoners, with people that are dealing with this situation every day. And like I said, I've been there myself, as well.
波特:半分不假!事實上我已經 全部上傳到了我的網站 - willpotter.com/CMU; 這場演講的是註解過版本, 所以你可以自己來看 這些公文並非片段, 你可以看見完整的版本。 我極度地仰賴首要來源文件 或是與先前和現今囚犯、 每天應付這些狀況之人的原始訪談, 而且就像我講過的 我也已經自己去過那邊了。
TR: You're doing courageous work.
波特:你正在做一件勇氣十足的工作!
WP: Thank you very much. Thank you all.
波特:太感謝你了!謝謝你們大家!
(Applause)
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