Click on the envelope to the left for past letters. S. Cynthia Brinkman's most current letter is below.

September 27, 2004

Dear Family and Friends,

Autumn Equinox came and went last week, and we are graced with another season of beauty and change. Our friends the Geese fly over this compound daily announcing their presence with gleeful abandon. They feed on the lawn nearby and are off again. We must be near a water source--maybe the Illinois River or a pond. It seems to me our local winged neighbors are singing more often since the geese swooped in and stayed.

Waiting till after the prayer circle at 7:30 to walk eliminates the track since it is off limits after dark. I know I lived through the end of Spring and all of Summer here, but the arrival of Fall is a surprise to me. Perhaps my "overwhelm" condition I wrote about recently helps explain some lack of awareness.

I joined 70 other prisoners in an all-day Pre-Release Class which is offered every six months. Our sentences ranged from one month to eleven years. Topics covered were: job search and interviews, Social Security benefits and appeals, half-way houses, home confinement, probation, Department of Human Services, employment, job training, federal bonding, tax credit programs, etc. I absorbed what would benefit me and otherwise read a good book. The exposure to these aspects of life-after-prison was eye-opening. I felt cold chills for most women with whom I was sitting because their employment futures as felons are uncertain at best.

During a break that day, I listened to Mil who spoke of missing her family. They are ten hours away and can't afford a plane ticket to visit. She teared up when she described her two-year old daughter who was six months old when she left. Mil has five years left to serve.

Then there was Sue whose seven year-old boy was eighteen months when she left. He comes to visit twice a month with his daddy. Sue said her son calls the prison, "Mommie's house." She wonders how he'll adjust to her moving in with them in another year.

Jamie's daughter was three months old when she went to prison. "She'll be grown when I get out in 2010--hopefully, sooner." When I cringed and asked her how she will be able to do this time, she replied, "I saw women in the FCI (Federal Corrections Institution) get up every morning with a smile on their faces, and they know they're never getting out. I know I am going home. So I take it a day at a time and remember braver women. Jamie's daughter calls her "Far-Away Mommy" and Jamie's sister "Mama Sherry."

Your prayers will strengthen the shaking knees and weeping hearts of these courageous women. And their number is legion.

In WAR IS A FORCE THAT GIVES US MEANING, Chris Hedges reminds us that in mythic war "...we demonize the enemy so that the opponent is no longer human...each side reduces the other to objects." There is a parallel, it seems, when one notices how inhumanely prisoners are treated.

For example--when an inmate has a personal tragedy in the family,
--when someone needs medicine, treatment, tests, surgery to prevent further loss

or damage to one's health,
--when a prisoner has a medical emergency
does the (BOP) Bureau of Prisons have the same mind-set that Hedges claims is essential for one human to kill another? Inmates feel inhuman or like objects when guessing, callousness, indifference, neglect, inaction are responses professionals give to their requests for assistance.

My roommate was punished last week by being sent to the county jail. She obviously requires attention, but this new environment puts her further away from getting her personal health problem addressed. However, if she is viewed as less than human, why bother?

Pam's tests three months ago indicated surgery. She suspects cancer and is waiting for action.

Donnie's eye condition is rapidly deteriorating. Last evening at dinner, someone carried her tray. At the salad bar she was three inches away from the dressing before she could identify what she was observing. Still she waits for word about surgery.

Mick learned that her appointments for a necessary c-scan and chemo were cancelled because policy is that only three inmates are allowed to have outside appointments in one day.

Den was taken off the medication she needs to keep the tumor on her pituitary gland from growing.

Ro went to town this afternoon to have a biopsy of her thyroid gland. She returned with no action because the medical office here neglected to schedule an appointment, even though that office sent her for the procedure.

Well, all you Faithful Ones, this is my last letter to you from Pekin Federal Prison Camp. Without your steady prayers, compassionate love, and countless cards and letters, I would have had a very different experience--and much more difficult. We learned together and did this six months together. I have new friends, and by association and prayer support, you do too. Our lives are broadened to include in our circle of care, women and men incarcerated yes, but who have dignity and worth as we have. In a word: we are sisters and brothers.

Hopefully, we will continue to do our part to advocate for prison reform. Bills need to be passed and unjust sentences reduced. Above all, we continue to pray in thanksgiving for what is needed AS IF IT WERE ALREADY GIVEN. God is faithful and full of mercy. Doesn't Jesus say: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the broken hearted and to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God, is ready to give blessings to all who come to him." Lk 4:18,19.

Also, let's be one in praying for our fractured and damaged planet-home and its inhabitants all. In the name of all creatures and all peoples, especially those at war, let us pray:

May we be at peace.
May our minds and hearts remain open.
May we awaken to the light of our own true selves.
May we be healed.
May we be a source of healing for others. Amen.

With deep affection,
Cynthia