[To her great credit, Vicki provided us with updates on the case of Paul Trummel when he was in jail on contempt charges: http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=trummel Let's hope that Bill doesn't suffer the same fate. Previous message: http://www.politechbot.com/p-04365.html --Declan] --- Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 13:55:56 -0500 From: Vicki Richman <vicricat_private> To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private> Cc: "William S. Purdy" <wpurdyat_private> Subject: Re: FC: Bill Purdy: "I'm going to jail over my Washington Post domain" Message-ID: <20030124185556.GA25453at_private> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4i Organization: http://vicric.com > From: "William S. Purdy" <wpurdyat_private> > To: "Declan McCullagh" <declanat_private> > Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 01:25:09 -0600 > Question: Declan have you ever been to a Federal Prison for Contempt? Just > wondering how bad it will be, and who they put you in with? Well I will > find out on the 4th. I wonder if you can use email in there? You may not go to a federal joint at first. The marshals may assume that you'll purge yourself in a few days, and they'll send you to a county jail, which can be quite hairy, especially if you're under 25 years old. No email. One way to protect yourself in a county jail is to get thrown in the hole, but then you'll have seclusion, discomfort, and deprivation to deal with. Try a hunger strike, and be loud about it. The other prisoners will leave you alone if they think you tend to activism and attracting the attention of the hacks. Once the hacks believe you're serious, they'll put you in the hole, and, after about two weeks, in the hospital for force-feeding. County prisoners are thieves, ruffians, bullies, whores. They have no experience with more rarefied crimes like contempt of court for a computer site. Remember that they'll say anything to get out, even rat on a friend. They won't understand your refusal to purge yourself. If you talk about your case to the other prisoners, they may presume you're lying to hide a crime like child molestation, making you a pariah and a target for violence. Use only vague generalities about your case -- "It's what the fucking feds said I did with my computer" -- and sound angry, not defensive. Never ask another prisoner, "What did you do?" and never answer such a question. If you make a friend, ask only, "What are you in for?" If it becomes clear to the feds that you'll hold out for months or years, you'll go to a federal joint, which can be quite pleasant. I don't know about access to computers, but you'll have comfortable quarters, fascinating companions, exercise, games. Thanks for your strength, Bill. Solidarity, -- Vicki Richman vicricat_private http://vicric.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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