Embedded in stone and concrete cellblock walls across the
American gulag is the definition of hell - “Abandon all hope, ye
who enter here.”
>From the time of the earliest penitentiaries there have been
men, women, and children of uncommon courage and resilience that
have challenged their conditions of captivity. Major Tillery is
among the defiant ones.
In
the landmark Pennsylvania prison case, Tillery v. Owens,
Major Tillery was lead plaintiff in holding the Department of
Corrections accountable for operating a prison (State
Correctional Institute at Pittsburgh) where living conditions
shocked the conscience. A federal judge ruled that severe
overcrowding, deplorable sanitation, “shockingly deficient”
medical and mental health care, and other conditions were
unconstitutional.
The
Major Tillery case set the DOC's cruel and unusual business back
a notch, and provided hope to thousands.
But
the DOC was slow to implement changes. Too slow for those
confined to cages and boxes year after year. Another PA prison –
Camp Hill – rose in rebellion and much of the prison was
torched. Central to the prisoners demands was ending the obscene
overcrowding that had been allowed to fester like an untreated
wound.
Major Tillery was not at Camp Hill but he was punished for it
because he is the embodiment of what the DOC most fears:
solidarity and resistance. Major was chained, shackled and
shipped to the infamous U.S. Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois.
Marion was the end of the line for those labeled “worst of the
worst.” Major qualified by being a jailhouse lawyer with
uncompromising principles and a commitment to prisoners rights.
Characteristics that make prison bureaucrats fear for their
positions and pensions.
It
was at Marion that I first met Major: tall, Black, proud, and
undeterred by the excessive punishment he took.
The
PA DOC's retaliatory transfer of Major almost cost him his life.
One late night he was removed from the cellblock on a stretcher,
severely ill, and taken to a federal prison hospital in
Missouri. Marion was not known for its timely response to
medical and health needs. Major survived this brush with death
and ultimately returned to a PA prison.
Decades of struggle on behalf of others and himself passed
without public recognition. Then in early 2015 Major stood his
ground again with an effort to obtain much needed and critical
medical care for ailing political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. For
using his voice to help another, Major was subjected to another
retaliatory transfer and lugged to the hole.
Just
as I saw happen at Marion 25 years earlier Major is now sick
with a serious gastrointestinal condition. He is in a prison
hospital and prohibited physical and phone contact with his
family. The American gulag holds near 2 1⁄2 million human beings
in its class and racially driven clutches. They come from our
communities bordered by swaths of asphalt here, and surrounded
by potato fields there. New York City to Aroostook County,
Maine. Major Tillery has long stepped up to defend their rights.
It's time we stepped up to defend Major. |