Tales from Inside the U.S. Gitmo

Daniel McGowan is an environmental and social justice activist from NYC charged in federal court on counts of arson and conspiracy and given the "terrorism enhancement" for his involvement in two environmentally motivated actions in Oregon in 2001. He is currently serving a 7 year sentence in the Communication Management Unit at USP Marion in Illinois with very limited access to seeing and talking to friends and family. The Department of Justice and FBI have labeled Daniel and his co-defendants among the "number 1 domestic terrorism threat."

Here are Daniel's words from inside the belly of the beast:
Many of the men here (both Muslim and non) are considered political prisoners in their respective movements and have been engaged in social justice, religious organizations, charities and humanitarian efforts. Another conception of the CMU is that it is a location designed to isolate us from our movements and to act as a deterrent for others from those movements (as in “step outside the line and you too will end up there”). The intended effect of long-term housing of this kind is a profound sense of dislocation and alienation. With your mail, email, phones, and visits monitored and no human touch allowed at the visits, it is difficult to feel a connection to “the streets.” There is historical evidence of the BoP utilizing political prisons — despite the fact that the Department of Justice refuses to acknowledge the concept of political prisoners in US prisons, choosing to call us “criminal” instead.