Honey, I Shot The President

They gave me 3 months gaol for smashing the windscreen of a police wagon. The filth disrupted one of our community smoke-ins in Darwin on Saturday 12 October 2002 and there was a bit of a riot. I didn't mean to smash the windscreen. I was just going to the aid of my mates, hammering on the bonnet of the police vehicle, then on the windscreen, while shouting, "Let them go! Let them go!"

I was prepared to go to gaol on principle rather than give in to the racist Northern Territory police state by pleading guilty. I spent most of my time in Maximum Security, where I had a cell to myself most of the time. For years I'd prepared myself psychologically for the possibility of going to prison. I had read as much as I could on the subject.

What I found hardest was the Medium Security dorms. Getting locked into a cage with up to 10 or 12 bunk beds i! n it, for 18 hours every day, from around 3pm to around 9am. There are 12 dorms in the block, which contains sometimes well over a hundred men. Dozens of working class blokes packed in together like sardines. Talk about a riot waiting to happen.

I've lived by myself in a place sort of like a council flat for the last 9 years, so I found the lack of personal space and privacy in gaol hard to deal with, even though I kind of got used to it. You've got your bunk bed, and a small locker if you're lucky, and that's it. In the US all the new prisons being built are dorm-style accommodation, to maximize the profits of the prison industrial complex.

I kept asking for a single cell, to no avail. So one day after a visit I refused to leave the visiting area. They put me back in Maximum Security for about a month, and most of that time I had a cell to myself. There is one dorm in that block, but it's not as b! ad as the Medium Security ones because it's not as overcrowded and noisy.

The screws took pleasure in sending me back to Medium Security M Block because they knew I didn't want to go. Nevertheless, being in the dorms had its compensations. I met a lot of blokes and made some good friends. From Medium Security you're allowed access to the prison library once a week. There was an exercise bike in one of the yards, that I used to work off my anger and frustration. You could also play basketball, pool and sometimes volleyball, whereas in the main wing of Maximum Security B Block there was only table tennis, chess and draughts, and improvised cricket. Access to things generally was a bit easier in the Medium Security block.

One ridiculous thing about the Darwin Correctional Centre is that prisoners aren't allowed to receive any books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, internet downloads or posters from friends or supporters outside. On top of t! hat, if anybody sent you any of these things with a letter, the screws would often withhold the letter too, so that you wouldn't get it until your release. When I got out there was a whole stack of things waiting for me.

I spent 28 days in the punishment cells 'down the back' on LOP (Loss Of Privileges.) This means no phone calls except legal ones, no TV, no buying things on the weekly buy up, no tobacco, and 'closed' visits (no physical contact with visitors.) Most of that 28 days was for refusing to provide a urine sample for a drug test.

Most prisoners smoke tobacco, and like watching TV and DVD movies and buying confectionery, extra drinks and stuff on buy-up day, so find it really difficult being sent 'down the back.' There are also more surveillance cameras there. For me personally though, it wasn't so hard because I don't smoke and I didn't miss the TV and buy-ups. Once I'd learnt how to deal with the punishment cells they didn'! t bother me that much!

There was strong solidarity amongst all the prisoners. On 28 November a prisoner got bashed by a screw. The incident was witnessed by other prisoners and there was talk of a riot, but nothing eventuated.

Prisoners feel frustrated because they're powerless and helpless against the overwhelming violence and cruelty of the State. The screws claimed that the prisoner had attacked the officer, or that the victim had sustained his head wound by falling over and hitting the back of his head on a toilet.

The screws told me off when they discovered I'd leaked news of the bashing during phone calls to friends. One friend had informed ABC News and the other had logged the incident on the internet. A senior screw threatened to stop my phone calls and visits, but I didn't give a fuck. I was just glad I'd got the word out.

I got heaps of solidarity from friends and supporters outside. People sent in hundreds of! letters, postcards and Xmas cards. I had plenty of visitors. FREE STUART HIGHWAY was spraypainted around Darwin, posters were pasted up and there were text messages to the newspaper calling for my release.

When I was in Medium Security M Block there was a so-called riot. In actual fact it was an orderly stand up protest in one of the exercise yards, followed up by a written list of grievances. There was no violence, it was really tame and restrained. The screws reacted with alarm because they can't handle anything less than 100% obedience. They isolated 3 'ringleaders' and sent them to Maximum Security. One ended up getting shanghaied to the other Northern Territory prison in Alice Springs, 1500km/900miles from Darwin in central Australia.

The Darwin Murdoch rag, to my surprise, did report the 'riot' but, typically, got the facts wrong, saying it was over the prison food and lack of activities.

The 3 months was an interesting learn! ing experience. We started another branch of our working class class war-based organisation Network Against Prohibition. The new branch is called Network Against Prisons and we're maintaining contact with prisoners by mail. Several NAP members have 5 month sentences outstanding, so we'll go back in if our appeals fail.

See our website at www.napnt.org

Note: Stuart wrote this piece for London Class War.