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Article: Thinking of you, Amelia: a fragment of wood on death row in Georgia turns Brandon Astor Jones to writing for a three-year-old friend in Liverpool.
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- February 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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`The food as so tasteless you could eat a meal ...
[then] belch, and it wouldn't remind you of anything.'
Redd Foxx(1)
SENSORY DEPRIVATION can cause unusual, even strange responses. Prisoners are among the most deprived in all so-called `civilized societies'. As a consequence, in an effort to maintain sanity, prisoners create and develop a myriad of coping techniques.
One of the ways I cope is constantly to be on the look-out for a shred of `good' in even the worst of daily prison experiences -- a task, I should add, that is not for the faint of heart. For example, I love wood; and unless you like hanging out with a mop or a broom there ...