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From Orientation
for X.
IV. Health
Issues
It is our
objective to keep the prisoner mentally and physically healthy so that the
maximum usefulness can be extracted from her.
Stories of long term torture may sound good in theory and even better in
fiction; in practice torture duration may be truncated by prisoner
breakdown. The health policies are
designed to prevent this from occurring.
The prisoner’s
health shall be the primary responsibility of the Medical Adjutants
(MA’s). The MA’s shall check X’s vital
signs every 15 minutes throughout the day.
They shall also monitor X’s mental state. Guards shall defer to MA’s whenever health
issues are raised.
Long
periods of restraint may put pressure on the heart, lungs, and muscle
tissue. The physical exercise periods
are designed to prevent atrophy of vital body systems while integrating into
daily regimen of torment and suffering.
The Cage provides a break for mental recovery while maintaining the
atmosphere of helplessness and restraint.
Prisoner is
deprived of almost everything but the bare essentials needed for psychological
sanity. She is deprived of any human
companionship. She is allowed no
knowledge of the outside world. She is
allowed no possessions. She has no
control of what she wears and even what she has been assigned to wear is
minimal. She is not even allowed control
of her own person. Every minute of her
life is regimented.
We inflict
three levels of punishments on the prisoner.
First level punishments are the regular, daily punishments. There are a large number of them on the menu. Some of these were described in Section
III Daily Routine, subsection Daily Punishments above. Should prisoner decide that things are so bad
that they can’t get any worse, she may decide to just give up and slack
off. To neutralize that, the second
level punishments were instituted. These
punishments are meant to provide the ultimate in pain, fear, and
suffering. Their effects upon the
prisoner will be especially lengthy and brutal.
Therefore the tribunal will impose them infrequently and only under
exceptional circumstances. Level 2
punishments are discussed in Section V. Special Punishments below. The third level of punishments are the public
punishments. These are implemented on a
regular basis to make an example of the prisoner and to strike fear into the
people of the region. Level 3
punishments are discussed in Section VII. Public Example
below.
V. Special Punishment
Prisoner
must be made aware at all times that behavior outside of normal parameters will
be disciplined with especially drastic punishments. The Authority reserves the right to impose
such punishments upon X as it deems fit.
These extraordinary punishments may include but are not limited to the
following.
Firing
Squad: This punishment simulates the terror and pain
of being shot by a firing squad while eliminating the fatal aspect of the
experience. The firing squad uses non-lethal rubber bullets and bursts of rock
salt. The special guns and ammunition
for this kind of shooting was developed by the US and the democracies of Europe
to give police a humane way to deal with extreme situations in riots. The punishment is actually worse for the
prisoner because for her, the procedure does not end with the impact of bullets
on her body.
* * * *
When the
special tribunal pronounced sentence on the prisoner, her whole body
shuddered. All I knew of the firing
squad was the instructions in the guard’s manual but she had faced it before,
so she knew what to expect. Even though
she was kneeling and her ankles were strapped together, her feet started
tapping on the cement floor. I lifted
her up. Her jaw was quivering and her
eyes were open wide. Her back lay in my
arm; my other arm was under her knees.
She put her manacled hands behind my head and lay shaking in my arms. She put her face in my shoulder. I carried her to the door before I set her
down. It seemed to me that she should
get some kindness at least.
Then the
other guards and I readied her for transportation. One unstrapped her ankles and checked that
her legs were properly hobbled. Some of
the rest of us unlocked her hand cuffs and moved her arms behind her back. We crossed her wrists and cuffed them
together. The head guard, cruel as
always, lowered X’s blindfold over her eyes and then wrenched her head to the
side and whispered into her ear. I
didn’t catch all that he said, only something about what he’d do to her after
she had been shot. She shuddered
again. Then he kissed her. She collapsed to the floor.
We picked
her up and marched her to the special holding cell.
* * * *
From Orientation
for X.
V. Special Punishment - Firing Squad
(continued): The holding cell has
padded walls and floor. No furniture
(cots, tables, or chairs), no furniture or items of any kind are allowed in the
cell. There are no windows. The door locks with a soundproof seal. The only features of the cell are a
surveillance camera and a large digital clock.
Both of these hang from the ceiling out of the prisoner’s reach. No sound may come through the cell’s walls. There is no light except that coming from the
large digital clock.
Allow the prisoner
a toilet break before inserting her into the cell. Once she is inside, remove her blindfold but
leave her legs shackled and her arms cuffed behind her back.
The clock
will be set to four hours. It will count
down to zero from there. The prisoner
will have nothing to do but sit in a corner and watch the clock count down to
her doom.
* * * *
I sit in
the corner facing away from the clock but there is a vague reflection on the
opposite walls. I am not able to escape
the sound of it’s ticking. It is a very
soft sound; that only makes it more stressful.
I shiver. How I wish my ears were
plugged and my eyes blindfolded! I know
that this clock is part of the torture but I can’t escape it. I turn around and squat on my knees. My butt rests on my feet; I bury my face in
the corner. I still can’t escape that
dreadful sound. The knowledge of what
they will do to me is ripping me apart.
I’m so sick, I feel like throwing up.
My skin itches all over, especially on my back. The vertical lock on my cuffs prevents me
from raising my hands above the small of my back. I can rub my arms against my sides but I
can’t reach my back. I turn around and
rub my back against the wall.
I’ve got to
turn my mind to something else. This is
my invisible book with my invisible writing.
I can’t remember much of what I’ve written in it before. Someday, when I really do die, maybe God will
show me my book so that I might read it.
How I wish those bullets were real!
Then I won’t have to experience what they will do to me after the
shooting. In fact, this whole nightmare
would end.
I’ve got to
think of something else.
I’m
thinking now of Whoopi Goldberg.
Why? I saw that movie where she
was a nun. It was very funny. I especially liked the singing. She did a take-off on “My Man”. This is weird. Or maybe not.
The other day they dressed me up like a nun and flaunted me on the
capital. I could have been a nun. A nun isn’t so bad. In the movie there was a scene where the
Mother Superior told Whoopi’s character that as a nun she would have to observe
three rules: 1) Poverty (Whoopi said she
that could handle that); 2) Obedience (Whoopi said she that could handle that,
too); and 3) Chastity which means no men (Whoopi said “I’m out of here.”)
Me, I never
cared about money so that would be easy.
The men part might be a problem.
I liked going out on dates; I especially liked them when the boy would
treat me right. If I fell in love,
married and started raising a family, that would be good. It would be like the old days in our village
when Papa and Mama were alive, only I would be Mama. Christmas would be grand. We’d go up the hill and have a huge picnic. But nuns have Christmas, too. If the convent was filled with sisters who
were real sisters to one another, sisters in attitude and love not just as a
title, I could fit in with that. We
could teach school or maybe serve an orphanage, so that would be like having
children, too. No, the big problem with
being a nun for me is the requirement for obedience. A nun looses control of her life. She must go where she’s told and do what
she’s told. But I know that the
authorities in the church basically means well.
They make mistakes but they try to do right, well, mostly anyhow. So, I suppose I could live with that, too.
But I can
never be a nun. Or a wife. Or a mother.
I can never be anything but what I am right now, a helpless prisoner. Getting hurt is my occupation. Today it will be worse, much worse.
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