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asakiyumeKaya'a mother sends her a letter, updating her on how her friends are doing and sending her Em's reply to Kaya's first letter:
She also talks a little about the fact that the government is billing Kaya's imprisonment as an honor:
Is this person a criminal? Or are they something else?
In the United States, lots of people with mental illness can't access care--mental illness leads to poverty leads to no-healthcare leads to untreated illness leads to crime--and then they end up in jail. So they get labeled criminal, when really what they were/are is ill.1 On the other hand, some regimes label dissent as mental illness and imprison dissidents in mental institutions.
Whether or not a person gets labeled a political prisoner depends what country the person doing the labeling is in: political prisoners are much easier to recognize in distant lands than in one's own. In the home country, people who oppose the state are more likely called terrorists, insurrectionists, mentally ill (see above), or simply criminals.
Criminals are kept away from the rest of society to protect society and to punish (or reform, or both) the criminals. Further isolation--keeping a person in solitary confinement--is meted out when someone is judged to be a threat to other prisoners or to prison personnel, but solitary confinement can also be used for people on suicide watch, a severe irony given that solitary confinement can lead to suicidal thoughts and is considered by many to be a form of torture.2
(source)
Do political prisoners receive mail? Surprisingly, in lots of cases, the answer is yes. I've written to one, and I've read accounts by several others. Not always, of course--denying mail is one way to punish or attempt coercion--but that's not universally the situation.
1According to Human Rights Watch (2006), "The rate of reported mental health disorders in the state prison population is five times greater (56.2 percent) than in the general adult population (11 percent)."(Source) The National Institute of Mental Health, using data from 2002 and 2004, put that number as high a 66 percent (Source) in local jails.
2The Center for Constitutional Rights has a page on the topic here.
Look what came for you—a letter from your new friend in America. I am doing as you suggested and sending it along with my note to you.
She also talks a little about the fact that the government is billing Kaya's imprisonment as an honor:
As for the government’s story regarding your “elevation,” most people recognize it as mockery, just another insult that must be borne. There are some, though, who really seem to think the government is sincere, and take this as proof, somehow, of your connection to the Lady! I don’t know whether to laugh or groan. I wish I could inhabit their pleasant reality.
Is this person a criminal? Or are they something else?
In the United States, lots of people with mental illness can't access care--mental illness leads to poverty leads to no-healthcare leads to untreated illness leads to crime--and then they end up in jail. So they get labeled criminal, when really what they were/are is ill.1 On the other hand, some regimes label dissent as mental illness and imprison dissidents in mental institutions.
Whether or not a person gets labeled a political prisoner depends what country the person doing the labeling is in: political prisoners are much easier to recognize in distant lands than in one's own. In the home country, people who oppose the state are more likely called terrorists, insurrectionists, mentally ill (see above), or simply criminals.
Criminals are kept away from the rest of society to protect society and to punish (or reform, or both) the criminals. Further isolation--keeping a person in solitary confinement--is meted out when someone is judged to be a threat to other prisoners or to prison personnel, but solitary confinement can also be used for people on suicide watch, a severe irony given that solitary confinement can lead to suicidal thoughts and is considered by many to be a form of torture.2
(source)
Do political prisoners receive mail? Surprisingly, in lots of cases, the answer is yes. I've written to one, and I've read accounts by several others. Not always, of course--denying mail is one way to punish or attempt coercion--but that's not universally the situation.
1According to Human Rights Watch (2006), "The rate of reported mental health disorders in the state prison population is five times greater (56.2 percent) than in the general adult population (11 percent)."(Source) The National Institute of Mental Health, using data from 2002 and 2004, put that number as high a 66 percent (Source) in local jails.
2The Center for Constitutional Rights has a page on the topic here.
