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Posted February 21, 2003
Dear Mrs. Ingrid Rimland Zundel,
I had not heard of you or your husband until his
incarceration at the Blount County Detention Center, and I will not comment
on his past, or his beliefs. This might not ever reach your website, but if
you believe what is TRUTH, then it might.
I have read all your ZGRAMS since our husband was arrested
and I will not go back to each one and quote them word for word but I would
like to make a few comments about his arrest and time at BCSO (Blount County
Sheriff's Office). I feel that there has been a lot of misinformation put
out on your website about this situation. I am an officer at the BCSO and
wish to clarify a few things.
It is almost next to impossible for your husband to have
been served milk in the middle of Feb. dated DEC. 20th. We receive milk
deliveries 2 or 3 times a week and serve milk 3 or 4 mornings a week to
between 300 and 350 inmates. I see it as next to impossible for any milk to
be unused for more than a weeks time, much less a month and a half.
I am sorry there was a confusion about your husbands
whereabouts and his visitation time on the Saturday that you mentioned. I
can guarantee you though that your husband was not being moved around just
so you could not find him. Yes, your husbands roommate was forcefully taken
from their room, and your husband was re-assigned to a different section and
room. I have seen people moved three or four times in one day, due to either
discipline problems, overcrowding problems, people being released and other
inmates moved into that open space immediately, and many more reasons. Every
move is a change in visitation time which is one hour a week for every
inmate. If an inmate is moved, it is up to them to inform their family of
their new time. If their visitation time was for that day and they have no
time to inform, there is usually an exception made, which is what happened
in our case, you were allowed to visit. As for the confusion about his time,
that was one of the most hectic, busy Saturdays in a long time.
You have made a comment about there being illegal Mexicans
all over East Tennessee, and implying that nothing is being done with them.
One day last week, we had app. 30 illegal aliens in custody, waiting to be
deported to Mexico. They come into our facility on an almost daily basis,
and when they leave with INS, NO we do not inform each and every wife or
husband that they are leaving. We don't inform ANY family that they are
leaving. That is a major security issue if any family knows when someone is
going to leave our facility, either to another country, to court in
Knoxville, to another county jail, or to state prison. We have gang-bangers,
dope dealers, child-rapers, and murders, who would think nothing of taking
the life of myself or one of my coworkers when the opportunity arose. The
transporting of inmates is one of the most dangerous aspects of law
enforcement.
As for your husband not having any money to take with him to
Canada, that is apparently a matter of just not asking the right questions.
You could have brought money to him the day you visited, or any of the days
he was there for that matter. Anybody, family, friend or total stranger can
drop off money 7 days a week, 7:00am till noon, whether it be $5.00 or
$1,000.00 each day. Your husband could have had any amount of money put in
his account and he would have had a check written to him the day he left.
Your husband might have been frightened by the sight of
officers with helmets, shields and dogs one day. Routinely, officers do
random cell checks searching for contraband, weapons , and occasionally
letters describing escape attempts. Many of these inmates get into all-out
fist fights over things as small as a candy bar, a library book(which they
don't have to pay for), or a football game bet. Don't fool yourself into
thinking that they wouldn't slice one of us open with a makeshift weapon
after we find escape plans or illegal drugs that might get them and extra 5
or 10 years in prison. Thank you for your time.
Ingrid Responds
Dear Officer of the BCSO:
Thank you for your reasoned and restrained letter pointing
out that I was incorrect in what I said about conditions in Blount County
Detention Center. I will post your letter on my website and I only wish you
had given your name because then it would have had more force.
Yes, I do believe that officers in your capacity have an
extremely difficult time with inmates who are violent, untrustworthy,
vengeful and have any other unpleasant personality traits. In fact, in his
letter to me, Ernst mentioned that many inmates are seething for revenge and
only live for the day of revenge.
These things, however, do not apply to my husband - who was
held in maximum detention for allegedly having missed a hearing and having
overstayed his visa - both points we contend legally and hope to prove in
court. I don't think my husband was singled out for exceptionally brutal
treatment - I believe that your facility and your staff were USED to
function as hit quads to make things unpleasant for people like my husband
simply because the facility was there and known to be one of the most
inhuman such prisons in all of America.
You personally, I am sure, had nothing to do with that - you
are just trying to make a living honestly in very unpleasant surroundings.
You probably have a young family and worries of your own. As part of my
doctoral work, I did a six week counseling stint in a prison for juvenile
offenders in California, and to this day I am traumatized by what I saw and
heard.
I really appreciate your letter, believe me. We find reason,
compassion, and sometimes even allies, in the most unusual places. If you
continue to read what we are saying, your entire world view is going to be
changed!
Please stay in touch.
Ingrid Zundel
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