News

Finally Out and Among the Living

By John Jay Powers

Jack Powers is an inmate in the federal Bureau of Prisons convicted of bank robbery and escaping from prison. He spent more than a decade in extreme isolation at the ADX where he amputated his fingers, earlobes, a testicle and his scrotum. He has tried several times to commit suicide. “The world outside is like another planet,” he wrote from ADX. “I feel like I am trapped within a disease.” Powers is a plaintiff in a civil rights lawsuit against the federal government regarding its use of longterm solitary confinement for the mentally ill. – S.G.

After 12 long, hard years at the ADX Control Unit Supermax Prison in Florence, Colorado, I’m finally out and among the living. Oh, I’m not on the streets. I’m here among the general population of a federal penitentiary in the dry and dusty desert of Tucson, Arizona.

For a guy who has lived alone in a cement box for more than a decade, the transfer here was really something. First there was a bus and then air-service called “Con-Air” – big passenger jets flown around the U.S. by the Marshalls Service. I had the opportunity to speak with other prisoners and see a couple of cities both from land and air. It was a trip for me for sure.

When we pulled up at the pen, I was all prepared to go straight to the segregation where, once again, I’d be put into solitary confinement. Instead, a number of prison officials met me inside the door and told me that I’d be going directly into the population – into the best unit, in fact, where I’d have single cell. I was so shocked by this turn-around that I began to shed tears.

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Distance Learning: Durham College

Image courtesy durhamlords.comCorrespondence

Learn from home, from work, or in our labs and create your own study schedule at your own pace. Our correspondence courses are offered on a monthly intake basis and your study kit will be mailed at this time. You have 14 weeks from the start date of your course to complete.

Correspondence course information

  • Register by phone, fax, mail or in-person for the course of your choice. Be sure to use the course codes listed.
  • Your study kit will be couriered to your home from the School of Continuing Education prior to the course’s start date.
  • Course fee includes a $25 supply cost (non-tax deductible).
  • If your course uses a textbook (the title and ISBN number are listed in your study kit), the text can be purchased from the Campus Bookstore. It is not included in the price of the course. You may contact the bookstore at 905.721.3026 and request that your textbook be couriered to you at an additional cost to you.
  • You are assigned an instructor and are provided with the instructor’s fax and/or telephone numbers for consultation.
  • Assignments are to be mailed or faxed to the Continuing Education office at the Oshawa campus for your instructor to receive and mark. Self-addressed, stamped envelopes are included in your study kit for your convenience.
  • Any student-initiated refunds will be subject to a $30 cancellation fee if you withdraw within two weeks of the official start date of your course. After this time no refund will be issued.
  • If you are intending to pursue a college diploma using any of the listed credit courses, please ensure that you have the required prerequisite. You may be asked to provide official transcripts and/or course outlines as proof.
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