美国国家公共电台 NPR For Female Inmates In New York City, Prison Is A Crowded, Windowless Room

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST: 

More than a hundred female inmates² who were given sentences in federal prison faced a different fate. They were instead held for years in two windowless rooms in a detention³ center in New York City, and the conditions there have been found to violate international standards for the treatment of prisoners. From member station WNYC, Alec Hamilton reports.

ALEC HAMILTON, BYLINE⁴: The problem in Brooklyn actually started in Connecticut, in what was the only federal prison for women in the Northeast. But with the prison population across the country increase nearly 10-fold over the last 40 years, and men's prisons overflowing⁵, in December 2012, the Bureau of Prisons decided⁶ to move the women out of the Danbury prison and move men in. The women were sent to the Metropolitan⁷ Detention Center, a jail in Brooklyn, until a new prison could be built. The move was supposed to last 18 months, but nearly three years later, many remain stuck at MDC.

RAMONA BRANT: We felt like we were animals that was taken to a pound and then that was it. They just closed the door and left us.

HAMILTON: Fifty-three-year-old Ramona Brant was granted clemency⁸ by President Obama in February. Before that, she spent the first 19 years of a life sentence for a nonviolent drug charge at Danbury. She says it was OK, there were activities, jobs, access to the outdoors - until March 2014, when she and the others were moved to the jail.

BRANT: Little by little they started filling it up, and before we knew it, it was a hundred and twenty women in this one room, and it was unbearable⁹.

HAMILTON: A report released by the National Association of Women Judges found conditions for the women at MDC violated both the American Bar Association standards and the United Nations standard minimum rules for treatment of prisoners. The judges said the women had no access to the outdoors, and inmates complained of being unable to get appropriate medical care, especially gynecological care. At least one inmate¹ was visibly pregnant. The warden¹⁰ told the judges the Bureau of Prisons can't find doctors willing to work there.

David Patton is the executive director of the Federal Defenders¹² of New York, the public defender¹¹ service for people who can't afford a private attorney. He says his organization has had issues with the facility for years.

DAVID PATTON: There have been maggots in the food, urine-stained mattresses¹³, dryers¹⁴ that vent¹⁵ into the sleeping area, a lack of fresh air and recreation.

HAMILTON: Unlike Danbury, which is a long-term prison, MDC is a detention center just meant to hold people while they await trial. David Fathi is the director of the ACLU's National Prison Project.

DAVID FATHI: Jails, like the MDCs, tend not to have the programming, the level of medical and mental health treatment, and a whole range of other services that you find in a prison.

HAMILTON: He points out federal courts have ruled that prisoners have the right to outdoor exercise.

FATHI: The Supreme¹⁶ Court has made clear that prison conditions that might be tolerable for a few weeks or even a couple of months can ripen¹⁷ into unconstitutionality if they go on for a sufficiently¹⁸ long period of time.

HAMILTON: Eighty-six-year-old Sister Megan Rice spent 13 months at MDC during her sentence for vandalizing a nuclear facility in Tennessee. She says without appropriate support, the women were denied any real shot at rehabilitation¹⁹.

MEGAN RICE: They're meant to be given opportunities to grow, to leave the prison as more healed person.

HAMILTON: Neither the Bureau of Prisons, nor the Department of Justice, which oversees²⁰ it, would talk on record about the conditions or the delay in returning the women to Connecticut. Meanwhile, the Danbury facility is finally ready. The bureau says they began transferring inmates back last month. For more than a hundred women sitting in two large rooms in Brooklyn, that move can't come fast enough. For NPR News, I'm Alec Hamilton in New York City.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE EVPATORIA REPORT SONG, "NAPTALAN")

1 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

2 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
• The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

8 clemency   

n.温和，仁慈，宽厚

参考例句：

• The question of clemency would rest with the King.宽大处理问题，将由国王决定。
• They addressed to the governor a plea for clemency.他们向州长提交了宽刑的申辨书。

9 unbearable   

adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的

参考例句：

• It is unbearable to be always on thorns.老是处于焦虑不安的情况中是受不了的。
• The more he thought of it the more unbearable it became.他越想越觉得无法忍受。

10 warden   

n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人

参考例句：

• He is the warden of an old people's home.他是一家养老院的管理员。
• The warden of the prison signed the release.监狱长签发释放令。

11 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

12 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

14 dryers   

n.干燥机( dryer的名词复数 )；干燥器；干燥剂；干燥工

参考例句：

• Men also have hair dryers and, if they suffer from baldness, they use a growth stimulator, buy hairpieces, or have hair transplanted from the hirsute part of the scalp to the bare areas. 男士也有他们的吹风机，而且如果他们秃顶的话，还会用毛发生长剂、买假发，或者把头发从密集的地方移植到谢顶的地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dryers can be automated. 干燥机可以自动化作业。 来自辞典例句

15 vent   

n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄

参考例句：

• He gave vent to his anger by swearing loudly.他高声咒骂以发泄他的愤怒。
• When the vent became plugged,the engine would stop.当通风口被堵塞时，发动机就会停转。

16 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

17 ripen   

vt.使成熟；vi.成熟

参考例句：

• I'm waiting for the apples to ripen.我正在等待苹果成熟。
• You can ripen the tomatoes on a sunny windowsill.把西红柿放在有阳光的窗台上可以让它们成熟。

18 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

19 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

20 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网