Ex-prisoner speaks out about torture and Under America

After the matinee of Under America on September 12, an extraordinary event occurred. Before a rapt audience, Johnnie, a man who was locked in total isolation for five years talked about his take on the play’s portrayal of prolonged solitude and its particular torture. Not only did he find the play realistic, he found some of its more fantastic moments – for instance, its hallucinatory journey through tunnels – downright mundane. He said the guards at Tamms, the supermax prison in which he was imprisoned, called prisoners “groundhogs”. They were so named because the majority of the prison’s complex was underground, and the prisoners never saw daylight as they were shuttled through a maze-like series of tunnels.

Johnnie’s comments were part of an event that Mortar set up with Tamms Year Ten (yearten.org), an organization fighting for the reform and closure of Tamms prison. Even before Johnnie spoke, the audience was leaning forward in their seats to hear Laurie Jo Reynolds describe the conditions at Tamms.

Laurie Jo is one of the founders of Tamms Year Ten, and after hearing her speak, it was easy to see why activists would dedicate their time to changing the conditions of the supermax. Every prisoner at Tamms – approximately 250 – is kept completely apart from human contact. Guards slide food under slots in the door, and Johnnie talked about a five year relationship he had with another prisoner maintained by yelling to each other and how, to this day, he has no idea what the other prisoner looks like. The Geneva Conventions define this type of imprisonment as torture, and the U.N. has singled out Tamms and the other supermax prisons in the U.S. as human rights violations. It was amazing to hear Laurie Jo describe the facts and Johnnie relate the experience of Tamms.

And, for me, the most moving part of the event came when Johnnie talked about Under America itself: its importance, its accuracy, and its relevance to the lives of people like him and his friends. I wrote the play to give voice to those who we torture in the name of our prosperity, so Johnnie’s statements came as a vindication. But, more importantly, it was a realization of Mortar’s mission. Our goal is to bring people into a room who would not normally talk and foster dialogue. During the Q&A between Johnnie and our audience, that conversation came into being.