Capuzzo has written “A letter from the coop”, from the jail in Mass. You can give him something to do in there by sending him (and other NH activists) mail via mail-to-jail! Here’s an OCR of the letter:
Edward Dantez (Just to keep clear the author) Pseudonym of Mark Capuzzo Franklin County House of Corrections Oct. 13,2010
A friend of mine raises chickens.
A couple months ago, I recieved a letter from her with a comparison and a question relating to her chickens and my jail time ( which I am currently in my fourth month of).
The comparison is that she keeps her chickens penned up, just like I’m penned up. Then she said something about her stealing the chickens eggs for her own use. I make a comparison about the eggs being like money is to me.
The question she asked was if I ever felt an animosity towards my captors, because she imagines that her chickens get pretty pissed off at her. I didn’t take much time to think on it at the time, and even made a reference to Animal Farm. But I got to thinking about it today and the following is the result of those thoughts. For reference, Chicken (Inmates), Farmer (Cops and C.O’s), Farm (Jail), Barn (Pod in the jail), Coop (Cell),
A Letter From The Coop
It is I, Chicken.
I’m living in the Farm with many other chickens. These chickens and I are not allowed outside. We are kept in the Barn and the Coop all day. We live under the rule of many Farmers who seem to delight in keeping us hemed up this way.
We were all free chickens at one point, until it was decided that we did ( or could have done) something the Farmers didn’t want us to do. Many of us were just living quiet lives, not hurting anyone.
I knew a certain amount of freedom, as well. Back then, I fought to stay free and keep others free. Back then, I was part of the revolution. Some of the revolutionaries even remember my name and deeds. But the day came, and the Farmers came and took me to the Farm, and here I am.
As I have said, I am one of many on the Farm. The weaker chickens get preyed on by the stronger chickens and all chickens are tormented by the Farmer’s presense. There is always a Farmer in the Barn we are forced to live in. They force us to maintain the Barn and follow rules that they made up, and continue to make up daily. If we do not do these things, we get punished because they believe us to be insolent.
Once a week, we are allowed to trade out eggs to the Farmers for toiletries and other commodities. Whether we trade or not, the Farmers still take our eggs, thought. Even if we have no eggs to give, they take what they can.
A few chickens have tried to fight the Farmers by not cleaning like they were told to do or by going on a hungar strike, but not enough chickens followed in the rebellion and those few who did were punished.
There are even other chickens here who help the–Farmer~Gatch other chickens breaking their f~In doing so, they are promised a chance to get out of the Farm. That doesn’t happen, though. They just have to deal with more shit from the other chickens.
The Farmers keep us in the Barn all day. Every couple hours, though, we have to be locked in our Coops so that the Farmers can count us. At 9:30 pm, we get locked in the Coop until the morning feeding at 7:30 am.
I have talked to a few of the other chickens about the outside revolution. Some take to the idea, others don’t. The majority believe that the revolution is a myth. It has even been fading in my head at times, as well. The longer I’m here, the more it seems to be a distant past. Several books have made it through the gates of the Farm, though, mostly by revolutionaries and myself. They get passed around and continue to do so in hopes of the idea catching on.
Few keep in touch with me still. Even then, it is very hard not to feel forgotten while here on the Farm. The worst is not knowing any of the other chickens here.
The others are starting to seem irritated, though. Some talk of rebelling, but I doubt any will try.
As for myself, I hold a deep hatred towards the Farmers, but what can I do? I’m spreading the message of the oncoming revolution, but most don’t seem to care. But there are the few …
Well, you might be right, Chicken Little. The sky might just be falling.
