➤ DONNA ROBINSON, from p.19
be this open, but she said, “Ma, tell my story,
because there’s so many women that get
hooked up with the wrong person and they end
up here.”
Just like me. I know that can happen. From
the age of 14 until 17, I was raped. I was molested.
It was my stepfather in my own house.
You don’t know how many times I thought of
killing myself or killing him. But I stayed because
I’m the oldest of nine children and I was
afraid that if I left, he’d do that to them. So I
identify with those women.
DAY: What’s social distancing like at Bedford?
Are people getting sick around Missy that
you know of?
ROBINSON: Not around her. She is on what’s
called the Honor Block. I don’t know what’s so
honorable about it, but they have their own individual
cells. Not everybody has been tested.
Lulu Benson died in Bedford because of COVID
and the system didn’t give a fi g.
But this is about more than Missy now. I’ve
taken on all these bonus daughters. Missy
said, “Momma you got to help these girls, they
got nobody.” One young lady, her mother has
Alzheimer’s. She can’t even talk to her on the
phone because her mother doesn’t know who
she is. Very rarely did they get visits. Now with
the shutdown, some of them have nobody to
call.
Because of COVID, they haven’t been able to
work, so they don’t have money for commissary.
This is why, during the pandemic, I kick in to
support them. Because now, the trucks are not
even bringing into the prison enough food for
them. We also correspond through email. I put
money on their accounts. I just sent out seven
boxes of food, clothes. I spent over $200 for underwear
to mail to these women.
A lot of them have been there so long their
families are like, “I can’t do this anymore.”
People in their families have lost jobs; relatives
died and these women couldn’t attend the funerals
or can’t communicate with family in the
hospital. So I email them and lift their spirits
and tell them hope is not lost — that you
got people out here – strangers you don’t even
know — rallying and advocating for you. Don’t
give up.”
DAY: At Bedford and other state prisons,
people have been punished for wearing masks.
Are they allowed to wear them now?
ROBINSON: They are. Some started back
to work. Missy works at the State Shop now,
which is the fi rst place people come when
they’re transferred from other facilities. So if
they’re not testing people from other prisons or
they’re asymptomatic, she’s going to come in
contact with them and take it back to her unit.
The deputies are making their own rules. Now,
they got a lock-in. You got to holler if you want
to be let out your cell. Once you come out, you
got to wait to be let back in.
When Missy gets her period, sometimes she
doesn’t have extra pads. She’ll go to commissary:
“We don’t have a script for you, contact
the doctor.” What is she supposed to do in the
meantime? If I could send that stuff, I would
order a case from Amazon. I also send antibacterial
soap because they don’t have paper
towels to wipe down the bars and keep their
cells clean.”
DAY:Do you think Bedford is capable of
handling COVID and making it safe enough
for people to come visit?
ROBINSON: They got to step up. Before the
pandemic, they didn’t have soap, toilet tissue,
hand sanitizer for visitors. If you don’t care
about the people coming in and out, I knowyou
don’t care about the ones you got housed
there.
DAY: Talk about your job at RAPP. It started
a few years ago, with you and some activist
friends driving to Albany to rally for RAPP’s
Elder Parole bill?
ROBINSON: Right. I get in the car, I go there:
Oh, this is FUN talking to legislators and advocating.
I have a big mouth — I like this stuff,
right?
Then Valerie Gaiter passed away at Bedford.
In fact, I was visiting Missy that day. All I could
think about was, “That could be my daughter
dying here.” Days later, RAPP asked if I would
speak at a rally in New York. Next thing I know,
they threw the microphone at me and I’ve been
off to the races ever since. Now I’m the Regional
Organizer of Western New York. Them is pretty
big drawers to fi ll.
DAY: Do you do anything to relax and have
fun?
ROBINSON: No, I don’t know how. You know,
I had twokids in prison? My son came home
February 5, before the COVID shutdown.
I blame myself. Maybe I wasn’t a good mother.
Maybe I worked too much. Maybe I should
have stayed home.
My kids said, “Mom. You didn’t have anything
to do with this. All it took was a split second
for us to make a bad decision. I wouldn’t
have wanted anybody else to be my mother but
you.” When they said that, that just meant everything.
I mean, my Missy’s going to school in
Bedford. She’s a shining light.
But we got to get them allout of there, Sus.
Give me all of my babies — these women I forged
a relationship with — I’ll take any of them. I
don’t even want to know what you done; I want
to meet you where you are now. Everybody is
worthy of redemption; none of us are the same
people we used to be. These are beautiful women
— these are queens. So I keep encouraging
them: You got people out here, waiting to receive
you — people who realize that you’re not
the worst day of your life.
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