The below is OCEAN Newsletter Volume 1, Issue 5, Article 1 (Nov. 13, 2019) published by Russell J. Hatton & Daniel A. Wilson from the gulag in Moose Lake Minnesota.
It’s football season and all teams are striving for the same goal: The Super Bowl.
No NFL team has ever made it to the Super Bowl and said, “Oh, no. I don’t want to do this. It’s too difficult.” That would be ridiculous. Instead, every team that makes it to the Super Bowl is honored to be there to challenge the best.
This is how I [Daniel] feel about being committed. This is the Super Bowl of my intellect, my emotional health, and above all, my faith. I have come too far in life to tum down this opportunity to fight against such a worthy opponent. I say bring it on MSOP!
I have only been committed for about 3 years. If there is one element I could identify as the common denominator that contributes to our indefinite incarceration, IT IS US, NOT THEM. Sure, “they” have manipulated and twisted laws and common sense to accomplish the amazing feat of sex offender civil commitment. But they could not do it without us. Every moment we spend laying around watching TV or sleeping, could be spent striving to counteract their efforts to keep us locked up. Those who run these facilities count on our ignorance and indifference. This is why they go through such great lengths to allow us to own an X-Box and then deny us basic human rights. The physical amenities are clearly a benefit to THEM, not us. They have found that a sedentary sex-offender is an easy paycheck.
I have been called judgmental for these comments. I’ll accept that title as long as I’m not called indifferent to injustice. My judgment is this: it is YOUR responsibility to get yourself out of this situation and it is likewise MY responsibility to get ME out of this situation. Laziness, ignorance, complacency and procrastination are choices to stay confined. I struggle with all four of these every day. Some days I achieve more than other days. But I do not have to slow down today, simply because I struggled yesterday. I must keep going.
I have a wife and a daughter. My wife and I haven’t talked in awhile and my P.O. wont let me talk to my daughter. However, one day I hope to be in their lives again. When that day comes, I imagine my daughter may wonder what I have been doing while away. I want my answer to be, “trying to get to you.” If I met her today, I could tell her that, and it would be true, and she would know that I never forgot her.
I [Russell] have been indefinitely institutionalized going on 12 years in one of America’s Pandora box institutions.
For those who don’t know, MSOP is Minnesota’s Bermuda Triangle, where some of America’s subclass human beings are sent to vanish from society.
As a co-editor and founder of OCEAN, we are intent on bringing light to not only our invisibility, but also the invisibility society exhibits for the victims of sexual violence.
For me, OCEAN is founded on Empathy.
When institutions like MSOP are created out of moral panics which politicians exploit to gain popularity and votes for repeat terms …
When unconstitutional laws, statutes, and punitive policies are created to maintain the distorted perception that the worst of the worst are being committed …
When the ever looming threat of unrestrained legislation threaten our constitutional rights to life, liberty and justice.
It is those who are experiencing such injustice who must speak up!
Thirteen years ago was the first time I met my son I was on my way out of a court room heading to prison. He was only a week old. The second time I met my son, he was seven and he wanted nothing more than to be in his father’s arms.
To see him and his sisters, standing at the exit door of the visiting room, looking back and wanting their father to walk out with them crushed me …
I have vowed to dedicate every day to improving my life, and I strongly encourage all of you men who are in similar situations to do the same. We owe it to not only our children, but to future generations to end sexual violence, as well as to stop the destruction of our United States Constitution.
We have so much to say about this issue, but we think this will be an ongoing series for OCEAN. We hope this encourages other patients in other institutions to pull together and advocate for yourselves, each other and your families. DAW /RJH
“At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.” -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
