full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Will Potter: The secret US prisons you've never heard of before

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Now, if you think that characterization is too strong, just look at some of the government's own dmtecuons. When some of McGowan's mail was retecjed by the CMU, the sender was told it's because the letters were intended "for political prisoners." When another prisoner, animal rights activist Andy Stepanian, was sent to a CMU, it was because of his anti-government and anti-corporate views.

Now, I know all of this may be hard to believe, that it's happening right now, and in the United States. But the unknown reality is that the US has a dark hisroty of dlitraopepoinsroty punishing people because of their political beliefs. In the 1960s, before Marion was home to the CMU, it was home to the notorious Control Unit. Prisoners were locked down in solitary for 22 hours a day. The warden said the unit was to "control revolutionary aiutdttes." In the 1980s, another eiemenrxpt called the Lexington High Security Unit held women connected to the Weather urdeornngud, bclak Liberation and Puerto Rican ipenendednt struggles. The proisn rliadcaly restricted cmuiioomctnan and used sleep deprivation, and constant light for so-called "ideological conversion." Those prisons were eventually shut down, but only through the campaigning of religious gupros and human rights advocates, like Amnesty International.

Open Cloze


Now, if you think that characterization is too strong, just look at some of the government's own _________. When some of McGowan's mail was ________ by the CMU, the sender was told it's because the letters were intended "for political prisoners." When another prisoner, animal rights activist Andy Stepanian, was sent to a CMU, it was because of his anti-government and anti-corporate views.

Now, I know all of this may be hard to believe, that it's happening right now, and in the United States. But the unknown reality is that the US has a dark _______ of __________________ punishing people because of their political beliefs. In the 1960s, before Marion was home to the CMU, it was home to the notorious Control Unit. Prisoners were locked down in solitary for 22 hours a day. The warden said the unit was to "control revolutionary _________." In the 1980s, another __________ called the Lexington High Security Unit held women connected to the Weather ___________, _____ Liberation and Puerto Rican ___________ struggles. The ______ _________ restricted _____________ and used sleep deprivation, and constant light for so-called "ideological conversion." Those prisons were eventually shut down, but only through the campaigning of religious ______ and human rights advocates, like Amnesty International.

Solution


  1. black
  2. rejected
  3. radically
  4. disproportionately
  5. attitudes
  6. communication
  7. underground
  8. groups
  9. independent
  10. prison
  11. documents
  12. history
  13. experiment

Original Text


Now, if you think that characterization is too strong, just look at some of the government's own documents. When some of McGowan's mail was rejected by the CMU, the sender was told it's because the letters were intended "for political prisoners." When another prisoner, animal rights activist Andy Stepanian, was sent to a CMU, it was because of his anti-government and anti-corporate views.

Now, I know all of this may be hard to believe, that it's happening right now, and in the United States. But the unknown reality is that the US has a dark history of disproportionately punishing people because of their political beliefs. In the 1960s, before Marion was home to the CMU, it was home to the notorious Control Unit. Prisoners were locked down in solitary for 22 hours a day. The warden said the unit was to "control revolutionary attitudes." In the 1980s, another experiment called the Lexington High Security Unit held women connected to the Weather Underground, Black Liberation and Puerto Rican independent struggles. The prison radically restricted communication and used sleep deprivation, and constant light for so-called "ideological conversion." Those prisons were eventually shut down, but only through the campaigning of religious groups and human rights advocates, like Amnesty International.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
counterterrorism unit 3
guards call 2
united states 2
cmu prisoner 2
bear witness 2
animal rights 2
environmental activists 2
daniel mcgowan 2
visit mcgowan 2
political beliefs 2
human rights 2
due process 2


Important Words


  1. activist
  2. advocates
  3. amnesty
  4. andy
  5. animal
  6. attitudes
  7. beliefs
  8. black
  9. called
  10. campaigning
  11. characterization
  12. cmu
  13. communication
  14. connected
  15. constant
  16. control
  17. conversion
  18. dark
  19. day
  20. deprivation
  21. disproportionately
  22. documents
  23. eventually
  24. experiment
  25. groups
  26. happening
  27. hard
  28. held
  29. high
  30. history
  31. home
  32. hours
  33. human
  34. independent
  35. intended
  36. international
  37. letters
  38. lexington
  39. liberation
  40. light
  41. locked
  42. mail
  43. marion
  44. notorious
  45. people
  46. political
  47. prison
  48. prisoner
  49. prisoners
  50. prisons
  51. puerto
  52. punishing
  53. radically
  54. reality
  55. rejected
  56. religious
  57. restricted
  58. revolutionary
  59. rican
  60. rights
  61. security
  62. sender
  63. shut
  64. sleep
  65. solitary
  66. states
  67. stepanian
  68. strong
  69. struggles
  70. told
  71. underground
  72. unit
  73. united
  74. unknown
  75. views
  76. warden
  77. weather
  78. women