RNC (Radio Network Controller)

I was born and raised in Brazil. Although I had heard about macro-biotics, I was not able to practice it correctly. Instead, I became in-volved with drugs, and, in 1984, was arrested in Denmark. Following my arrest, I self-reflected and decided to change. I wanted to practice macrobiotics and improve myself as much as possible.

One of the problems I faced was that the prison diet had been plan-ned by a doctor. T h e prison offered a variety of diets—standard, vegetarian, Kosher, Muslim, diabetic, and special diets for people without teeth. T h e doctor was highly regarded as being capable of designing diets that would cover everyone's daily needs. But as in prisons everywhere, the food served in Danish prisons is typical in-stitutional food. From a macrobiotic point of view it was generally unsuitable. Although it was possible to survive for a short time eating it—or even for a long time by selecting a limited variety of foods—

I wanted to eat a wider, more balanced macrobiotic diet.

In the beginning, I discovered that the oat flakes served in the morn-ing were edible, and that salty rye bread, which comes in three forms

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(whole grain, broken grain, and rye flour) could also be eaten in small amounts. Not only was it salty, but, as I later discovered, it also con-tained commercial fat, which is not written on the label, but can be felt the next day in the form of a gassy discharge. I was able to buy Swedish crisp bread, or "Wasa," which is simply rye, water, and salt.

All of the other breakfast items: cheese, milk, marmalade, and white bread I managed to avoid. T h e vegetarian meal served at lunch and dinner usually consisted of over-cooked or canned vegetables with a meat substitute made from textured soybeans. These meat substitutes were questionable; they often included sugar, poor quality fats, and preservatives.

Confronted with this situation, the only alternative was to act re-solutely for change. Several of my friends and I had hoped to use our time in prison as a positive experience that would help us regain health, memory, sound judgment, strength, and many of the things we had lost through the use of drugs and through our disorderly lifestyle.

As my mind started clearing up, I realized how far away I had gotten

F i g . 1 9 I v a n P e d r o S h i f f e r w i t h w h o l e g r a i n b u c k -w h e a t p a n c a k e s p r e p a r e d i n t h e p r i s o n k i t c h e n .

from a natural way of life. Finally, the chance to practice macrobiotics came when T u e Gertsen and Barbara Berger of the macrobiotic center in Copenhagen answered my letter asking for help. They offered to support and help us in any way possible. Anne-Marie Wibollt, a cook-ing teacher at the center who had studied in Boston, would help us get the foods we would need. We had no idea then of the difficulties we would encounter. First, we thought that in a country with such an advanced prison system, we would simply have to explain what we wanted and it would be arranged. So we asked, we explained, but nothing happened. We thought we had not explained well enough, so we tried again. Once more, no response from the prison.

We were taken almost daily to police headquarters for questioning, so we had a chance to explain our problem to the police and lawyers.

We received assurances that in a short time it would be solved.

It was during that period that I was kept in isolation. I started a hunger strike to call attention to our request for natural food. Again I received assurances that a solution would be reached soon, but as it

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was near Christmas, the office of the prison director was closed, so the soonest we could hope for a solution was not until after the New Year.

However, time went by and no changes were made.

Every three weeks we were taken to court and the problem was discussed in front of the judge, who was positive that we would get our food items. I began another hunger strike, this time for 12 days.

Then the vice director of the prison, a very intelligent and understand-ing woman named Laila Dahl, took the matter into her hands and convinced me to stop fasting. She was confident that a solution would be reached in a couple of months. Until then, I could choose one item which she would arrange to be sold in the prison shop.

As we had no place to cook or warm up food, after much considera-tion, I decided to order an organic grain mix known as muesli. Muesli is made from oat, barley, wheat, and rice flakes, whole buckwheat, hazelnuts, sesame seeds, and raisins. T h e fact that it was packed in airtight bags helped reassure the administration that it was safe to allow inside the prison. They were concerned because drugs were being continually smuggled in. With the promise that I would start receiving muesli in several weeks, the first step had been reached.

F i g . 2 1 M a c r o b i o t i c s t a p l e s a l l o w e d i n t h e p r i s o n b y a u t h o r i t i e s i n D e n m a r k .

Meanwhile, Anne-Marie was helping us from the outside. She went to the department of the ministry of justice in charge of prison adminis-tration in Denmark. She brought the products we were asking for to the people who had been appointed to take care of the matter. She explained what it was all about, and received promises that they would look into it. From inside, we were continuously writing letters to every possible authority in the country, hoping to make ourselves understood.

The fact that macrobiotics was not so well known in Denmark, and the dietary habits of people in general traditionally relied on milk products, meat, and rye bread, made it difficult for them to see the reason for all the fuss.

The prison diet was carefully planned by a doctor of "Rigs hos-pitalet" (the main hospital in Copenhagen), and this made it difficult for someone to take the responsibility for allowing us to depart from it. If anything went wrong, who would then be responsible? As they say here, the "hot potato" was being tossed back and forth and no solution was reached. But as we were hard headed and had decided to use the opportunity of isolation and imprisonment to find the freedom that we could not enjoy in liberty, we were ready for any consequences in order to be allowed to eat the foods recommended in macrobiotic philosophy.

The judge and the investigating police started to understand how determined we were, and became supportive. They arranged a court meeting, summoning the director of the prison to analyze the problem from a legal point of view, and if possible, to work out a solution.

This gave us hope and energy; our voices were starting to be heard and taken seriously. T h e macrobiotic trial had started.

The people who participated in the court meeting included the judge; the vice director of Copenhagen prisons, Mrs. Laila Dahl;

the police, represented by Mr. Frode Olsen; the prosecutor; lawyers;

and representatives of the three main newspapers in Denmark. T h e vice inspector insisted that the prison could not allow such a diet, because security measures prevented any changes in food regulations.

Mr. Olsen then spoke, guaranteeing that the police would take re-sponsibility in getting the items we needed, searching them for drugs or weapons, and delivering them to the prison. In this way, the prison

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administration would not have to worry about security. However, this was not acceptable to the vice director, who felt that it would interfere with the work of the prison guards. If necessary, they would check the food themselves, but special regulations would not allow this.

In conclusion, the judge said he had no power to decide on internal affairs of the prison, but hoped that the prison would solve the pro-blem and allow us to have our food.

So we were back to square one, but the fight was far from over.

Anne-Marie then decided to ask a friend of hers, who is a journalist, to write an article in one of the main daily newspapers to call attention to our situation. T h e article was written and it did help. After nearly six months of anxiety and hope, it was a very positive thing.

On the day I was released from solitary, I met with several other prisoners who showed me the article. By then, Mr. Frode Olsen had decided to do everything he could to help us, and had contacted Mr. Bjorn Elmquist, a man who works with prison conditions in countries where human rights are not respected. He was also a former journalist and lately had become a deputy in the "Folketinget" or Danish parliament.

He took an interest in our case, and pleaded with the Minister of Justice, Mr. Erik Ninn Hansen, for help in resolving our plight. It did not take long then (only a few weeks) before a smiling Laila Dahl visited me and said that an order had arrived from the Minister, stating that we be allowed to buy the items we needed.

I was allowed to select eight products which the prison would carry, and the prison would begin including brown rice as a regular item on the vegetarian menu, which at that time was being chosen by 126 people. I selected millet, lentils, miso, sea vegetables, tahini, Lima bio muesli, carrot juice, and cabbage for the store. T h e vice director was happy about our victory: she was deeply committed to seeing us get the items. T h e director had been the one who had opposed our request without considering what it was all about.

Anne-Marie suggested recipes so we could prepare our food without having access to a kitchen. Later I was allowed to work in the kitchen, also thanks to Laila Dahl, who definitely sympathized with our ideas.

Marie was even allowed to visit us once a week with delicious, well cooked macrobiotic meals.

We now had the courage to face what was ahead. T h e trial came and I was sentenced to ten years imprisonment, which, with luck, can be reduced to about five years. Since then I have been transferred to a state prison on an island called Nyborg. I had to start all over.

The whole process began again, with explanations, letters, and hunger strikes. It seemed like I had been transferred to another country. T h e order from the Minister of Justice had no power here.

So I asked our friend in parliament, Mr. Bjorn Elmquist, to intercede.

We asked our friend in the police department, Mr. Frode Olsen, who probably has heard more about macrobiotics than any other policeman in the world, to contact Mr. Elmquist. In less than a month, a new older came from the Minister exempting me from the usual prison food, and allowing me to buy everything I needed with my working money. T h e prison offered to provide me with two kilos of Lima muesli a week for free. T h e cost to the prison is about 56 kronen, or about five dollars a week, so I became the most inexpensive prisoner in the entire Danish prison system to feed.

By now I was as happy as any man could be. I was also allowed to get a pressure cooker and a mill for grinding grains. Fortunately we have our own kitchen and can cook for ourselves. There are now three of us practicing macrobiotics. One of the other macrobiotic prisoners, Jackie Wuth, had to go through a similar process. It took seven months of letter writing and hunger strikes to prove that he really wanted to change his diet and way of life.

People are imprisoned to hopefully change for the better. If someone decides to practice a philosophy that promotes changes in his body and mind, the system can block all his efforts. Those who are practicing macrobiotics inside Danish prisons have made a decision coming from the heart. We are thankful to everyone who helped us achieve true freedom before the time imposed by the judge is up. We hope some day to join in the fantastic project that is now being created to bring macrobiotics to people behind bars. We want to join as living proof that nothing better could happen to people who are imprisoned. We are now at Nyborg stats faengsel, P.O. Box 55, 5800 Nyborg, Denmark.

We invite readers to write to us about anything.

Meanwhile chew, chew, chew; a bright new world is behind it.

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