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LETTERS FROM A LIVING HELL By STEVE DUNLEAVY
March 3, 2002 — They are letters from hell that somewhere should be etched on a giant rock of injustice. Andra Schwarz is thumbing through hundreds of letters sent by her husband, Chuck, from solitary confinement. Chuck was given a new lease on life last week when he learned he'd get a new trial in the horrendous Abner Louima assault. Some of the letters are poignantly personal, some angry and others just downright heartbreaking. DENVER FEDERAL PRISON, 10/13/2001: "Most women would have left their husbands when the going gets tough . . . if this appeal doesn't succeed, maybe you should move on . . . It's bad enough that I have to be punished for something I didn't do. It's another thing for you have to be punished, too." Andra Schwarz smiled in her Staten Island apartment: "Me move on? Never." DEVENS FEDERAL PRISON, MASS. 5/30/2000: "I switched cells today and I can see a little of the trees and the grass beyond the barbed wire. I couldn't help laugh at the pictures of Christopher's second birthday [his nephew]. These are the moments I have been robbed of." It's not as if Chuck Schwarz is the only prison inmate who missed the simple things in life, but Estelle Schwarz has a mother's take on it. "When we have the rare chance to visit him, we see other inmates chatting, laughing and talking casually to their loved ones," said Estelle. "You get the impression that they know they have done some wrong and have adjusted. Chuck was always stiff and quiet, as if he just didn't know why he was there." FEDERAL LOCKUP, MANHATTAN, 6/11/1999: "They say you start adjusting after a couple of weeks but how can I, if I should never be here in the first place. It was really some railroad job." MILAN FEDERAL PRISON, MICH. 10/16/2000: "It was so good to see you this weekend. I do have to say it gets tougher to see you leave. After you left I went into a deep depression, and I still feel very depressed as I write this letter. "It's such an unnatural experience in prison . . . every day I die a little more inside. This incarceration is consuming me in body and spirit." For Chuck Schwarz, even writing letters was a monumental victory over a system that jailed an innocent man. Andra Schwarz said: "He was moved so many times from prison to prison, he was not allowed to take any personal effects with him. So he would have to get paper, pencils, envelopes from each new commissary." FEDERAL LOCKUP, MANHATTAN, 6/11/1999: "I miss you so much more than ever. Every other time I left, such as Desert Storm or my two week drills . . . I knew I was returning . . . now I am not so sure . . . I hope this nightmare ends soon . . . How are the dogs, Terry and Amber?" DENVER FEDERAL PRISON. 9/11/2001: "I woke up today in shock after hearing about the tragedy. I can't comprehend the horror. I'm sick to my stomach. I worry about the guys in the first, fifth and 10th precinct [where Chuck had many cop friends]. I'm also worried about Joe and Arthur." The last two names were his firefighter buddies. They both died at the World Trade Center. The above is just a fraction of what Chuck was thinking and suffering. I hope his persecutors are proud of themselves.
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