NYDailyNews

JESSE'S WIFE GETS SOLITARY

By MARIA ALVAREZ

June 22, 2001 -- Jackie Jackson, arrested last week for trespassing on Vieques, is spending time in solitary confinement after refusing a daily strip search.APThe Rev. Jesse Jackson's wife yesterday was thrown into solitary confinement in Puerto Rico's federal prison after she refused to submit to a daily strip and body-cavity search by guards.

A concerned Jackson canceled a trip to South Africa and is flying into San Juan this morning.

The civil-rights leader is not expected to be allowed to visit his wife, Jackie, who has been in jail for four days for protesting the U.S. Navy bombing practice on Vieques. Prison policy does not allow inmates in solitary to receive visitors.

"The Rev. Jackson is outraged and concerned that his wife is being subjected to harsh treatment," said Keiana Peyton, Jackson's spokeswoman.

"Rev. Jackson has asked President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft to intervene."

While in jail, Jackie Jackson has been subjected to daily strip and body-cavity searches by female guards after each visit with lawyers and her son.

"It turned into an indignity, and she demanded that she be searched by a female doctor," said lawyer and friend Peter Sylver of Hofstra University. "She was horrified."

"Her son was with us, and he felt totally helpless because he couldn't protect his mother," said lawyer Harry Anduza of San Juan.

"This is an absurd situation," Anduza added. "This is an indignity and unjustified for someone arrested on a misdemeanor."

Lawyers also objected when prison officials forced Jackson to share a cell block with a cocaine drug trafficker.

-- Anonymous, June 22, 2001