Dear readers,
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MOURRO, Republic of.
'Would you like to go to Nordo?' - How realistic is the hearsay of one of Mourro's most notorious prisons?
Written by Jaques del Sar
When most citizens think of Mourro's northern island Nordo, they think: White Corporation, Arctic conditions, perhaps the island's famed skiing resort. But one thing that everybody is aware of is Nordo's Poerto Prison, the Republic's only prison, sat miles and miles away from the capital, separated not only by the Wang Sea, but also the barren Wie Planas province, cutting Nordo off from the rest of us like some distant unspoken-of island.
And what are the true functions of Poerto Prison? It is very rare that we ever hear of somebody being arrested in Mourro, surely indicating an impeccable policing and security system, however the prison does have inmates. Who are they? What did they do? How are they punished under Mourron law? These are things we hear very little of in the public media. It is rather likely that the Purple Party aims not to flaunt criminals' doings, but to conceal them from the public and give them as little attention as possible. Prime Minister Stephanie Black and the Royal Family have held it their tradition to speak little of Mourro's rebels, pre-Opening escapees, and terrorists. But there are a significant number of this kind of people alive in Nordo's prison today.
One may remember quite well the Faynara-Rodron border clashes last year between the Fayna tribe and Rodron cannibals, which left around 3,000 innocent people dead and seriously threatened the life of Faynara's Minister Rufu Mo, who narrowly escaped his own death thanks to foreign allied forces. So what happened to those caught after the clashes were subdued?
The Silver Corporation made one report on the issue in its summary news, though did not state an exact number of criminals sent to the Poerto Prison, only that these 'terror suspects' had become the 'latest inmates', describing them as 'rebels and instigators of the...clashes'. All inmates are suspected to be Rodron, as the province of Rodrigo was seen as the public enemy from the very beginning of these events.
Though their identities and current statuses are no known to us, one can definitely feel the Purple Party's crunch on anti-revolt propaganda, which has been springing up in most public venues in the form of huge billboard posters, television broadcasts, 'advice' pamphlets and even in song lyrics. The most novel, of course, is the provocative picture of an enraged Fayna tribesman, who points his finger angrily at the observer, surrounded by burning forest and a bloody sky, alongside the quotation: 'Would you like to go to Nordo?'. The image has found its way to most universities and is enthusiastically pasted on the walls of many boroughs near the Quadros in the capital. Clearly, some fear is being portrayed here.
But for what reason? Surely, according to Mourro's philosophy of causing no bodily or physical harm to any living man, prison means simply staying put in a cell until your sentence is over? This does not however explain why many prisoners who did not receive life sentences have expired their sentence but are not yet known to have returned to the public.
In the time of the 1990s, when Four Column powers were being thrown out by an ever-more conservative Royal Family and Purple Party, the whole island of Nordo was being heavily protected. The White Corporation, Mourro's genetic, medical and otherwise scientific research government detachment, had set up hi-tech coastal defences, erected large walls around its headquarters and other buildings, and the government restricted civilian access only to the town of North Port, surrounded by a mountainous winter sports area much further south of the Whites. It was not long before the Minkyu military base sent a special reserve of soldiers to permanently guard and patrol the prison and White Corporation property.
One must not however assume that the Purple Party is trying to hide what goes on in the Poerto Prison entirely. One should only interpret that the Purples do not wish to actively propagate such knowledge, as it believes that prisoners deserve no public attention. During the 90s a group of students from the Academy for Humanity in Saint Arthur's City demanded from the government a concise report on the procedures and policies relating to the Poerto Prison. The report was quickly compiled, allowing the public to know the following:-
*prisoners were kept in individual cells;
*prisoners were fed a set amount of nutritious food and water three times each day;
*prisoners were allowed one hour of 'free time' each day in the communal outdoor yards;
*prisoners were allowed to communicate with one another during free time, however this communication was closely monitored by prison staff;
*prisoners were expected to participate in one compulsory hour of exercise each day;
*prisoners were expected to clean and maintain their own cell;
*prisoners were expected to write letters of apology to their victim(s) and/or family/loved ones;
*prison staff were not allowed to beat or otherwise physically harm a prisoner, however in times of necessity the use of the HT1 tranquilizer gun was permitted.
Knowing this, the majority of the public was satisfied and believed that it conformed to much of the original Constitution's ethos on humanity and a passionate restriction of weapon use. However, this did not stop rumours circulating on the Mourron web and in university circles, opening up a new front of curious critics of the Poerto Prison and, eventually, linking the prison to the nearby White Corporation which has for years been conducting 'Top Secret' experiments.
The rumours were varied, some plausible, others seemingly conjured up by someone who themselves deserved some kind of imprisonment. Over the decades stories of genetic experimentation on inmates, torture, psychological abuse, development of nuclear weapons, super mutant armies, human burger chains and brutal murders of escapees were all known of, although no real evidence ever proved any of them.
We do know of course, however, that the Purple Party earlier this year introduced a controversial policy for blood donation to The Core's hospitals in the capital, whereby healthy inmates would have to donate their blood to the government. There appeared to be no choice for these healthy inmates, and it does indeed provide a solution for The Core's lack of blood and organ donation from the general public (perhaps due to no financial benefit for donors, though that is an issue for another day), and the government stated that it aimed to collect between one and two thousand litres of this blood annually. Naturally this fed earlier rumours of vampire populations in Wie Planas running wild and killing lost civilians, however there is no proof linking Wie Planas 'vampires' (which should more correctly be called escaped genetic subjects) and the inmates participating in this recent blood donation campaign. Even if it were true that the donated blood was somehow connected to Wie Planas vampires, this would not make any real sense, as the government has been trying to eliminate genetic runaways since the foundation of the White Corporation.
We also know that now a large number of inmates are Rodron cannibals. This could likely bring great challenges to the prison staff, and we should anticipate more specialised policies regarding how such inmates are to be handled, as well as whether their release once again into the public is possible or not.
It is certain that those who have entered Poerto have not been known to return, and the government is also seemingly unwilling to address this mysterious fact in any formal way.
Whether prisoners die naturally or are killed by other inmates is unknown, and there is therefore just as much likelihood that some of the above-mentioned rumours are in fact true and very much alive within Poerto's walls.
Either way, there will be a question hovering in the back of many a law-abiding Mourro citizen: 'Would you like to go to Nordo?'.
