She was particularly incensed about being asked to allow a body cavity search, especially when she had been searched and under surveillance in the prison system before being asked for the search.

She has raised the issue of the injustice of such searches to a national level.

�I�m not na�ve. I realize people carry and handle things in the drug culture and do place them in their body parts,� she said. �To give some dignity to that strip search, it should be more medically attended. Hepatitis B lingers for a week on your clothing. People should handle your things with gloves. You can�t touch my clothing and then touch somebody else�s clothing.

�As in my case, if you�re coming out of a place where you�ve been totally examined and going into a place where you are sitting under a microscope, it�s virtually impossible for you to deposit any contraband in the rectum. It�s a way to humiliate, diminish and dehumanize people. (Inmates) in this system should be elevated; we should be trying to make them less of a burden on society just as the Muslims try to retrain, teach new values, redirect a negative energy and make it a positive energy. That�s what these (penal) institutions should try to do,� she argued.

Others were just as concerned.

�Technology is of the state where there�s no need for body cavity searches,� Rep. Bobby Rush told The Final Call. �We have technology that can look at your eyeballs and reveal almost your entire life history. Strip searches are archaic and barbaric and certainly not something we should be engaged in at this day and time in America.�

�When a person of Mrs. Jackson�s stature and reputation can be so cavalierly mistreated by our federal government, it should give us all pause. Prison officials are engaged in physical intimidation, including unnecessary and abusive strip searches that violate their own regulations as well as constitutional requirements. I am terribly disappointed in Attorney General [John] Ashcroft�s failure to account for his department�s shameful role in this matter,� said Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.).

Rep. Conyers said he plans to lead a �comprehensive� nationwide investigation of the country�s federal districts on their practices concerning the imprisonment of people charged with minor, nonviolent offenses and issues such as strip searches.

Mrs. Jackson said the U.S. government should live up to its word and show some consistency from one administration to another.

President Clinton already set an agenda, she said regarding President Bush�s announcement to stop bombing exercises on Vieques in 2003. �A commission is reviewing the situation and will release its report in August. If this report says that the bombing exercises is injurious to the health of the people, it should be honored.

�Also it stated that there�s a referendum that is to be voted on Nov. 6 by the people to determine whether or not they want the bombing to continue. And that should be honored. So why is Mr. Bush ignoring a policy that�s already in motion?�

Although she�s always been active, Mrs. Jackson said she will respond to the call to be more visibly vocal on issues she plans to address in the future. �You can�t just join every issue,� she said, �because you become kind of drained. I can choose my issues and have the same kind of elevated passion about what is good and fair and just. I plan to do that.

�The thing that surprised me in Vieques was the size, the numbers. Normally, when you have people looking for their human rights, you generally have a larger number. I found that there were just 10,000 people on this island whom I feel are just as relevant as 40 million. They have rights too.�

Mrs. Jackson emphasized her love for her husband, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, in light of attacks on him by a national tabloid newspaper. �I have had a strengthening experience,� she said. �I don�t believe in bad news. Life is a combination of situations and experiences. Each experience you have strengthens you.

�I think this is a (moment of) pause� for Black leadership, she continued. �We have some new ideas floating in the universe�faith basted initiative�and people are sorting these things out. I think in a few years they will figure out our direction. I believe God is in the center of everything. I have witnessed God�s power. If God can take the worst situation and elevate somebody and you say they are lucky, it�s not luck, it�s just God.�