Dear Sis~
It's Christmas Eve and I'm feeling expansive, indulging in a lot of end-of-year introspection. The other night I watched The Wizard of Oz for the first time in decades which stirred up some nostalgia. I vividly recall you and me as little kids, back in the early 1960's, intently watching this movie for the first time on our family TV. I was mesmerized and delighted as only a child can be over the seemingly magical tale. It was the first musical I'd ever seen and it broadened my concept of what constituted a movie, as to how a movie could be made, as opposed to more traditional films, and I experienced a modest epiphany, sort of like when you first appreciate the difference between an impressionistic painting and one from the traditional school of realism. Now, sitting here on my bunk, some 45 years later, I was surprised at how well the movie stands the test of time. It's still a great film, a grand story with excellent production values and the colors are just as rich and bright as I recall them. Remember how watching this movie became an annual event as we grew up? And how scary those damn flying monkeys were? When the movie ended I felt a tinge of sadness though, because watching it transported me back to those childhood years of wonder and innocence, before I made so many bad choices in life. Back then, before my fall from grace, my future was still bright, brimming with unfilled potential and everything seemed possible. I'd give anything to recapture that moment, to be able to return to that time and take the right paths instead. But, wouldn't we all? If only life were that simple and we could gain the wisdom and experience without us and others suffering the consequences of our poor judgments. My consolation is the assurance that next time around on Schoolhouse Earth I won't be repeating those mistakes ...
Contemplating the meaning of Christmas, a thought just popped into my mind: in the last 2,000 years, has there ever been a Christmas without a war being waged somewhere on the planet? I don't believe so. Will we live long enough to ever witness a Christmas where the nations of Earth are at peace? Another Christmas is here and, once again, America is occupying a foreign nation, fighting a war far away. Our country is full of self-professing Christians, but many conveniently forget that one of Christ's primary titles is Prince of Peace...
Anyway, Sis, I'm going to close this up on a cheerful note. Give yourself a big hug, and give the doggies a tummy rub for me! Let's dream for the seemingly unattainable: Peace on Earth and Goodwill Toward Man.
Love, Bill
Friday, December 28, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Dec 14, 2007 - New Jersey abolished their death penalty!
Dear Sis~
The seagulls are back. Every winter hundreds of these screeching birds invade the prison, wheeling and dive-bombing overhead, crowding onto the yard during the night, hissing, squalling and pecking at each other, fighting over every scrap of food thrown to them by prisoners. Come Spring, they will just as suddenly disappear, vanishing overnight, presumably returning to the coast from which they came. Oddly, this seasonal seagull migration occurs at all prisons (at least every prison I've been at). My guess is that the ubiquitous garbage dumps, present at all prisons, attracts them, a reliable food source when the wintry oceans become less generous. The gulls make it almost impossible for me to feed my crows and sparrows out at rec because they spot the food as soon as it hits the ground and they all swoop down to devour it. Occasionally the crows will fight with them but invariably the mobbing gulls overpower them through sheer force of numbers...
By the time you read this, New Jersey will have abolished their death penalty. Their senate and assembly already voted to do so and Governor Corzine, who is a staunch abolitionist, has stated he will sign it into law. This is the first state to abolish capital punishment in about 40 years. (If my memory is correct the last state was Kansas, but after about 20 years or so, they reinstated it). Anyway, this is a small step in the right direction and hopefully it will embolden other states to do the same. I'm not naive; it is a long and difficult road to total abolition of state-sanctioned murder, but as the old Chinese proverb says, even the longest journey begins with the first step...
It's 11:30 am and I was just gazing out onto the center of the compound, when I saw two guards sic their 2 German Shepherd attack dogs on an inmate who looked like he weighed 125 pounds. The dogs chewed his ass up while he futilely fought to protect himself. The attack-dog patrols is one of Warden Kelly's "innovations" which is a euphemism for "total waste of taxpayer's money". She has four guards who roam the compound, each with a vicious, half-insane attack dog on a leash, and their purpose(if you can call it that) is to herd the inmates wherever they go, to and from the chow hall, to and from rec, etc... The guards bring up the rear, with these snarling dogs, lunging and straining at their leashes, snapping at every inmate as they walk. The guards seem to enjoy seeing how close they can let the dogs come to the inmates (the dogs are desperately trying to break free and attack, they snarl and bark non-stop, like they are on crack or meth). A couple of times already, they've set the dogs on inmates, including what I just saw. I've never been in any prison where attack dogs roamed the prison, especially for no legitimate purpose. This joint is habitually understaffed (they often have to lock down the prison due to staff shortages), yet they waste 4 guards on this ridiculous dog-duty, because this warden wants to pretend she is running some kind of notorious, maximum security, Alcatraz-type joint (in reality, this prison is soft as cotton...this warden has never seen a real hard core joint)... Gotta go, Sis!
Love, Bill
The seagulls are back. Every winter hundreds of these screeching birds invade the prison, wheeling and dive-bombing overhead, crowding onto the yard during the night, hissing, squalling and pecking at each other, fighting over every scrap of food thrown to them by prisoners. Come Spring, they will just as suddenly disappear, vanishing overnight, presumably returning to the coast from which they came. Oddly, this seasonal seagull migration occurs at all prisons (at least every prison I've been at). My guess is that the ubiquitous garbage dumps, present at all prisons, attracts them, a reliable food source when the wintry oceans become less generous. The gulls make it almost impossible for me to feed my crows and sparrows out at rec because they spot the food as soon as it hits the ground and they all swoop down to devour it. Occasionally the crows will fight with them but invariably the mobbing gulls overpower them through sheer force of numbers...
By the time you read this, New Jersey will have abolished their death penalty. Their senate and assembly already voted to do so and Governor Corzine, who is a staunch abolitionist, has stated he will sign it into law. This is the first state to abolish capital punishment in about 40 years. (If my memory is correct the last state was Kansas, but after about 20 years or so, they reinstated it). Anyway, this is a small step in the right direction and hopefully it will embolden other states to do the same. I'm not naive; it is a long and difficult road to total abolition of state-sanctioned murder, but as the old Chinese proverb says, even the longest journey begins with the first step...
It's 11:30 am and I was just gazing out onto the center of the compound, when I saw two guards sic their 2 German Shepherd attack dogs on an inmate who looked like he weighed 125 pounds. The dogs chewed his ass up while he futilely fought to protect himself. The attack-dog patrols is one of Warden Kelly's "innovations" which is a euphemism for "total waste of taxpayer's money". She has four guards who roam the compound, each with a vicious, half-insane attack dog on a leash, and their purpose(if you can call it that) is to herd the inmates wherever they go, to and from the chow hall, to and from rec, etc... The guards bring up the rear, with these snarling dogs, lunging and straining at their leashes, snapping at every inmate as they walk. The guards seem to enjoy seeing how close they can let the dogs come to the inmates (the dogs are desperately trying to break free and attack, they snarl and bark non-stop, like they are on crack or meth). A couple of times already, they've set the dogs on inmates, including what I just saw. I've never been in any prison where attack dogs roamed the prison, especially for no legitimate purpose. This joint is habitually understaffed (they often have to lock down the prison due to staff shortages), yet they waste 4 guards on this ridiculous dog-duty, because this warden wants to pretend she is running some kind of notorious, maximum security, Alcatraz-type joint (in reality, this prison is soft as cotton...this warden has never seen a real hard core joint)... Gotta go, Sis!
Love, Bill
Thursday, December 06, 2007
December 2, 2007
Dear Sis~
I'm sitting on my bunk as midnight approaches, listening to a Vivaldi concerto on my little CD player. I remember how I hated classical music as a kid, didn't understand how anyone could enjoy it, but as the decades went by, at some unknown point, I found myself inexplicably drawn to it, listening to it, appreciating its beauty, until now I don't understand how I ever disliked it. I guess it's just an age thing, a matter of maturity, that one day all kids are destined to come to enjoy "old folks' music". Anyway, I enjoyed our visit today; I'm not sure why we got 1 1/2 hours today, whether it was just luck, or because I said something to the lieutenant. Yesterday, the same crew restricted another guy's visit to one hour (his wife came from New York). And as I told you, I just got a response to my grievance about the new policy of giving us only one hour to visit and that response was "Per policy you are only allowed a one hour visit." This is factually incorrect since the Death Row rulebook specifically says "Visits may be limited to sixty minutes." The operative word is "may." It does not say "shall" or "must" or "will". The word "may" indicates the existence of discretion, indicating that while it may be limited to one hour, it does not have to be. Up until 3 weeks ago we got 1 1/2 hours, just like open population, and there was no reason for this sudden reduction. For that matter, up until a year ago we routinely got to visit for 3-5 hours per visit. Ever since Warden Kelly got here she's made it her mission to progressively restrict our visits, for no legitimate reason ...
Well, it's December again and, as I do every year, I marvel at how quickly the year has flown by. I know it's purely subjective, but the older I get the faster the years seem to go by. I think this is an experience common to all of us...
Now, with all these accelerated political primaries we'll know within 60 days who the Democratic and Republican nominees are. I'm pretty jaded to the political process but I don't think it's hyperbole to say that the upcoming election will be pivotal to deciding how this nation will define itself, whether we'll continue in the current disastrous direction, or whether we'll find some political leadership which will provide hope, purpose and common sense. This country desperately needs a sense of optimism to restore its spirit, rather than the fear mongering and hate mongering we've been fed by the greedy, war-loving elements of this administration (abetted by a cowardly congress and a gutless, paralyzed, unimaginative Democratic leadership). We have a lot to answer for to the next generation, starting with what will surely be their most imperious question: How the Hell did you let this happen?
Love, Bill
I'm sitting on my bunk as midnight approaches, listening to a Vivaldi concerto on my little CD player. I remember how I hated classical music as a kid, didn't understand how anyone could enjoy it, but as the decades went by, at some unknown point, I found myself inexplicably drawn to it, listening to it, appreciating its beauty, until now I don't understand how I ever disliked it. I guess it's just an age thing, a matter of maturity, that one day all kids are destined to come to enjoy "old folks' music". Anyway, I enjoyed our visit today; I'm not sure why we got 1 1/2 hours today, whether it was just luck, or because I said something to the lieutenant. Yesterday, the same crew restricted another guy's visit to one hour (his wife came from New York). And as I told you, I just got a response to my grievance about the new policy of giving us only one hour to visit and that response was "Per policy you are only allowed a one hour visit." This is factually incorrect since the Death Row rulebook specifically says "Visits may be limited to sixty minutes." The operative word is "may." It does not say "shall" or "must" or "will". The word "may" indicates the existence of discretion, indicating that while it may be limited to one hour, it does not have to be. Up until 3 weeks ago we got 1 1/2 hours, just like open population, and there was no reason for this sudden reduction. For that matter, up until a year ago we routinely got to visit for 3-5 hours per visit. Ever since Warden Kelly got here she's made it her mission to progressively restrict our visits, for no legitimate reason ...
Well, it's December again and, as I do every year, I marvel at how quickly the year has flown by. I know it's purely subjective, but the older I get the faster the years seem to go by. I think this is an experience common to all of us...
Now, with all these accelerated political primaries we'll know within 60 days who the Democratic and Republican nominees are. I'm pretty jaded to the political process but I don't think it's hyperbole to say that the upcoming election will be pivotal to deciding how this nation will define itself, whether we'll continue in the current disastrous direction, or whether we'll find some political leadership which will provide hope, purpose and common sense. This country desperately needs a sense of optimism to restore its spirit, rather than the fear mongering and hate mongering we've been fed by the greedy, war-loving elements of this administration (abetted by a cowardly congress and a gutless, paralyzed, unimaginative Democratic leadership). We have a lot to answer for to the next generation, starting with what will surely be their most imperious question: How the Hell did you let this happen?
Love, Bill
Thursday, November 29, 2007
November 22, 2007-Thanksgiving
Dear Sis~
It's (another) Thanksgiving Day, perhaps my 38th one behind bars. My last one enjoyed in freedom was 1986, and the one before that was 1969. A sad commentary, huh? Anyway, I just finished watching March of the Penguins on the Discovery Channel, a remarkable film, a grand tribute to the vitality of life which reminds us of the wonders of nature, which we are mostly ignorant of and often indifferent to. I'm an optimist by nature and I believe in the inherent ingenuity of mankind, especially when faced with crisis, but yet I still fear for this planet. I really don't know if we are going to win this race (and a part of me wonders if Earth wouldn't be better off without the presence of man)..
By the way, the administration here fired me from my podworker job, in retaliation for me telling the story of Percy's mistreatment. Someone in this administration is reading my blog and they don't like what I wrote! Rather than treat Percy with a little humanity, they'd rather strike at me (kill the messenger!) Percy, with his pathetic, broken mind has languished in that barren cell for ten years now, alone, bewildered, usually naked, devoid of even a scrap of property, inhabiting his own little private slice of insanity, and the only thing the Commonwealth of Virginia wants is desperately to execute him, while the only thing this prison wants is to ignore him. It speaks more about us as a society, than it does about Percy himself. Looking into Percy's cold, empty cell, seeing him naked, huddled in the corner, talking to himself and the unseen voices around him is like holding a mirror up to the commonwealth, reflecting back its soul...
In a rare turn of events (considering how everything here has been going steadily downhill for the last year) we got a grain of good news when the canteen passed out a memo stating that we can now purchase 13" color TV's (at $185, they are actually cheaper than the $210 they've been charging us for these cheap, toy-like black and white TV's). Everyone is excited about this (it doesn't take much to excite people on death row!) and buzzing about what a grand luxury this is. I'll start saving up for one myself, but I'm going to wait awhile & see if the news ones start blowing up. We went through this once before when we went from excellent quality 5" Magnavox to a cheap 5" generic brand; the new ones started breaking down and blowing up almost immediately, until we eventually went to another generic brand. Those who bought the new defective TV's were just out of luck. So for now, I'll start saving my dollars...
A guy on the row received a visit today and was permitted the regular 90 minutes, which conflicts with what Captain Tuell told you and me last week when he limited our visit to 60 minutes and proclaimed that 60 minutes was the new limit for death row visits. I don't know what to make of this but it causes me to wonder of that new limit is just being applied to me. I do know that since yesterday all my 15 phone numbers on my phone list have suddenly been invalidated; I can't get a single call to go through now (everyone else's numbers are working fine) Hmmm...
Alright, Sis, I'm going to hit the hay. I'll see you at our next visit.
Love, Bill
It's (another) Thanksgiving Day, perhaps my 38th one behind bars. My last one enjoyed in freedom was 1986, and the one before that was 1969. A sad commentary, huh? Anyway, I just finished watching March of the Penguins on the Discovery Channel, a remarkable film, a grand tribute to the vitality of life which reminds us of the wonders of nature, which we are mostly ignorant of and often indifferent to. I'm an optimist by nature and I believe in the inherent ingenuity of mankind, especially when faced with crisis, but yet I still fear for this planet. I really don't know if we are going to win this race (and a part of me wonders if Earth wouldn't be better off without the presence of man)..
By the way, the administration here fired me from my podworker job, in retaliation for me telling the story of Percy's mistreatment. Someone in this administration is reading my blog and they don't like what I wrote! Rather than treat Percy with a little humanity, they'd rather strike at me (kill the messenger!) Percy, with his pathetic, broken mind has languished in that barren cell for ten years now, alone, bewildered, usually naked, devoid of even a scrap of property, inhabiting his own little private slice of insanity, and the only thing the Commonwealth of Virginia wants is desperately to execute him, while the only thing this prison wants is to ignore him. It speaks more about us as a society, than it does about Percy himself. Looking into Percy's cold, empty cell, seeing him naked, huddled in the corner, talking to himself and the unseen voices around him is like holding a mirror up to the commonwealth, reflecting back its soul...
In a rare turn of events (considering how everything here has been going steadily downhill for the last year) we got a grain of good news when the canteen passed out a memo stating that we can now purchase 13" color TV's (at $185, they are actually cheaper than the $210 they've been charging us for these cheap, toy-like black and white TV's). Everyone is excited about this (it doesn't take much to excite people on death row!) and buzzing about what a grand luxury this is. I'll start saving up for one myself, but I'm going to wait awhile & see if the news ones start blowing up. We went through this once before when we went from excellent quality 5" Magnavox to a cheap 5" generic brand; the new ones started breaking down and blowing up almost immediately, until we eventually went to another generic brand. Those who bought the new defective TV's were just out of luck. So for now, I'll start saving my dollars...
A guy on the row received a visit today and was permitted the regular 90 minutes, which conflicts with what Captain Tuell told you and me last week when he limited our visit to 60 minutes and proclaimed that 60 minutes was the new limit for death row visits. I don't know what to make of this but it causes me to wonder of that new limit is just being applied to me. I do know that since yesterday all my 15 phone numbers on my phone list have suddenly been invalidated; I can't get a single call to go through now (everyone else's numbers are working fine) Hmmm...
Alright, Sis, I'm going to hit the hay. I'll see you at our next visit.
Love, Bill
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
November 11, 2007-Percy getting worse
Dear Sis~
Today is Veteran's Day. I still remember when I was just a child, how every Veteran's Day and each Fourth of July, Dad would get me to help him raise up our American flag on the short flag pole mounted on our front porch. Dad took that very seriously which, in turn, made a firm impression on me...
Here's a little update on Percy's situation, just to better document what occurred. It was the night of October 15th, from 10:30 pm to 11:45 pm, when I cleaned up Percy's cell (cell #7). It was Lieutenant Dudley and Officer Lewis who supervised me and were right there on the spot (they were also the ones who moved Percy from cell #7 to Cell #2). All of this was recorded on video; we have four cameras on the pod and at least two of them were pointed toward cell #7. Many of the death row prisoners stood at their doors and watched all of this. It was Thomas Porter who was next to Percy, in cell #8, who kicked and banged for seven days, demanding to move because the odor from Percy's cell was gagging him. Porter filed numerous "emergency grievances" over that 7-day period, also demanding to move, in which he described Percy's feces-flooded cell (the feces and urine was running out from under Percy's door and into cells #6 and #8). These emergency grievances were all denied and returned to Porter with the notation that "this does not constitute an emergency."
My point is that this entire incident was well-witnessed and well-documented over a period of a week. Well, on Friday afternoon (Oct 19th) I phoned one of Percy's attorneys and told him what was going on with Percy and he promised to get Percy's other attorney, Jenny, to visit Percy on Monday morning. Well, on Monday morning, the guards came on the wing and sprayed the interview room down (where we meet our attorneys) with a citrus-scented disinfectant; then they laid out a clean uniform on the table, sprayed it down, and made Percy put it on. Jenny visited him minutes later, and I later heard that she commented that Percy "smelled like flowers" and thus, she didn't think anything was amiss. I also heard that the prison officials (i.e., Warden Loretta Kelly) had denied that Percy was living in a feces-flooded cell. Apparently, Jenny believed them. She did not look at Percy's cell, did not interview me or anyone else, and did not demand to look at the video, which would prove what I reported. Jenny, who is non-aggressive and non-confrontational by nature, chose to believe the administration's lies and chose not to push the issue. So, nothing has changed with Percy. He's still in a virtual strip cell, alone and bewildered, with nobody in a position of authority who gives a damn about him. The only upside is that Percy is so psychotic and insane that he does not understand how terribly he's being treated. To me, the true sad aspect of this is what it says about us as a society, that we treat people like this without any sense of shame and, in the larger picture, how the State, through its attorneys, are so desperately eager and determined to kill Percy, to put him to death despite everyones knowledge that he is absolutely insane. It is a group of attorneys, intelligent men and women, who spent long years in law school, and who now represent the Commonwealth of Virginia, who sit around polished tables and scheme and plot how to kill Percy. I wonder if any of them pause to ask themselves "Is this really what I went to Law School for?"
Love, Bill
Today is Veteran's Day. I still remember when I was just a child, how every Veteran's Day and each Fourth of July, Dad would get me to help him raise up our American flag on the short flag pole mounted on our front porch. Dad took that very seriously which, in turn, made a firm impression on me...
Here's a little update on Percy's situation, just to better document what occurred. It was the night of October 15th, from 10:30 pm to 11:45 pm, when I cleaned up Percy's cell (cell #7). It was Lieutenant Dudley and Officer Lewis who supervised me and were right there on the spot (they were also the ones who moved Percy from cell #7 to Cell #2). All of this was recorded on video; we have four cameras on the pod and at least two of them were pointed toward cell #7. Many of the death row prisoners stood at their doors and watched all of this. It was Thomas Porter who was next to Percy, in cell #8, who kicked and banged for seven days, demanding to move because the odor from Percy's cell was gagging him. Porter filed numerous "emergency grievances" over that 7-day period, also demanding to move, in which he described Percy's feces-flooded cell (the feces and urine was running out from under Percy's door and into cells #6 and #8). These emergency grievances were all denied and returned to Porter with the notation that "this does not constitute an emergency."
My point is that this entire incident was well-witnessed and well-documented over a period of a week. Well, on Friday afternoon (Oct 19th) I phoned one of Percy's attorneys and told him what was going on with Percy and he promised to get Percy's other attorney, Jenny, to visit Percy on Monday morning. Well, on Monday morning, the guards came on the wing and sprayed the interview room down (where we meet our attorneys) with a citrus-scented disinfectant; then they laid out a clean uniform on the table, sprayed it down, and made Percy put it on. Jenny visited him minutes later, and I later heard that she commented that Percy "smelled like flowers" and thus, she didn't think anything was amiss. I also heard that the prison officials (i.e., Warden Loretta Kelly) had denied that Percy was living in a feces-flooded cell. Apparently, Jenny believed them. She did not look at Percy's cell, did not interview me or anyone else, and did not demand to look at the video, which would prove what I reported. Jenny, who is non-aggressive and non-confrontational by nature, chose to believe the administration's lies and chose not to push the issue. So, nothing has changed with Percy. He's still in a virtual strip cell, alone and bewildered, with nobody in a position of authority who gives a damn about him. The only upside is that Percy is so psychotic and insane that he does not understand how terribly he's being treated. To me, the true sad aspect of this is what it says about us as a society, that we treat people like this without any sense of shame and, in the larger picture, how the State, through its attorneys, are so desperately eager and determined to kill Percy, to put him to death despite everyones knowledge that he is absolutely insane. It is a group of attorneys, intelligent men and women, who spent long years in law school, and who now represent the Commonwealth of Virginia, who sit around polished tables and scheme and plot how to kill Percy. I wonder if any of them pause to ask themselves "Is this really what I went to Law School for?"
Love, Bill
November 7, 2007-D.C. Sniper burns cell
Dear Sis~
I was just sitting down to write you a letter when I smelled smoke. When I went to my door to investigate I saw a cloud of billowing smoke surrounding cell #22, along with the orange flicker of flames (it was 11pm and the lights were off on the pod, making the fire easily visible). John Muhammad (aka the D.C Sniper) lives in that cell and he'd clearly set his entire cell on fire. Then the fire alarm went off and the red strobe lights started flashing. About that time, the guards started streaming in, milling around his cell door, shouting his name, peering inside the dark cell. Eventually, there were 14 officers there in a Keystone Cops-like state of confusion and panic, some carrying fire extinguishers, one wielding a video camera, another holding the electric stun/shock shield. Nobody wanted to open his cell door, fearing an ambush. Meanwhile, the thick smoke kept billowing up toward the ceiling. After watching this for 13 or 14 minutes I was certain that Muhammad was dead. (I've seen guys die in their flaming cells under similar smokey circumstances). After 17 minutes (I was timing it) they finally opened his door, sprayed the fire extinguishers inside and pulled Mohammad out of his cell. Surprisingly, Muhammad was conscious and able to walk. He had wrapped himself in a wet sheet, like a mummy, and clearly he'd had his face pressed to the air vent in the back of his cell (the vent near the floor forces air into the cell, while the vent near the ceiling extracts air). So, whatever his motivation was in setting the fire, it clearly was not suicide. (Had he not taken protective measures he absolutely would have died from smoke inhalation). By this time the entire cellblock/pod was filled with smoke and we were all choking. I wrapped a wet towel around my head and stayed near my vent. Meanwhile, all Mohammad's property and paperwork, his clothes, sheets, pillow, mattress, etc. was pushed and pulled out onto the pod by guards wielding brooms and sticks, where it burned and smoked in a big smoldering heap...So, that's how I spent the last hour, watching this comedy of errors, with a damp towel wrapped around my head, thankful that Mohammad was incapable of engineering a more substantial fire or else we might all have suffocated (clearly, the guards would never open all our cells; we'd just die in here, as has happened in other prisons and jails in the past). I hope your night was better than mine!
Love, Bill
I was just sitting down to write you a letter when I smelled smoke. When I went to my door to investigate I saw a cloud of billowing smoke surrounding cell #22, along with the orange flicker of flames (it was 11pm and the lights were off on the pod, making the fire easily visible). John Muhammad (aka the D.C Sniper) lives in that cell and he'd clearly set his entire cell on fire. Then the fire alarm went off and the red strobe lights started flashing. About that time, the guards started streaming in, milling around his cell door, shouting his name, peering inside the dark cell. Eventually, there were 14 officers there in a Keystone Cops-like state of confusion and panic, some carrying fire extinguishers, one wielding a video camera, another holding the electric stun/shock shield. Nobody wanted to open his cell door, fearing an ambush. Meanwhile, the thick smoke kept billowing up toward the ceiling. After watching this for 13 or 14 minutes I was certain that Muhammad was dead. (I've seen guys die in their flaming cells under similar smokey circumstances). After 17 minutes (I was timing it) they finally opened his door, sprayed the fire extinguishers inside and pulled Mohammad out of his cell. Surprisingly, Muhammad was conscious and able to walk. He had wrapped himself in a wet sheet, like a mummy, and clearly he'd had his face pressed to the air vent in the back of his cell (the vent near the floor forces air into the cell, while the vent near the ceiling extracts air). So, whatever his motivation was in setting the fire, it clearly was not suicide. (Had he not taken protective measures he absolutely would have died from smoke inhalation). By this time the entire cellblock/pod was filled with smoke and we were all choking. I wrapped a wet towel around my head and stayed near my vent. Meanwhile, all Mohammad's property and paperwork, his clothes, sheets, pillow, mattress, etc. was pushed and pulled out onto the pod by guards wielding brooms and sticks, where it burned and smoked in a big smoldering heap...So, that's how I spent the last hour, watching this comedy of errors, with a damp towel wrapped around my head, thankful that Mohammad was incapable of engineering a more substantial fire or else we might all have suffocated (clearly, the guards would never open all our cells; we'd just die in here, as has happened in other prisons and jails in the past). I hope your night was better than mine!
Love, Bill
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Sunday Nov 4th ~ A note from Bill's sister
Dear Readers~
The following post is an article written about Percy Levar Walton whom Bill wrote of in his last entry of October 21st. I have sent Bill's blog entry on Percy to the Governor of Virginia, the local news stations (TV and radio) and Amnesty International (Washington DC). When I visit Bill today, I'll get the name of Percy's attortneys to send them a copy as well. This poor man needs help and can't speak for himself.
The following post is an article written about Percy Levar Walton whom Bill wrote of in his last entry of October 21st. I have sent Bill's blog entry on Percy to the Governor of Virginia, the local news stations (TV and radio) and Amnesty International (Washington DC). When I visit Bill today, I'll get the name of Percy's attortneys to send them a copy as well. This poor man needs help and can't speak for himself.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
October 21, 2007 - Percy Needs Help!
Dear Sis~
As you know, I'm one of the eight "pod workers" on the row and I'm called upon to clean empty cells, or scrub the showers, or sweep and mop the cellblock floors. So I wasn't particularly surprised when, late last Monday night, a lieutenant appeared at my door, told me they were moving Percy (aka "Crazy Horse") to another cell, and that they needed me to clean up his old cell. I've cleaned up Percy's old cells before and they are really rank; Percy stinks like you would not believe. He very rarely showers and his clothes are always filthy rags. Percy is oblivious to his condition but his funk is so powerful that, out on the rec yards, you can smell him twenty feet away, and if the wind is in your face you'll occasionally gag. Anyway, I thought I was mentally prepared to clean Percy's cell, but I became suspicious when the lieutenant brought me a pair of knee-length rubber galoshes, a plastic apron, a mask, and a pair of long rubber gloves. When I got downstairs I saw the big trash barrel in front of Percy's empty cell, along with several red plastic bio-hazzard bags, a mop and bucket, and the large industrial vacuum cleaner (like a big shop vac) that we use to vacuum up the water when a guy floods out his cell. I was still several cells away when the odor punched me in the face. When I looked into Percy's cell the entire floor was covered in about 2 inches of raw sewage. I don't mean mostly toilet water with a little feces, I mean pure raw sewage sludge. The sink was full of sewage, the bare steel bunk was smeared with sewage and the clogged toilet was overflowed with sewage and toilet paper. It was horrible. If you can imagine taking two full Port-O-Potties and dumping them into a cell you can picture what I was facing. The stench was overpowering and I fought not to vomit. That's when I learned that Percy had been locked in that air-tight cell like that for the last 5-6 days (i.e., his toilet was clogged and overflowing for the last 5-6 days). How a human being could survive (much less not be driven insane) in a suffocating cell like that is beyond me. Of course, Percy is already insane so those conditions could not drive him over the edge. I spent 1 1/2 hours in there; I vacuumed out 2 full shop vac containers full of shit and piss (at least 10 gallons per shop vac container, or 20 gallons total) and I sprayed disinfectant everywhere. The more I worked, the angrier I got as I realized that Percy had been in that cell for at least 5 days (maybe 7 days) and that all the guards and other prison officials had just ignored it, walking past his cell each day, like nothing was amiss. The guy next to Percy had been yelling and banging for 5+ days, demanding to move, to get away from the gagging odor, to no avail. And, when they finally moved Percy, who was covered in shit, they did not put him into the shower, or give him clean clothes, they simply put him into a different cell. He's in cell #2 now, alone and virtually naked (no property, just his shit-covered clothes), totally clueless as usual. And now they have his toilet cut off, along with his sink water, and my neighbor tells me he's begging for water to drink all day long, but nobody gives him any. For the next 5 days after his move, Percy did not go to rec (he always goes to rec) until Friday, when he finally went, and I was shocked at his appearance. Percy always looks bad, but on Friday he looked terribly gaunt, his eyes were sunken and wild, and he was uncharacteristically quiet and sluggish. When he got outside he just slumped to the concrete, laid down, and remained there for the 2-3 hours we were out there (usually he paces, or hops around, while talking to himself). To be honest, he looked like he was dying. I fear for his life, and certainly for his health. Prison officials here are absolutely and totally indifferent to his condition, and it's criminal. If you kept an animal in those conditions you'd go to jail, and deservedly so. I've seen a lot of bad stuff in my decades in prison but that was the worst I've ever seen a prisoner treated (other than outright beatings). It was, and is, a very sad situation; I can't even imagine how Percy's already broken mind processes such things, or if somewhere under the depths of his madness he grasps how cruelly he is being treated. He needs to be in a hospital where someone, somewhere, can have some mercy on him...
Light & Love,
Bill
As you know, I'm one of the eight "pod workers" on the row and I'm called upon to clean empty cells, or scrub the showers, or sweep and mop the cellblock floors. So I wasn't particularly surprised when, late last Monday night, a lieutenant appeared at my door, told me they were moving Percy (aka "Crazy Horse") to another cell, and that they needed me to clean up his old cell. I've cleaned up Percy's old cells before and they are really rank; Percy stinks like you would not believe. He very rarely showers and his clothes are always filthy rags. Percy is oblivious to his condition but his funk is so powerful that, out on the rec yards, you can smell him twenty feet away, and if the wind is in your face you'll occasionally gag. Anyway, I thought I was mentally prepared to clean Percy's cell, but I became suspicious when the lieutenant brought me a pair of knee-length rubber galoshes, a plastic apron, a mask, and a pair of long rubber gloves. When I got downstairs I saw the big trash barrel in front of Percy's empty cell, along with several red plastic bio-hazzard bags, a mop and bucket, and the large industrial vacuum cleaner (like a big shop vac) that we use to vacuum up the water when a guy floods out his cell. I was still several cells away when the odor punched me in the face. When I looked into Percy's cell the entire floor was covered in about 2 inches of raw sewage. I don't mean mostly toilet water with a little feces, I mean pure raw sewage sludge. The sink was full of sewage, the bare steel bunk was smeared with sewage and the clogged toilet was overflowed with sewage and toilet paper. It was horrible. If you can imagine taking two full Port-O-Potties and dumping them into a cell you can picture what I was facing. The stench was overpowering and I fought not to vomit. That's when I learned that Percy had been locked in that air-tight cell like that for the last 5-6 days (i.e., his toilet was clogged and overflowing for the last 5-6 days). How a human being could survive (much less not be driven insane) in a suffocating cell like that is beyond me. Of course, Percy is already insane so those conditions could not drive him over the edge. I spent 1 1/2 hours in there; I vacuumed out 2 full shop vac containers full of shit and piss (at least 10 gallons per shop vac container, or 20 gallons total) and I sprayed disinfectant everywhere. The more I worked, the angrier I got as I realized that Percy had been in that cell for at least 5 days (maybe 7 days) and that all the guards and other prison officials had just ignored it, walking past his cell each day, like nothing was amiss. The guy next to Percy had been yelling and banging for 5+ days, demanding to move, to get away from the gagging odor, to no avail. And, when they finally moved Percy, who was covered in shit, they did not put him into the shower, or give him clean clothes, they simply put him into a different cell. He's in cell #2 now, alone and virtually naked (no property, just his shit-covered clothes), totally clueless as usual. And now they have his toilet cut off, along with his sink water, and my neighbor tells me he's begging for water to drink all day long, but nobody gives him any. For the next 5 days after his move, Percy did not go to rec (he always goes to rec) until Friday, when he finally went, and I was shocked at his appearance. Percy always looks bad, but on Friday he looked terribly gaunt, his eyes were sunken and wild, and he was uncharacteristically quiet and sluggish. When he got outside he just slumped to the concrete, laid down, and remained there for the 2-3 hours we were out there (usually he paces, or hops around, while talking to himself). To be honest, he looked like he was dying. I fear for his life, and certainly for his health. Prison officials here are absolutely and totally indifferent to his condition, and it's criminal. If you kept an animal in those conditions you'd go to jail, and deservedly so. I've seen a lot of bad stuff in my decades in prison but that was the worst I've ever seen a prisoner treated (other than outright beatings). It was, and is, a very sad situation; I can't even imagine how Percy's already broken mind processes such things, or if somewhere under the depths of his madness he grasps how cruelly he is being treated. He needs to be in a hospital where someone, somewhere, can have some mercy on him...
Light & Love,
Bill
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Oct. 17, 2007 Emmett Returns!
Dear Sis~
Around 5pm today, just four hours before Emmett's scheduled execution, the US Supreme Court granted him a stay of execution until they issue a ruling in that Kentucky case which they granted certiorari review to back on Sept 25th. So, Emmett has at least another 5-6 months to live (I estimate the Court will hand down a decision in the Kentucky case around March or April; oral arguments are now scheduled for January 7th). By granting this stay, the US Supreme Court has effectively signaled the states that a moratorium now exists until they hand down their decision in the Kentucky case. Remember, they also granted a stay in a Texas case 3 weeks ago. This does not mean that some stubborn states and/or governors won't continue to sign some death warrants, but the Supreme Court is telling them that they really shouldn't, and if they do it anyway and the prisoner brings that lethal injection issue to them (the Supreme Court), the Court will grant a stay. Some guys may still be executed because some prisoners are "volunteers" (i.e., they've given up all appeals) while others may not even be raising this issue. But, essentially, there is now a de facto moratorium and Emmett will live to see another Christmas, another New Year, and perhaps another Easter.
Love & Peace,
Bill
Around 5pm today, just four hours before Emmett's scheduled execution, the US Supreme Court granted him a stay of execution until they issue a ruling in that Kentucky case which they granted certiorari review to back on Sept 25th. So, Emmett has at least another 5-6 months to live (I estimate the Court will hand down a decision in the Kentucky case around March or April; oral arguments are now scheduled for January 7th). By granting this stay, the US Supreme Court has effectively signaled the states that a moratorium now exists until they hand down their decision in the Kentucky case. Remember, they also granted a stay in a Texas case 3 weeks ago. This does not mean that some stubborn states and/or governors won't continue to sign some death warrants, but the Supreme Court is telling them that they really shouldn't, and if they do it anyway and the prisoner brings that lethal injection issue to them (the Supreme Court), the Court will grant a stay. Some guys may still be executed because some prisoners are "volunteers" (i.e., they've given up all appeals) while others may not even be raising this issue. But, essentially, there is now a de facto moratorium and Emmett will live to see another Christmas, another New Year, and perhaps another Easter.
Love & Peace,
Bill
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Emmett to Greensville-Oct 11, 2007
Dear Sis~
They came and took Emmett away today, back to the death house at Greensville for his scheduled October 17, 2007 execution. You may recall that Emmett (Christopher Scott Emmett) was within 3 hours of execution four months ago when Gov. Tim Kaine unexpectedly gave him a "temporary" four-month stay to enable him to pursue certain last-minute legal remedies challenging the lethal injection process. Well, now his time is up and he's back at Greensville. He lost his legal challenges but, in the interim, just 16 day ago, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear the certiorari petition in a Kentucky case (2 consolidated Kentucky cases, actually) raising the same issue (the constitutionality of the drugs & protocols used in the lethal injection process). In the wake of the US Supreme Court's action a number of courts and governors in several different states (even Texas, surprisingly) have granted stays of execution for prisoners on the eve of their executions. So, right now Emmett has two last chances; either the US Supreme Court may grant him a stay of execution, or failing that, Governor Kaine may (or may not) grant him a stay. Ethically/morally/objectively Emmett should get a stay since the issue he's raising is the exact same issue the Supreme Court will be ruling on in the Kentucky case (oral arguments are set for January 7th, and they'll probably issue a ruling in April or May). But it's no guarantee; in fact it is totally arbitrary. Between now and April/May, some guys will get stays and others will be executed, depending on the particular judges and governors they have. The Supreme Court could (and should) settle this by simply stating that there should be no more executions until they rule on the Kentucky case, but so far, the Court has shown no inclination to do so... Here's a true-life example of how arbitrary and cold-blooded the legal process can be: On Sept 25th, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear the Kentucky case. That same day a prisoner in Texas named Michael Richard was scheduled to die that night and his lawyers were scrambling to file an appellate brief (asking for a stay in light of the Supreme Court's decision to review the Kentucky case) in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. But, his lawyers had a computer crash and could not prepare the brief before the Clerk of the Court closed at 5:00pm. They called the clerk and begged him to stay open for 15 more minutes so they could file the brief but the clerk refused. So, the lawyers had to go to the US Supreme Court without a court ruling from the Texas courts. The Supreme Court refused to grant a stay and Richard was executed that night. 48 hours later, in another Texas case, Carlton Turner asked the US Supreme Court for a stay (again based upon the Kentucky case). This time, the US Supreme Court granted a stay, on Sept 27th. So, two guys with the exact same issue, yet one lives while the other dies. (all because of a computer crash which prevented his lawyers from filing a brief in time). That typifies the arbitrary and capricious nature of America's capitol punishment process.
Light & Love,
Bill
They came and took Emmett away today, back to the death house at Greensville for his scheduled October 17, 2007 execution. You may recall that Emmett (Christopher Scott Emmett) was within 3 hours of execution four months ago when Gov. Tim Kaine unexpectedly gave him a "temporary" four-month stay to enable him to pursue certain last-minute legal remedies challenging the lethal injection process. Well, now his time is up and he's back at Greensville. He lost his legal challenges but, in the interim, just 16 day ago, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear the certiorari petition in a Kentucky case (2 consolidated Kentucky cases, actually) raising the same issue (the constitutionality of the drugs & protocols used in the lethal injection process). In the wake of the US Supreme Court's action a number of courts and governors in several different states (even Texas, surprisingly) have granted stays of execution for prisoners on the eve of their executions. So, right now Emmett has two last chances; either the US Supreme Court may grant him a stay of execution, or failing that, Governor Kaine may (or may not) grant him a stay. Ethically/morally/objectively Emmett should get a stay since the issue he's raising is the exact same issue the Supreme Court will be ruling on in the Kentucky case (oral arguments are set for January 7th, and they'll probably issue a ruling in April or May). But it's no guarantee; in fact it is totally arbitrary. Between now and April/May, some guys will get stays and others will be executed, depending on the particular judges and governors they have. The Supreme Court could (and should) settle this by simply stating that there should be no more executions until they rule on the Kentucky case, but so far, the Court has shown no inclination to do so... Here's a true-life example of how arbitrary and cold-blooded the legal process can be: On Sept 25th, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear the Kentucky case. That same day a prisoner in Texas named Michael Richard was scheduled to die that night and his lawyers were scrambling to file an appellate brief (asking for a stay in light of the Supreme Court's decision to review the Kentucky case) in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. But, his lawyers had a computer crash and could not prepare the brief before the Clerk of the Court closed at 5:00pm. They called the clerk and begged him to stay open for 15 more minutes so they could file the brief but the clerk refused. So, the lawyers had to go to the US Supreme Court without a court ruling from the Texas courts. The Supreme Court refused to grant a stay and Richard was executed that night. 48 hours later, in another Texas case, Carlton Turner asked the US Supreme Court for a stay (again based upon the Kentucky case). This time, the US Supreme Court granted a stay, on Sept 27th. So, two guys with the exact same issue, yet one lives while the other dies. (all because of a computer crash which prevented his lawyers from filing a brief in time). That typifies the arbitrary and capricious nature of America's capitol punishment process.
Light & Love,
Bill
Sunday, October 07, 2007
October 4, 2007
Dear Sis~
You may have heard that last week the US Supreme Court granted certiorari review in a pair of Kentucky death row cases in order to resolve the constitutionality of the lethal injection procedures. The reality is that the court's decision will apply across the country because all the 34 states which use lethal injection (Nebraska still uses the electric chair exclusively) use the same drugs and protocols. This decision will settle the issue once and for all, at least as far as any federal constitutional challenges go; it's possible a particular state could hold that the lethal injection process violates that state's own state constitution. This whole lethal injection claim is not one of my favorite issues since you are not challenging the state's right to kill you, you are just saying "you can't kill me that way, with those particular drugs." All the state has to do is alter the drugs and change the protocols a little bit in order to satisfy the objections. Then it's back to killing people, business as usual. Personally, I don't believe the Supreme Court will rule the process unconstitutional. I think they accepted the case in order to uphold the drugs and the process and thus put an end to all this litigation, which has achieved varying degrees of success in different states. Anyway, other states, including blood-thirsty Texas, are now granting stays of execution for guys who are scheduled to die soon, based upon the Supreme Court's decision to rule on this issue. So, if nothing else, it is saving a lot of guys' lives (and may well save Christopher Scott Emmett, who is scheduled to die here in Virginia on October 17th), even if it's just for another 4 or 5 months ...
Check this out; some time back, before the botched Diaz execution in Florida 10 months ago, the Department of Corrections' own lead attorney secretly advised the Florida DOC to start using an electric monitoring device (called a "bispectral index monitor") in order to be sure the condemned prisoner is actually unconscious before the third & final (and very painfulo) drug is administered. Well, the DOC rejected this idea in favor of their own "new protocol", which consists of the following (according to the DOC spokesman, as reported in the St. Petersburg Times): "This new protocol requires a warden from another prison to attend the execution and check the consciousness of the inmate. 'The warden will call out the name of the inmate, shake him and touch his eyelids, looking for reflexes', she said." Yeah, that's right, we don't need no stinking new-fangled machines! We'll just get Jasper to come in and holler at the inmate, and poke him! That's as sophisticated as it gets in Florida (of course right after that, they botched the Diaz execution, just as Diaz's lawyers has predicted. Nevertheless, the DOC still maintains that the bipsectral index monitor is "totally unnecessary", and that their "new protocol" is sufficient ...
Give the dog (or dogs, if you got the new one) a hug for me!
Love, Bill
You may have heard that last week the US Supreme Court granted certiorari review in a pair of Kentucky death row cases in order to resolve the constitutionality of the lethal injection procedures. The reality is that the court's decision will apply across the country because all the 34 states which use lethal injection (Nebraska still uses the electric chair exclusively) use the same drugs and protocols. This decision will settle the issue once and for all, at least as far as any federal constitutional challenges go; it's possible a particular state could hold that the lethal injection process violates that state's own state constitution. This whole lethal injection claim is not one of my favorite issues since you are not challenging the state's right to kill you, you are just saying "you can't kill me that way, with those particular drugs." All the state has to do is alter the drugs and change the protocols a little bit in order to satisfy the objections. Then it's back to killing people, business as usual. Personally, I don't believe the Supreme Court will rule the process unconstitutional. I think they accepted the case in order to uphold the drugs and the process and thus put an end to all this litigation, which has achieved varying degrees of success in different states. Anyway, other states, including blood-thirsty Texas, are now granting stays of execution for guys who are scheduled to die soon, based upon the Supreme Court's decision to rule on this issue. So, if nothing else, it is saving a lot of guys' lives (and may well save Christopher Scott Emmett, who is scheduled to die here in Virginia on October 17th), even if it's just for another 4 or 5 months ...
Check this out; some time back, before the botched Diaz execution in Florida 10 months ago, the Department of Corrections' own lead attorney secretly advised the Florida DOC to start using an electric monitoring device (called a "bispectral index monitor") in order to be sure the condemned prisoner is actually unconscious before the third & final (and very painfulo) drug is administered. Well, the DOC rejected this idea in favor of their own "new protocol", which consists of the following (according to the DOC spokesman, as reported in the St. Petersburg Times): "This new protocol requires a warden from another prison to attend the execution and check the consciousness of the inmate. 'The warden will call out the name of the inmate, shake him and touch his eyelids, looking for reflexes', she said." Yeah, that's right, we don't need no stinking new-fangled machines! We'll just get Jasper to come in and holler at the inmate, and poke him! That's as sophisticated as it gets in Florida (of course right after that, they botched the Diaz execution, just as Diaz's lawyers has predicted. Nevertheless, the DOC still maintains that the bipsectral index monitor is "totally unnecessary", and that their "new protocol" is sufficient ...
Give the dog (or dogs, if you got the new one) a hug for me!
Love, Bill
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Sept 25, 2007
Dear Sis~
I'm sitting on my bunk watching Ken Burns' PBS documentary called The War, a 10-hour film essay on World War II (from America's perspective, anyway). It's particularly interesting to watch the parts illustrating those battles which Dad fought in. As you know, Dad was in the 82nd Airborne even prior to Pearl Harbor and he jumped and fought at all of the 82nd Airborne's major (and minor) battles, from North Africa to Sicily to Italy to Normandy, to Holland where he lost his leg. These old black and white newsreels often show paratroopers streaming out of their transports, or huddled on their planes prior to jumping, and I often look at those pictures wondering if Dad was in that crowd. Anyway, this is an excellent documentary (as you'd expect from Ken Burns), very sobering and devoid of your typical rah-rah, flag-waving jingoism. It reminds you of the one undeniable truth: War is Hell.
Light & Love,
Bill
I'm sitting on my bunk watching Ken Burns' PBS documentary called The War, a 10-hour film essay on World War II (from America's perspective, anyway). It's particularly interesting to watch the parts illustrating those battles which Dad fought in. As you know, Dad was in the 82nd Airborne even prior to Pearl Harbor and he jumped and fought at all of the 82nd Airborne's major (and minor) battles, from North Africa to Sicily to Italy to Normandy, to Holland where he lost his leg. These old black and white newsreels often show paratroopers streaming out of their transports, or huddled on their planes prior to jumping, and I often look at those pictures wondering if Dad was in that crowd. Anyway, this is an excellent documentary (as you'd expect from Ken Burns), very sobering and devoid of your typical rah-rah, flag-waving jingoism. It reminds you of the one undeniable truth: War is Hell.
Light & Love,
Bill
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Sept 12, 2007
Dear Sis~
I just received my typed-up draft cert petition, so now I've switched back into legal-beagle mode, diving back into my case to hammer out a revised/edited version. Right off the bat, I've got to chop about 7 pages out (this typed draft came to 42 pages, but the limit is 35). Over and above that, I've got to decide on substantive changes regarding the merits of my issues. Editing at this stage is tough; your natural instinct is to preserve every word, sentence and paragraph as you strive to present your most persuasive arguments - there is no such thing as too much persuasion! But, actually, there is. It's just like editing a novel or short story; the quality of your arguments improve as you winnow out all the redundant words and overly-loquacious reasoning. To obtain that narrow, laser beam-like focus you must cut, cut, cut without regret! Anyway, I've got my work cut out for me for the next week or so.
The other day I was reading the Florida Supreme Court's December 8, 2006 decision in Diaz v. State, a capital case. Diaz was, at the time, under an active death warrant, scheduled to die on December 13, 2006, so this was his final, last-ditch appeal. One of his primary arguments was a challenge to Florida's lethal injection process and his lawyers presented very good arguments supported by a lot of evidence. The Florida Supreme Court rejected all of his claims, essentially saying that Diaz's concerns and fears about how his execution could go horrible wrong were just speculative and unfounded. Well, Diaz was put to death the following week in the now infamous "botched execution" where all the things his lawyers predicted could go wrong came true. It was sort of Kafkaesque reading the Court's opinion, already knowing how the execution ultimately turned out, as the Justices ridiculed Diaz's predictions about how very wrong the process could become, resulting in his very slow, very painful death...
Alright, Sis, I've gotta get back to work. Don't forget to send me a pic of your new dog!
I just received my typed-up draft cert petition, so now I've switched back into legal-beagle mode, diving back into my case to hammer out a revised/edited version. Right off the bat, I've got to chop about 7 pages out (this typed draft came to 42 pages, but the limit is 35). Over and above that, I've got to decide on substantive changes regarding the merits of my issues. Editing at this stage is tough; your natural instinct is to preserve every word, sentence and paragraph as you strive to present your most persuasive arguments - there is no such thing as too much persuasion! But, actually, there is. It's just like editing a novel or short story; the quality of your arguments improve as you winnow out all the redundant words and overly-loquacious reasoning. To obtain that narrow, laser beam-like focus you must cut, cut, cut without regret! Anyway, I've got my work cut out for me for the next week or so.
The other day I was reading the Florida Supreme Court's December 8, 2006 decision in Diaz v. State, a capital case. Diaz was, at the time, under an active death warrant, scheduled to die on December 13, 2006, so this was his final, last-ditch appeal. One of his primary arguments was a challenge to Florida's lethal injection process and his lawyers presented very good arguments supported by a lot of evidence. The Florida Supreme Court rejected all of his claims, essentially saying that Diaz's concerns and fears about how his execution could go horrible wrong were just speculative and unfounded. Well, Diaz was put to death the following week in the now infamous "botched execution" where all the things his lawyers predicted could go wrong came true. It was sort of Kafkaesque reading the Court's opinion, already knowing how the execution ultimately turned out, as the Justices ridiculed Diaz's predictions about how very wrong the process could become, resulting in his very slow, very painful death...
Alright, Sis, I've gotta get back to work. Don't forget to send me a pic of your new dog!
Saturday, September 01, 2007
August 29, 2007
Dear Sis~
Just a note to inform you that I finally completed the draft of my cert petition & mailed it off by Priority Mail last night. It's a big relief to get that behind me (although there will be follow-up revisions & editing. But the heavy lifting is done). I'm really exhausted from the last six weeks of work, a surprising amount of mental exhaustion due to the time constraint pressures and having to digest & analyze hundreds of pages of US Supreme Court decisions (often spending hours pouring over 40, 50 pages just to glean a few sentences or a paragraph to plug into the cert petition at a particular spot). My final draft was 57 hand-written pages, which normally converts to about 42, 43 typed pages. However, the limit is 35 pages, so we've got a lot of cutting to do. My deadline for filing is Oct 12th, which leaves us 44 days from today.
Anyway, Sis, I've gotta rest my writing hand for about 48 hours (this is common after I've written an appellate brief or cert petition or a really long motion or petition). My hand, after the 7th or 8th day gets like a claw! Sometimes it goes numb, the whole forearm and elbow (like tennis elbow), at which point I have to take a 24 hour break before resuming. I'd give just about anything for a typewriter or word processor. I'll write again after Labor Day!
Love, Bill
Just a note to inform you that I finally completed the draft of my cert petition & mailed it off by Priority Mail last night. It's a big relief to get that behind me (although there will be follow-up revisions & editing. But the heavy lifting is done). I'm really exhausted from the last six weeks of work, a surprising amount of mental exhaustion due to the time constraint pressures and having to digest & analyze hundreds of pages of US Supreme Court decisions (often spending hours pouring over 40, 50 pages just to glean a few sentences or a paragraph to plug into the cert petition at a particular spot). My final draft was 57 hand-written pages, which normally converts to about 42, 43 typed pages. However, the limit is 35 pages, so we've got a lot of cutting to do. My deadline for filing is Oct 12th, which leaves us 44 days from today.
Anyway, Sis, I've gotta rest my writing hand for about 48 hours (this is common after I've written an appellate brief or cert petition or a really long motion or petition). My hand, after the 7th or 8th day gets like a claw! Sometimes it goes numb, the whole forearm and elbow (like tennis elbow), at which point I have to take a 24 hour break before resuming. I'd give just about anything for a typewriter or word processor. I'll write again after Labor Day!
Love, Bill
Friday, August 24, 2007
Aug 21, 2007
Dear Sis~
I've fallen behind in all my letter writing as I've devoted the last few weeks to cobbling together my cert petition. Tonight I received the big batch of US Supreme Court cases which I've been waiting on to finish up. The cert petition has three separate issues (called "Questions Presented") and I've completed two of them; this last one, which is the first one in the petition, is the most complex and difficult to put together. My game plan is to have the whole thing done and in the mail to my lawyers by next Monday morning. It should be typed up and back in my hands by around Sept 6th or so, at which point I can begin editing it for the final version (as my lawyers will be doing simultaneously). Our deadline for filing is Oct 12th, so I'm in pretty good shape. As with any big project, it will be a huge relief when I wrap it up & mail it off. I've got a stack of about 25 unread magazines sitting next to my bunk which I've had to put aside while I've focused on my legal work, so I'll have plenty of reading to catch up on...
When I explained the problem with your computer's speakers to my neighbor, Bill (he's a fairly sophisticated audiophile) he suggested that it is probably your sound card, which you can remove & replace. You can have it checked out by someone, but of course, that will cost you. He said it could be a number of different things, but his best guess is that it's a fault in your sound card. He also said you can go online & look up what a sound card is (if you're interested in learning about it) and see how it can be removed & replaced (it goes into a slot, I'm told). Anyway, I hope that helps. Otherwise, it's time to call the Geek Squad!
Okay, Sis, I'm going to hit the hay (it's just past midnight now) so I can get up early and get back to work. Tomorrow should prove to be a productive day.
With Love, Bill
I've fallen behind in all my letter writing as I've devoted the last few weeks to cobbling together my cert petition. Tonight I received the big batch of US Supreme Court cases which I've been waiting on to finish up. The cert petition has three separate issues (called "Questions Presented") and I've completed two of them; this last one, which is the first one in the petition, is the most complex and difficult to put together. My game plan is to have the whole thing done and in the mail to my lawyers by next Monday morning. It should be typed up and back in my hands by around Sept 6th or so, at which point I can begin editing it for the final version (as my lawyers will be doing simultaneously). Our deadline for filing is Oct 12th, so I'm in pretty good shape. As with any big project, it will be a huge relief when I wrap it up & mail it off. I've got a stack of about 25 unread magazines sitting next to my bunk which I've had to put aside while I've focused on my legal work, so I'll have plenty of reading to catch up on...
When I explained the problem with your computer's speakers to my neighbor, Bill (he's a fairly sophisticated audiophile) he suggested that it is probably your sound card, which you can remove & replace. You can have it checked out by someone, but of course, that will cost you. He said it could be a number of different things, but his best guess is that it's a fault in your sound card. He also said you can go online & look up what a sound card is (if you're interested in learning about it) and see how it can be removed & replaced (it goes into a slot, I'm told). Anyway, I hope that helps. Otherwise, it's time to call the Geek Squad!
Okay, Sis, I'm going to hit the hay (it's just past midnight now) so I can get up early and get back to work. Tomorrow should prove to be a productive day.
With Love, Bill
Thursday, August 09, 2007
August 7, 2007
Dear Sis~
I'm sitting on my bunk, taking a break from cobbling together my cert petition. I spent another 5 or 6 hours writing this morning & afternoon but I've now reached the point where I cannot continue until I receive a batch of cases I've requested from my lawyer. Right now I'm about 60% done with this draft and I hope to finish it up and get it in the mail to my attorney within the next 10 days. My due date for filing is October 14th, so I'm leaving plenty of time for us to work on this & come up with a final, polished product. I feel good about the three issues I'm raising, but the reality is that no matter how good your issues are, getting the US Supreme Court to grant certiorari review is a statistical long shot. Anyway, I'm doing my part, which is all I can do ...
I've never been much of a cartoon guy (not since I was a kid, anyway) and I'd never watched an episode of the Simpson's until a couple of months ago when, in a fit of boredom, I decided to check it out. I surprised myself by enjoying it a lot ; the writing was excellent, very clever, with a lot of pointed social commentary (disguised in humor). These writers are really sharp and I found myself laughing more than I have in a long time. Since then, I've watched a couple dozen episodes & I now understand why the show is so popular...
Remember Jennifer Capriati, the tennis player? I hadn't heard anything about her in about 2 years until yesterday when I read a short story about her. Jennifer was always my favorite tennis player; she's tough and spunky and not pretentious, and she has that very human quality about her (you may recall she had her share of personal problems with drugs, etc...) Anyway, she's had chronic shoulder injury which has prevented her from playing for over 2 years, and she may never recover enough to compete again. Now (if you believe the article) Jennifer is severely depressed, wrestling with thoughts of suicide. It was sad to read about her feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy. Clearly, she's allowed herself to be defined by her sport, to the extent that she cannot see herself as anything other than a tennis player. You wish she'd understand that there's a lot more to life than any sport, or any particular career. She's 31 years old now - old for a professional tennis player, but still young in the game of life - and she has her whole life in front of her to find something meaningful to do, something that appeals to her own unique spirit. I hope she conjures up the inner strength to get out of her funk and find some peace & happiness...
Alright, Sis, I'm closing this up & mailing it off. Give yourself a big hug from me!
Love, Bill
I'm sitting on my bunk, taking a break from cobbling together my cert petition. I spent another 5 or 6 hours writing this morning & afternoon but I've now reached the point where I cannot continue until I receive a batch of cases I've requested from my lawyer. Right now I'm about 60% done with this draft and I hope to finish it up and get it in the mail to my attorney within the next 10 days. My due date for filing is October 14th, so I'm leaving plenty of time for us to work on this & come up with a final, polished product. I feel good about the three issues I'm raising, but the reality is that no matter how good your issues are, getting the US Supreme Court to grant certiorari review is a statistical long shot. Anyway, I'm doing my part, which is all I can do ...
I've never been much of a cartoon guy (not since I was a kid, anyway) and I'd never watched an episode of the Simpson's until a couple of months ago when, in a fit of boredom, I decided to check it out. I surprised myself by enjoying it a lot ; the writing was excellent, very clever, with a lot of pointed social commentary (disguised in humor). These writers are really sharp and I found myself laughing more than I have in a long time. Since then, I've watched a couple dozen episodes & I now understand why the show is so popular...
Remember Jennifer Capriati, the tennis player? I hadn't heard anything about her in about 2 years until yesterday when I read a short story about her. Jennifer was always my favorite tennis player; she's tough and spunky and not pretentious, and she has that very human quality about her (you may recall she had her share of personal problems with drugs, etc...) Anyway, she's had chronic shoulder injury which has prevented her from playing for over 2 years, and she may never recover enough to compete again. Now (if you believe the article) Jennifer is severely depressed, wrestling with thoughts of suicide. It was sad to read about her feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy. Clearly, she's allowed herself to be defined by her sport, to the extent that she cannot see herself as anything other than a tennis player. You wish she'd understand that there's a lot more to life than any sport, or any particular career. She's 31 years old now - old for a professional tennis player, but still young in the game of life - and she has her whole life in front of her to find something meaningful to do, something that appeals to her own unique spirit. I hope she conjures up the inner strength to get out of her funk and find some peace & happiness...
Alright, Sis, I'm closing this up & mailing it off. Give yourself a big hug from me!
Love, Bill
Sunday, July 29, 2007
July 25, 2007
Hi, Sis~
Since I moved up to this cell on the second floor I've been able, through the use of a fourteen inch copper wire wrapped around the stump of the confiscated antenna on my little 5-inch TV, to pick up a couple of channels on the UHF bandwidth; in particular I now get PBS, one of my favorite stations, but one we cannot normally get unless you happen to occupy one of the few select cells on the second floor where reception is available. Anyway, I just watched a really good program about James Audubon and his struggle to publish his magnificent, gigantic The Birds of America book (called the "elephant folio" it was a huge book, with 435 life-sized color plates). Only about 200 copies of the book were made; engraved copper plates were first used to make the ink outline and shading of each image, and then each one was individually colored in with water colors. I've always loved these breath-takingly beautiful pictures; it's easy to understand how a collector could become obsessed with buying and collecting them, as well as Audubon's later published smaller engravings. After Audubon died his wide became destitute and sold off all his paintings and drawings, until finally she unloaded his original 435 copper plates for scrap (each plate weighed about 30 pounds). One by one the splendid plates were melted down (!!!) until a fourteen year old boy recognized what they were. Only 79 of the plates were saved from the smelter. What a loss! One of the ironies of Audubon's work is that while he's become an iconic representative of saving the environment and wildlife, he shot thousands upon thousands of birds in order to pose them for his paintings. He was a very prolific killer of the very birds he loved, though at the time, they were so abundant in America that is was inconceivable that their numbers could ever be substantially diminished. Yet a number of the birds he so lovingly depicted, like the beautiful passenger pigeon (which once numbered in the billions), were in fact driven to extinction by mankind. All we have now are Audubon's paintings and some dusty, moldy specimens stashed away in the dark bowels of some museums ...
Time for me to hit the hay, Sis. Give yourself a big hug for me!
With Love,
Bill
Since I moved up to this cell on the second floor I've been able, through the use of a fourteen inch copper wire wrapped around the stump of the confiscated antenna on my little 5-inch TV, to pick up a couple of channels on the UHF bandwidth; in particular I now get PBS, one of my favorite stations, but one we cannot normally get unless you happen to occupy one of the few select cells on the second floor where reception is available. Anyway, I just watched a really good program about James Audubon and his struggle to publish his magnificent, gigantic The Birds of America book (called the "elephant folio" it was a huge book, with 435 life-sized color plates). Only about 200 copies of the book were made; engraved copper plates were first used to make the ink outline and shading of each image, and then each one was individually colored in with water colors. I've always loved these breath-takingly beautiful pictures; it's easy to understand how a collector could become obsessed with buying and collecting them, as well as Audubon's later published smaller engravings. After Audubon died his wide became destitute and sold off all his paintings and drawings, until finally she unloaded his original 435 copper plates for scrap (each plate weighed about 30 pounds). One by one the splendid plates were melted down (!!!) until a fourteen year old boy recognized what they were. Only 79 of the plates were saved from the smelter. What a loss! One of the ironies of Audubon's work is that while he's become an iconic representative of saving the environment and wildlife, he shot thousands upon thousands of birds in order to pose them for his paintings. He was a very prolific killer of the very birds he loved, though at the time, they were so abundant in America that is was inconceivable that their numbers could ever be substantially diminished. Yet a number of the birds he so lovingly depicted, like the beautiful passenger pigeon (which once numbered in the billions), were in fact driven to extinction by mankind. All we have now are Audubon's paintings and some dusty, moldy specimens stashed away in the dark bowels of some museums ...
Time for me to hit the hay, Sis. Give yourself a big hug for me!
With Love,
Bill
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
July 17, 2007
Dear Sis~
We finally came off lockdown on Monday after 16 days of 24-hour cell confinement, but now our outdoor recreation is being cancelled each day due to the "heat index". Since rec is the only time we get out of our cells, if we can't go to rec we are, for all intents & purposes, still on total lockdown. We've never before had our rec sessions cancelled 'cuz it's "too hot" (not even in Florida) so I just view this as another transparent pretext for denying us rec. On death row, we're all just sitting here waiting to be put to death; our little bit of outdoor rec is all we've got, all we have to look forward to, those few fleeting hours each week when we can breathe fresh air & feel the sun on our skin, maybe see a few birds, and talk among ourselves. We have nothing else here, no programs, no school, no activities, just rec. So, when we lose rec (which happens a lot, especially under Warden Kelly) it's dispiriting. (Check out the irony here: the state has us here to kill us, all of their considerable efforts & energies are geared toward putting us to death, yet they claim we can't go to rec because the heat might be injurious to our health!). Anyway, I'm putting my additional time of forced confinement to good use, catching up on lots of reading, as well as my usual workload of legal work. When the Florida Supreme Court denies my pending motion for rehearing, which may have occurred already, my "90-day clock" will begin running for me to file my petition for writ of certiorari in the US Supreme Court. I've been spending the last two months reading reams of case law decisions & taking lots of notes as I flesh out my first draft of the cert petition. I'll be filing the final version in October (after my lawyers edit and refine it, of course) right about the time the Supreme Court begins its new term. There's a certain sense of apprehension, at least finality, attached to this petition since it represents my last shot at obtaining legal relief from the courts (barring some new, major Supreme Court decision which applies to my situation and is also retroactive, a very remote possibility)...
Alright, Sis, that's it for now. I'll see you in the visiting park!
Love,
Bill
We finally came off lockdown on Monday after 16 days of 24-hour cell confinement, but now our outdoor recreation is being cancelled each day due to the "heat index". Since rec is the only time we get out of our cells, if we can't go to rec we are, for all intents & purposes, still on total lockdown. We've never before had our rec sessions cancelled 'cuz it's "too hot" (not even in Florida) so I just view this as another transparent pretext for denying us rec. On death row, we're all just sitting here waiting to be put to death; our little bit of outdoor rec is all we've got, all we have to look forward to, those few fleeting hours each week when we can breathe fresh air & feel the sun on our skin, maybe see a few birds, and talk among ourselves. We have nothing else here, no programs, no school, no activities, just rec. So, when we lose rec (which happens a lot, especially under Warden Kelly) it's dispiriting. (Check out the irony here: the state has us here to kill us, all of their considerable efforts & energies are geared toward putting us to death, yet they claim we can't go to rec because the heat might be injurious to our health!). Anyway, I'm putting my additional time of forced confinement to good use, catching up on lots of reading, as well as my usual workload of legal work. When the Florida Supreme Court denies my pending motion for rehearing, which may have occurred already, my "90-day clock" will begin running for me to file my petition for writ of certiorari in the US Supreme Court. I've been spending the last two months reading reams of case law decisions & taking lots of notes as I flesh out my first draft of the cert petition. I'll be filing the final version in October (after my lawyers edit and refine it, of course) right about the time the Supreme Court begins its new term. There's a certain sense of apprehension, at least finality, attached to this petition since it represents my last shot at obtaining legal relief from the courts (barring some new, major Supreme Court decision which applies to my situation and is also retroactive, a very remote possibility)...
Alright, Sis, that's it for now. I'll see you in the visiting park!
Love,
Bill
Friday, July 20, 2007
July 15, 2007
Dear Sis~
I saw on the national network news that President Bush's "approval rating" has hit an all-time low of 29%, and I'm wondering who in the hell these 29% are and what in the world are they thinking? History will not be kind to Bush (or anyone in his administration for that matter) who must certainly be considered the most incompetent president in the last 100 years. It's encouraging to see that the general American public is finally coming to its senses and seeing Bush for the empty suit he's always been, but it's equally discouraging that it's taken them 6+ years to realize the obvious, to stop drinking the Kool-Aid and to see that the emperor is wearing no clothes. It's also discouraging to me that none of the Democratic presidential candidates are willing to state the obvious truth, solution and reality about what will occur if we simply pull out of Iraq. The pro-war folks keep asserting that "it will be a bloodbath" and "the whole region will go up in flames", or some version thereof, in order to justify the mindless "stay the course" strategy. And the Democrats can't seem to conjure up a response to this baseless assertion. Given that the Iraqi government itself has zero interest in a peaceful solution to the religious violence and that the majority of Shiites will dominate the country, as they presently do, it's inevitable that there will be a continuation of the current civil war after we leave until one side (the Shiites) win. At some point ( and we're past that point) a nation must work out its own manifest destiny, and it might be a messy and violent process. What's so wrong with that? America went through this when we had our own civil war; it was something that we, as a nation, had to work out. Can you imagine where America might be now if, during our civil war, another superpower (say, England) had physically intervened and invaded us in order to control & dictate the outcome of our civil war? What if England had done his and favored the Confederacy or had, at least, created conditions making it impossible for the North to prevail? America as we know it would not exist. Almost all nations, at some point, go through a civil war and the world doesn't end when it occurs. When we pulled out of Vietnam there was a violent culmination, for sure, but the nation was quickly united (albeit under a Communist regime) and the world didn't end. Today Vietnam is a united, peaceful country, in control of its own destiny (and becoming increasingly capitalistic). My point is: let the Iraqis fight it out and settle their own dispute (it's all religious based anyway and we have no business mediating that fight). Yeah, it will be violent and folks will die (as they are dying anyway) but in the end it will pass and someone will prevail. At least American troops won't be dying in vain. Why do Democrats find it so hard to respond with this obvious solution when the warmongers challenge them? We need to get the Hell out and let the Iraqis fight it out among themselves. Whatever happens, the world won't end...that's a guarantee.
Love,
Bill
I saw on the national network news that President Bush's "approval rating" has hit an all-time low of 29%, and I'm wondering who in the hell these 29% are and what in the world are they thinking? History will not be kind to Bush (or anyone in his administration for that matter) who must certainly be considered the most incompetent president in the last 100 years. It's encouraging to see that the general American public is finally coming to its senses and seeing Bush for the empty suit he's always been, but it's equally discouraging that it's taken them 6+ years to realize the obvious, to stop drinking the Kool-Aid and to see that the emperor is wearing no clothes. It's also discouraging to me that none of the Democratic presidential candidates are willing to state the obvious truth, solution and reality about what will occur if we simply pull out of Iraq. The pro-war folks keep asserting that "it will be a bloodbath" and "the whole region will go up in flames", or some version thereof, in order to justify the mindless "stay the course" strategy. And the Democrats can't seem to conjure up a response to this baseless assertion. Given that the Iraqi government itself has zero interest in a peaceful solution to the religious violence and that the majority of Shiites will dominate the country, as they presently do, it's inevitable that there will be a continuation of the current civil war after we leave until one side (the Shiites) win. At some point ( and we're past that point) a nation must work out its own manifest destiny, and it might be a messy and violent process. What's so wrong with that? America went through this when we had our own civil war; it was something that we, as a nation, had to work out. Can you imagine where America might be now if, during our civil war, another superpower (say, England) had physically intervened and invaded us in order to control & dictate the outcome of our civil war? What if England had done his and favored the Confederacy or had, at least, created conditions making it impossible for the North to prevail? America as we know it would not exist. Almost all nations, at some point, go through a civil war and the world doesn't end when it occurs. When we pulled out of Vietnam there was a violent culmination, for sure, but the nation was quickly united (albeit under a Communist regime) and the world didn't end. Today Vietnam is a united, peaceful country, in control of its own destiny (and becoming increasingly capitalistic). My point is: let the Iraqis fight it out and settle their own dispute (it's all religious based anyway and we have no business mediating that fight). Yeah, it will be violent and folks will die (as they are dying anyway) but in the end it will pass and someone will prevail. At least American troops won't be dying in vain. Why do Democrats find it so hard to respond with this obvious solution when the warmongers challenge them? We need to get the Hell out and let the Iraqis fight it out among themselves. Whatever happens, the world won't end...that's a guarantee.
Love,
Bill
Monday, July 09, 2007
July 1, 2007
Dear Sis~
Our new warden, Loretta Kelly, has upped the ante in her ongoing campaign to strip us prisoners here of our few privileges & rights. Ever since her arrival she's been hell-bent on stripping us down to the basics and she hasn't slowed down. In just the last few days she's totally eliminated our once-every-60-days contact visits (i.e., no more contact visits, period). she's reinstated bag lunches (all lunch meals will again consist of 2 sandwiches in a paper bag.), and now she's unilaterally and arbitrarily declared that on weekends and all holidays we will only receive 2 meals a day (see enclosed memorandum). This is on top of the many other things she's instituted, like making us kneel down on the floor upon leaving or entering our cells while we get shackled, reducing our visiting time, prohibiting anyone on the recreation fields from taking their shirts off, no matter how hot it is, bringing in permanent teams of snarling attack dogs (not drug dogs) which are used to force the prisoners to move quickly everywhere on the compound (the guards goad the dogs to nip at everyones heels). And, of course, she immediately forced the old canteen company out (cancelled their contract) and brought in the infamously corrupt Keefe Commissary (hated by convicts around the nation) which immediately jacked up prices across the board, in some cases by 200% to 400%. Keefe is notorious for winning prison & jail contracts by bribing prison officials. James Crosby, the Secretary of the Florida Dept of Corrections was recently sentenced to 8 years in Federal prison (along with some of his minions) for taking bribes from Keefe and another company; he was paid off with a "shoebox of money" every week, in classic Keefe style. In return, Keefe gets carte blanche to charge exorbitant prices to their captive audience. It's all part of the blatant corruption that infests all jail and prison systems. I'm guessing Loretta Kelly is now getting her own weekly shoebox. I know one thing; she's determined to make life miserable for all the prisoners here, and I can only guess at her motives. This is a pretty laid back joint here but she seems to want to provoke the prisoners into rioting or something. We've been on total lockdown for a week now, for example, because a few guys got in a fistfight. She locks down an entire 1,000-man prison over some fistfights! Hell, at Florida State Prison they don't ever lock down the joint, even when there's a double murder; an hour later, the prison is back to normal. But here, lockdown is Loretta's favorite tool. Every time we turn around she's got us locked down for 2, 3, 4 days, for nothing. (We're already on a skeleton staff because she fired so many guards when she got here, and so many have since quit over her "managerial style", which is based on fear & intimidation toward her own staff). This woman is on a power trip and she makes no secret of it. I've met and spoken to her twice and she's got an aura of hatefulness about her that she makes no attempt to conceal. Anyway, wardens come and go, and in due time, she'll be gone, too...
After considerable investigation I've learned the unique (almost bizarre) circumstances under which Emmett obtained his last-minute stay of execution. I'll write about it in my next letter. Meanwhile, enjoy the fourth of July weekend!
Love & Peace,
Bill
Our new warden, Loretta Kelly, has upped the ante in her ongoing campaign to strip us prisoners here of our few privileges & rights. Ever since her arrival she's been hell-bent on stripping us down to the basics and she hasn't slowed down. In just the last few days she's totally eliminated our once-every-60-days contact visits (i.e., no more contact visits, period). she's reinstated bag lunches (all lunch meals will again consist of 2 sandwiches in a paper bag.), and now she's unilaterally and arbitrarily declared that on weekends and all holidays we will only receive 2 meals a day (see enclosed memorandum). This is on top of the many other things she's instituted, like making us kneel down on the floor upon leaving or entering our cells while we get shackled, reducing our visiting time, prohibiting anyone on the recreation fields from taking their shirts off, no matter how hot it is, bringing in permanent teams of snarling attack dogs (not drug dogs) which are used to force the prisoners to move quickly everywhere on the compound (the guards goad the dogs to nip at everyones heels). And, of course, she immediately forced the old canteen company out (cancelled their contract) and brought in the infamously corrupt Keefe Commissary (hated by convicts around the nation) which immediately jacked up prices across the board, in some cases by 200% to 400%. Keefe is notorious for winning prison & jail contracts by bribing prison officials. James Crosby, the Secretary of the Florida Dept of Corrections was recently sentenced to 8 years in Federal prison (along with some of his minions) for taking bribes from Keefe and another company; he was paid off with a "shoebox of money" every week, in classic Keefe style. In return, Keefe gets carte blanche to charge exorbitant prices to their captive audience. It's all part of the blatant corruption that infests all jail and prison systems. I'm guessing Loretta Kelly is now getting her own weekly shoebox. I know one thing; she's determined to make life miserable for all the prisoners here, and I can only guess at her motives. This is a pretty laid back joint here but she seems to want to provoke the prisoners into rioting or something. We've been on total lockdown for a week now, for example, because a few guys got in a fistfight. She locks down an entire 1,000-man prison over some fistfights! Hell, at Florida State Prison they don't ever lock down the joint, even when there's a double murder; an hour later, the prison is back to normal. But here, lockdown is Loretta's favorite tool. Every time we turn around she's got us locked down for 2, 3, 4 days, for nothing. (We're already on a skeleton staff because she fired so many guards when she got here, and so many have since quit over her "managerial style", which is based on fear & intimidation toward her own staff). This woman is on a power trip and she makes no secret of it. I've met and spoken to her twice and she's got an aura of hatefulness about her that she makes no attempt to conceal. Anyway, wardens come and go, and in due time, she'll be gone, too...
After considerable investigation I've learned the unique (almost bizarre) circumstances under which Emmett obtained his last-minute stay of execution. I'll write about it in my next letter. Meanwhile, enjoy the fourth of July weekend!
Love & Peace,
Bill
Monday, June 25, 2007
June 21, 2007
Dear Sis~
Well, today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, and technically, the first day of Summer. We had almost 5 hours of outdoor rec today, out in the blazing sun (it was over 90 degrees and not a cloud in the sky), stuck in our little concrete, fenced-in dog-run type cages and it definitely felt like the longest day! I got about three shades darker today, for sure. But I cannot bring myself to complain; I look forward to my outdoor rec too much to whine when I'm occasionally stuck out there. Usually, they only let us stay out 1 to 1-1/2 hours and that's what I complain about, not enough rec. Today it was so hot that even all the little birds were panting, and they weren't even interested in eating the bread I threw out to them after the first couple of hours. We're getting a lot of brown-headed cow birds lately; they're pretty bold, not shy or skittish at all. Sometimes they skip right into the cages to peck at the bread, ignoring my presence completely. And there's one brilliantly colored male Red Wing Blackbird that is there every day like clockwork, waiting on his bread or rice rations, chirping and singing or hopping around, flashing the crimson badges on his wings ...
Today I received a complimentary T-Shirt in the mail from the SPCA; I donate to a couple of animal rescue type foundations and now I'm on every animal rights type of organizations' mailing list imaginable. The SPCA sent me this T-Shirt while simultaneously requesting a donation. Anyway, the property room declared it unauthorized contraband so I had it mailed to you. I never did get to see what design it had on the front, but you can tell me when you get it (or wear it up here next time you visit)...
I had a long conversation with Emmett out in the rec cages as he tried to explain to me, to the best of his ability, the circumstances of his last-minute stay of execution last week. But, he couldn't offer much insight. As he put it, once he got that phone call from his lawyer, just 2 hours before he was scheduled to die, telling him that he'd just received an unexpected stay, "I didn't hear anything after that." So while his lawyer told him why he got the stay, it just didn't sink in...It's hard to imagine the level of emotion involved in that situation, when you're scheduled to die, you've said all your final goodbyes to family and loved ones, you've had your last visit (which Emmett said was, unsurprisingly, a very, very tough thing to endure), you've made your peace with God and the universe, and then, after your lawyers have already told you there's no hope left, out of the blue you get a last-minute stay. And now, after the initial joy wears off, Emmett must begin to contemplate going through it all over again (his stay expires in October if he doesn't receive relief from the courts in the interim)...
It's past midnight, Nightline is over and I'm going to bed!
Love & Peace,
Bill
Well, today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, and technically, the first day of Summer. We had almost 5 hours of outdoor rec today, out in the blazing sun (it was over 90 degrees and not a cloud in the sky), stuck in our little concrete, fenced-in dog-run type cages and it definitely felt like the longest day! I got about three shades darker today, for sure. But I cannot bring myself to complain; I look forward to my outdoor rec too much to whine when I'm occasionally stuck out there. Usually, they only let us stay out 1 to 1-1/2 hours and that's what I complain about, not enough rec. Today it was so hot that even all the little birds were panting, and they weren't even interested in eating the bread I threw out to them after the first couple of hours. We're getting a lot of brown-headed cow birds lately; they're pretty bold, not shy or skittish at all. Sometimes they skip right into the cages to peck at the bread, ignoring my presence completely. And there's one brilliantly colored male Red Wing Blackbird that is there every day like clockwork, waiting on his bread or rice rations, chirping and singing or hopping around, flashing the crimson badges on his wings ...
Today I received a complimentary T-Shirt in the mail from the SPCA; I donate to a couple of animal rescue type foundations and now I'm on every animal rights type of organizations' mailing list imaginable. The SPCA sent me this T-Shirt while simultaneously requesting a donation. Anyway, the property room declared it unauthorized contraband so I had it mailed to you. I never did get to see what design it had on the front, but you can tell me when you get it (or wear it up here next time you visit)...
I had a long conversation with Emmett out in the rec cages as he tried to explain to me, to the best of his ability, the circumstances of his last-minute stay of execution last week. But, he couldn't offer much insight. As he put it, once he got that phone call from his lawyer, just 2 hours before he was scheduled to die, telling him that he'd just received an unexpected stay, "I didn't hear anything after that." So while his lawyer told him why he got the stay, it just didn't sink in...It's hard to imagine the level of emotion involved in that situation, when you're scheduled to die, you've said all your final goodbyes to family and loved ones, you've had your last visit (which Emmett said was, unsurprisingly, a very, very tough thing to endure), you've made your peace with God and the universe, and then, after your lawyers have already told you there's no hope left, out of the blue you get a last-minute stay. And now, after the initial joy wears off, Emmett must begin to contemplate going through it all over again (his stay expires in October if he doesn't receive relief from the courts in the interim)...
It's past midnight, Nightline is over and I'm going to bed!
Love & Peace,
Bill
A Belated Entry June 20, 2007
Dear Readers~
My brother, William, sent me a blog entry (letter) the night Christopher Scott Emmett was to be executed and the letter he sent got mutilated (don't ask me how) but anyway, the main message of the blog was that Emmett received a last minute stay of execution, so Emmett lives! I told Bill about the letter getting destroyed, so he will send another letter further explaining how Emmett got the stay. Stay tuned...
Lisa
My brother, William, sent me a blog entry (letter) the night Christopher Scott Emmett was to be executed and the letter he sent got mutilated (don't ask me how) but anyway, the main message of the blog was that Emmett received a last minute stay of execution, so Emmett lives! I told Bill about the letter getting destroyed, so he will send another letter further explaining how Emmett got the stay. Stay tuned...
Lisa
Friday, June 08, 2007
June 6, 2007
Dear Sis~
Today some guards from the Records Dept came and took a photograph of Emmett, a standard head shot type of photo the Dept of Corrections will release to the press following his execution seven days from now. This is the last thing they do before transporting the soon-to-be-dead prisoner to Greensville and I'm guessing Emmett will be taken away tomorrow. They used to take you to Greensville exactly 4 days prior to execution; that was the procedure for my first 7 years here, but lately they've kept us guessing; sometimes it's 8 days, more often it's been 6 or 5. Anyway, I spoke with Emmett out in the rec cages today, candidly discussing what's in store for him. These on-the-eve-of-execution conversations are never easy but Emmett is taking things well. He's still able to joke and smile, though he's acutely aware that there will be no reprive, that this is his final week on earth. Still, this must be a tough time for Emmett, alone in his cell, living in his own private slience, enduring his own solitude, knowing that each tray shoved in through the food slot marks another moment of his life drained away, that each sunrise streaming in through his little slot window moves him that much closer to his last one...
Well, that's enough morbid ruminating. I need to change the channel in my mind so I'm going to kick back, read a book and listen to some music.
Love, Bill
Today some guards from the Records Dept came and took a photograph of Emmett, a standard head shot type of photo the Dept of Corrections will release to the press following his execution seven days from now. This is the last thing they do before transporting the soon-to-be-dead prisoner to Greensville and I'm guessing Emmett will be taken away tomorrow. They used to take you to Greensville exactly 4 days prior to execution; that was the procedure for my first 7 years here, but lately they've kept us guessing; sometimes it's 8 days, more often it's been 6 or 5. Anyway, I spoke with Emmett out in the rec cages today, candidly discussing what's in store for him. These on-the-eve-of-execution conversations are never easy but Emmett is taking things well. He's still able to joke and smile, though he's acutely aware that there will be no reprive, that this is his final week on earth. Still, this must be a tough time for Emmett, alone in his cell, living in his own private slience, enduring his own solitude, knowing that each tray shoved in through the food slot marks another moment of his life drained away, that each sunrise streaming in through his little slot window moves him that much closer to his last one...
Well, that's enough morbid ruminating. I need to change the channel in my mind so I'm going to kick back, read a book and listen to some music.
Love, Bill
Monday, June 04, 2007
May 30, 2007
Dear Sis~
Last night the Assistant Warden came by at midnight to ask Emmett to sign off on which form of execution he chooses: lethal injection or electrocution. They have a standard form for this (if you refuse to sign or select an option, they automatically pick lethal injection) and they always come by at midnight (who knows why?) two weeks before your execution date. Then, this morning they put "the book" on Emmett's door; this is a green, cloth-bound log book, placed in the plastic bin attached to the door.
Starting at the two-week mark, the floor officer must look into Emmett's cell every 15 minutes and log into the book, reporting whatever Emmett is doing at that moment (reading, sleeping, pacing, etc...) and confirming that he's still alive (they don't want you committing suicide before they can kill you themselves). The arrival of "the book" on someones door brings into sharp focus the reality that the cell's occupant only has days to live. The book somehow makes it real, it is a constant reminder, there for everyone to see. About four days before his execution, they'll come in, chain Emmett up and take him away, about 10 miles, to Greensville where they do the actual dirty deed. Every time I go to my door I see Emmett's cell, with the book in the bin, and it's like a punch in the gut. I've seen this procedure far too many times and I never get used to it. So, yes, I'm in a grumpy mood and I know I will be for the next few weeks...It's sort of peculiar for me to witness this whole procedure here; I feel like a passive observer because none of this - Virginia's procedures - applies to me. I've been here almost eight years and I've outlived close to 40 guys here, watched them all marched off to Greensville to be poisoned or burned up. Virginia executes its prisoners faster than any other state (nobody else is even close) with 5 years being the average life expectancy. My case, of course, is controlled by Florida's procedures. If my death warrant gets signed, they'll just appear at my door and tell me to pack up. Then it's a quick trip back to Florida State Prison to die. So, while I'm here, I'm just a fly-on-the-wall spectator of Virginia's version of due process...I'm going to lay back and meditate for awhile (it's as silent as a tomb in here) so I'll wrap this up and post it.
With Love,
Bill
Last night the Assistant Warden came by at midnight to ask Emmett to sign off on which form of execution he chooses: lethal injection or electrocution. They have a standard form for this (if you refuse to sign or select an option, they automatically pick lethal injection) and they always come by at midnight (who knows why?) two weeks before your execution date. Then, this morning they put "the book" on Emmett's door; this is a green, cloth-bound log book, placed in the plastic bin attached to the door.
Starting at the two-week mark, the floor officer must look into Emmett's cell every 15 minutes and log into the book, reporting whatever Emmett is doing at that moment (reading, sleeping, pacing, etc...) and confirming that he's still alive (they don't want you committing suicide before they can kill you themselves). The arrival of "the book" on someones door brings into sharp focus the reality that the cell's occupant only has days to live. The book somehow makes it real, it is a constant reminder, there for everyone to see. About four days before his execution, they'll come in, chain Emmett up and take him away, about 10 miles, to Greensville where they do the actual dirty deed. Every time I go to my door I see Emmett's cell, with the book in the bin, and it's like a punch in the gut. I've seen this procedure far too many times and I never get used to it. So, yes, I'm in a grumpy mood and I know I will be for the next few weeks...It's sort of peculiar for me to witness this whole procedure here; I feel like a passive observer because none of this - Virginia's procedures - applies to me. I've been here almost eight years and I've outlived close to 40 guys here, watched them all marched off to Greensville to be poisoned or burned up. Virginia executes its prisoners faster than any other state (nobody else is even close) with 5 years being the average life expectancy. My case, of course, is controlled by Florida's procedures. If my death warrant gets signed, they'll just appear at my door and tell me to pack up. Then it's a quick trip back to Florida State Prison to die. So, while I'm here, I'm just a fly-on-the-wall spectator of Virginia's version of due process...I'm going to lay back and meditate for awhile (it's as silent as a tomb in here) so I'll wrap this up and post it.
With Love,
Bill
Friday, May 25, 2007
May 22, 2007
Dear Sis~
The Florida Supreme Court handed down an 18-page opinion denying my last and final appeal. It was a 6-1 vote, with Judge Anstead authoring a 2-page dissenting opinion. The dispositive issue in this appeal was similar to my 2005 DNA testing appeal, i.e., whether my death sentence is proper in light of the now openly conceded fact that I was not the triggerman (keeping in mind that I was sentenced to death by a jury and judge who were affirmatively misled to falsely believe that I was the triggerman). The majority basically repeated their holding (almost verbatim) in my 2005 DNA testing appeal, once again stating that "We hold that newly discovered evidence establishing that Van Poyck was not the triggerman probably would not have yielded a life sentence for Van Poyck." Once again, the court purports to know what my jury would have done had they known that I was not the shooter. This is in contrast to all other similar Florida death row cases where the Florida Supreme Court reversed the death sentences of those prisoners who were later able to prove (post trial and sentencing) that their co-defendant was actually the killer. The majority made it clear that I was the exception and that they have no intention of granting me the relief that their own precedents require...
Anyway, Sis my next step is to prepare and file a writ of certiorari in the US Supreme Court, which you know is, statistically speaking, a real long shot (less than 1/2 of one percent of all petitions filed are accepted for review by the US Supreme Court).
If the cert petition is unsuccessful, I will technically become eligible to have my death warrant signed by the governor of Florida, Charlie Crist. Under Florida's system, the governor has full, unfettered discretion as to whether to sign someone's death warrant, whose warrant to sign, and how many to sign. The governor can go for years without signing a death warrant, and if he is so inclined, or he can wake up some day and decide to sign 10 death warrants. (Governor Martinez used to do this back in the late 1980's and early 90's). At any given time in Florida (which has 375 men and women on death row) there are probably 20-40 prisoners who have exhausted their legal remedies, have nothing pending in the courts, and who are thus eligible to have their death warrants signed. That's a select crowd which I'm not keen on joining! At any rate, I'm hard at work on my cert petition, even if I can't generate much optimism. Despite the apparent poor odds I've gotta fight the good fight, metaphorically speaking. Don't worry about me, I'm in good spirits, Sis. I like a challenge and enjoy a good fight!
Love & Peace,
Bill
The Florida Supreme Court handed down an 18-page opinion denying my last and final appeal. It was a 6-1 vote, with Judge Anstead authoring a 2-page dissenting opinion. The dispositive issue in this appeal was similar to my 2005 DNA testing appeal, i.e., whether my death sentence is proper in light of the now openly conceded fact that I was not the triggerman (keeping in mind that I was sentenced to death by a jury and judge who were affirmatively misled to falsely believe that I was the triggerman). The majority basically repeated their holding (almost verbatim) in my 2005 DNA testing appeal, once again stating that "We hold that newly discovered evidence establishing that Van Poyck was not the triggerman probably would not have yielded a life sentence for Van Poyck." Once again, the court purports to know what my jury would have done had they known that I was not the shooter. This is in contrast to all other similar Florida death row cases where the Florida Supreme Court reversed the death sentences of those prisoners who were later able to prove (post trial and sentencing) that their co-defendant was actually the killer. The majority made it clear that I was the exception and that they have no intention of granting me the relief that their own precedents require...
Anyway, Sis my next step is to prepare and file a writ of certiorari in the US Supreme Court, which you know is, statistically speaking, a real long shot (less than 1/2 of one percent of all petitions filed are accepted for review by the US Supreme Court).
If the cert petition is unsuccessful, I will technically become eligible to have my death warrant signed by the governor of Florida, Charlie Crist. Under Florida's system, the governor has full, unfettered discretion as to whether to sign someone's death warrant, whose warrant to sign, and how many to sign. The governor can go for years without signing a death warrant, and if he is so inclined, or he can wake up some day and decide to sign 10 death warrants. (Governor Martinez used to do this back in the late 1980's and early 90's). At any given time in Florida (which has 375 men and women on death row) there are probably 20-40 prisoners who have exhausted their legal remedies, have nothing pending in the courts, and who are thus eligible to have their death warrants signed. That's a select crowd which I'm not keen on joining! At any rate, I'm hard at work on my cert petition, even if I can't generate much optimism. Despite the apparent poor odds I've gotta fight the good fight, metaphorically speaking. Don't worry about me, I'm in good spirits, Sis. I like a challenge and enjoy a good fight!
Love & Peace,
Bill
Thursday, May 17, 2007
May 15, 2007
Dear Sis~
As you know, Christopher Scott Emmett is scheduled to be executed on June 13, less than a month from now, and it's very unlikely that anything will stop it. Virginia has an exceptionally high lethality rate in its death penalty process; nobody gets off here. If you receive a death sentence in Virginia you are going to be executed, and quickly. (Reminds me of a line from Kafka, "There is an abundance of hope, but none for us"). This will be Virginia's 99th execution since capital punishment was reinstated (Here's an oxymoron: the death certificate of an executed prisoner lists the cause of death as "legal homicide"). As you might guess, the atmosphere here on the row is somber. With only 19 of us here it's a small, intimate community; we all know each other fairly well and we see each other and interact with each other daily. My cell is only about 25 feet from Emmett's and I see and speak to him many times a day. To most people, the death penalty is just an abstract concept but it's very real and personal when the people being killed are guys I've known well for years. In the nearly 8 years I've been here I've watched about 35 men get chained up and taken away to Greensville to die. (My first year here, in 1999-2000, the Commonwealth engaged in a machete march through death row, killing 14 men in 12 months, about one man every 3 weeks). Three of those 35 guys - Mark Bailey, John Yancey Schmidt and Michael Lenz - were good friends of mine; another friend, Jeff Remington, hung himself. Being in the midst of so much organized death indelibly stains your memory and can suck all the energy from your spirit, if you let it...Not being in the mood for much small talk I'll close this up and post it (my next letter will be more upbeat, I promise!).
With Love,
Bill
As you know, Christopher Scott Emmett is scheduled to be executed on June 13, less than a month from now, and it's very unlikely that anything will stop it. Virginia has an exceptionally high lethality rate in its death penalty process; nobody gets off here. If you receive a death sentence in Virginia you are going to be executed, and quickly. (Reminds me of a line from Kafka, "There is an abundance of hope, but none for us"). This will be Virginia's 99th execution since capital punishment was reinstated (Here's an oxymoron: the death certificate of an executed prisoner lists the cause of death as "legal homicide"). As you might guess, the atmosphere here on the row is somber. With only 19 of us here it's a small, intimate community; we all know each other fairly well and we see each other and interact with each other daily. My cell is only about 25 feet from Emmett's and I see and speak to him many times a day. To most people, the death penalty is just an abstract concept but it's very real and personal when the people being killed are guys I've known well for years. In the nearly 8 years I've been here I've watched about 35 men get chained up and taken away to Greensville to die. (My first year here, in 1999-2000, the Commonwealth engaged in a machete march through death row, killing 14 men in 12 months, about one man every 3 weeks). Three of those 35 guys - Mark Bailey, John Yancey Schmidt and Michael Lenz - were good friends of mine; another friend, Jeff Remington, hung himself. Being in the midst of so much organized death indelibly stains your memory and can suck all the energy from your spirit, if you let it...Not being in the mood for much small talk I'll close this up and post it (my next letter will be more upbeat, I promise!).
With Love,
Bill
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
April 29, 2007
Dear Sis~
I've (very belatedly) received a packet of downloaded responses ("comments") to my various blog entries which you mailed to me some time back. The comments are dated as far back as April of last year and I feel bad that I was unable to timely reply to the few of them which asked me specific questions. One young lady, Rosa, from Iceland, wrote back on January 31st asking me to help her (by answering some questions re: conditions on death row) for an essay she was writing (apparently a class assignment) about life on death row. She probably thought I was a bum for never answering her! And, I was really pleased to read the long comment from my old childhood friend, Tom Aggeles, (dated Nov 29th). We were in the juvenile halfway house together back in the summer of 1970, in Tallahassee, when I was 15 or 16 years old. Tom was one of the "elder" residents, a JC (Junior Counselor) who was, even then, unusually wise and avuncular. He was probably around 19 or 20 years old, which made him about the oldest guy there, and everyone looked up to him (I still vividly recall us together once in the tiny library, where I pulled a book off the shelf about Mao Tse-tung and, reading from the front cover, I mispronounced the name as "Mayo Tee See Tung" and Tom began laughing hysterically. I was embarrassed at my ignorance (especially since I was reasonably familiar with who Mao was; I just didn't know how to pronounce his name!) but that incident segued into a pretty deep and wide-ranging conversation about politics, history and current events (the Vietnam war was raging at the time and the national cultural and political landscape was undergoing a dramatic seismic shift and awakening) which still sticks in my mind after 37 years later. I've often thought about Tom over the years and wondered whatever became of him, so I was pleased to read his comments and learn that he is alive and well, and as wise and enlightened as ever (he's been blessed with five sons!) I also vividly recall how well Tom played the electric guitar; boy could he wail on that stratocaster! I wrote about my experiences in the halfway house in my autobiography, A Checkered Past; that was a real crossroad in my life and unfortunately I took the wrong fork in the road. Anyway, I want to take this time to thank those writers who posted positive comments, and to apologize to those asking me questions I was never able to answer. Some of the comments were very touching...
That's it for now, Sis!
With Love,
Bill
I've (very belatedly) received a packet of downloaded responses ("comments") to my various blog entries which you mailed to me some time back. The comments are dated as far back as April of last year and I feel bad that I was unable to timely reply to the few of them which asked me specific questions. One young lady, Rosa, from Iceland, wrote back on January 31st asking me to help her (by answering some questions re: conditions on death row) for an essay she was writing (apparently a class assignment) about life on death row. She probably thought I was a bum for never answering her! And, I was really pleased to read the long comment from my old childhood friend, Tom Aggeles, (dated Nov 29th). We were in the juvenile halfway house together back in the summer of 1970, in Tallahassee, when I was 15 or 16 years old. Tom was one of the "elder" residents, a JC (Junior Counselor) who was, even then, unusually wise and avuncular. He was probably around 19 or 20 years old, which made him about the oldest guy there, and everyone looked up to him (I still vividly recall us together once in the tiny library, where I pulled a book off the shelf about Mao Tse-tung and, reading from the front cover, I mispronounced the name as "Mayo Tee See Tung" and Tom began laughing hysterically. I was embarrassed at my ignorance (especially since I was reasonably familiar with who Mao was; I just didn't know how to pronounce his name!) but that incident segued into a pretty deep and wide-ranging conversation about politics, history and current events (the Vietnam war was raging at the time and the national cultural and political landscape was undergoing a dramatic seismic shift and awakening) which still sticks in my mind after 37 years later. I've often thought about Tom over the years and wondered whatever became of him, so I was pleased to read his comments and learn that he is alive and well, and as wise and enlightened as ever (he's been blessed with five sons!) I also vividly recall how well Tom played the electric guitar; boy could he wail on that stratocaster! I wrote about my experiences in the halfway house in my autobiography, A Checkered Past; that was a real crossroad in my life and unfortunately I took the wrong fork in the road. Anyway, I want to take this time to thank those writers who posted positive comments, and to apologize to those asking me questions I was never able to answer. Some of the comments were very touching...
That's it for now, Sis!
With Love,
Bill
Thursday, April 19, 2007
April 15, 2007
Dear Sis~
I just finished watching two more episodes of the Planet Earth series on the Discovery Channel. The last 2 episodes will air next Sunday night ...
This morning I was flipping through the channels on my little 5" TV, encountering mostly church and TV preacher programs, when I was moderately surprised to find one church program (Dr. Kennedy of the Coral Ridge Baptist Church - it's one of those megachurches rolling in money, with fleets of luxury cars parked out front) doing a "special" which purported to debunk the whole idea of global warming as some kind of liberal plot. The program featured a couple of pseudo-scientists (they has "Dr." in front of their name, but the fine print identified them as doctors of theology) who utilized very conclusionary statements to "prove" that global warming is a myth, or even if it's true, is just a natural cycle and that mankind's activities/pollution are in no way contributing to it. This, of course, is the position of the conservative/Republican Far Right who fight to protect the status quo (i.e., it's OK to continue to pillage and rape the earth, stripping it of its resources). The Wall Street Journal (which I subscribed to for many years) has, for decades, railed against any and all forms of environmentalism and sneers at the idea of global warming (I'm speaking of its editorials here) as a liberal/communist/socialist plot. Anything which even tangentially threatens to check the expansion of big business/industry interests (i.e., rules, regulations, pollution control equipment, restrictions on land use, etc...) are absolute anathema to the Wall Street Journal, even if we're poisoning our planet and obliterating our natural resources. It's always amazed me how the Journal, and the interest it represents/protects, could take such a short-sighted view, and how they equate protecting the planet with a "liberal" political ideology (you'd think that a concept like protecting the planet is politically neutral, neither left nor right, conservative or liberal). Anyway, my point is that as I watched this "church" program, with its lame effort to convince people that global warming is a myth, I found myself wondering why a church/religious program would feel compelled to push this agenda. What is the theological basis for trying to convince viewers that mankind isn't harming the planet? In short, why is this "church business"? The only conclusion I could come to is that this is a very rich, mainstream church and they want to protect the status quo and be in partnership with the same forces who also push this agenda (i.e., right wing, conservative Republicans and "big business"). That is this church's constituency, after all. What blind sheep they are! (Gee, stupid me...I thought the Bible teaches that God wants us to be good stewards of the earth, not kill all the creatures, strip it of its resources and poison the water and land. Guess I'm just a dumb, liberal commie bastard!)...
Christopher Scott Emmett has a June 13, 2007 execution date, and in Virginia that means it's a done deal...
With Love,
Bill
I just finished watching two more episodes of the Planet Earth series on the Discovery Channel. The last 2 episodes will air next Sunday night ...
This morning I was flipping through the channels on my little 5" TV, encountering mostly church and TV preacher programs, when I was moderately surprised to find one church program (Dr. Kennedy of the Coral Ridge Baptist Church - it's one of those megachurches rolling in money, with fleets of luxury cars parked out front) doing a "special" which purported to debunk the whole idea of global warming as some kind of liberal plot. The program featured a couple of pseudo-scientists (they has "Dr." in front of their name, but the fine print identified them as doctors of theology) who utilized very conclusionary statements to "prove" that global warming is a myth, or even if it's true, is just a natural cycle and that mankind's activities/pollution are in no way contributing to it. This, of course, is the position of the conservative/Republican Far Right who fight to protect the status quo (i.e., it's OK to continue to pillage and rape the earth, stripping it of its resources). The Wall Street Journal (which I subscribed to for many years) has, for decades, railed against any and all forms of environmentalism and sneers at the idea of global warming (I'm speaking of its editorials here) as a liberal/communist/socialist plot. Anything which even tangentially threatens to check the expansion of big business/industry interests (i.e., rules, regulations, pollution control equipment, restrictions on land use, etc...) are absolute anathema to the Wall Street Journal, even if we're poisoning our planet and obliterating our natural resources. It's always amazed me how the Journal, and the interest it represents/protects, could take such a short-sighted view, and how they equate protecting the planet with a "liberal" political ideology (you'd think that a concept like protecting the planet is politically neutral, neither left nor right, conservative or liberal). Anyway, my point is that as I watched this "church" program, with its lame effort to convince people that global warming is a myth, I found myself wondering why a church/religious program would feel compelled to push this agenda. What is the theological basis for trying to convince viewers that mankind isn't harming the planet? In short, why is this "church business"? The only conclusion I could come to is that this is a very rich, mainstream church and they want to protect the status quo and be in partnership with the same forces who also push this agenda (i.e., right wing, conservative Republicans and "big business"). That is this church's constituency, after all. What blind sheep they are! (Gee, stupid me...I thought the Bible teaches that God wants us to be good stewards of the earth, not kill all the creatures, strip it of its resources and poison the water and land. Guess I'm just a dumb, liberal commie bastard!)...
Christopher Scott Emmett has a June 13, 2007 execution date, and in Virginia that means it's a done deal...
With Love,
Bill
Monday, April 09, 2007
April 5, 2007
Dear Sis~
Here's a belated blog entry. I haven't been much of a letter-writing mood lately which is attributable to the realization that we'll be having an execution within the next few months. With only 19 guys here on the row, it's inevitable that we can and do keep up with the status of each others' cases, and so I know that Christopher Scott Emmett just lost his federal habeas corpus appeal in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Now the Commonwealth will apply to Scott's trial judge to set his execution date, which the judge will do. Based upon past experience (and the procedure and timetable is very consistent) Emmett will be dead within 90 days, possibly 60.
I remember well when Emmett first got here, back in 2001, and it seems just like yesterday. As I've told you before Virginia, by far, kills its prisoners quicker than any other death row; no other state is even close.In Virginia, you are lucky to make it to the 5-year mark on death row. At every stage of the process, in both the state and federal courts, the primary consideration is expediting the execution as much as possible. The main reason you never hear about Virginia death row prisoners getting off the row after 7, 8, 10 years or more when newly discovered evidence or exonerating DNA evidence is discovered is because Virginia kills its prisoners so fast. Florida, for example, leads the nation with death row exonerations (some 23 to date) and virtually all of those occurred after the guys were on the row for 10, 12, 15 or more years. That can never happen here in Virginia. Anyway, Emmett is now counting down his final days. All of us on the row, of course, feel a similar sword of Damocles hanging over our heads, but once you exhaust your final appeal and the death warrant becomes imminent and inevitable, a different type of urgency fills your being. All of us face the prospect of the arrival of this moment, when you start marking your last days off on your calendar, trying to squeeze as much life as possible out of every diminishing hour...
That's it for now, Sis. I'll write again when my disposition is a little sunnier.
With Love, Bill
I just visited Bill yesterday and he said the judge set Emmett's execution date for June 13, 60 days from this Friday the 13th.
Here's a belated blog entry. I haven't been much of a letter-writing mood lately which is attributable to the realization that we'll be having an execution within the next few months. With only 19 guys here on the row, it's inevitable that we can and do keep up with the status of each others' cases, and so I know that Christopher Scott Emmett just lost his federal habeas corpus appeal in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Now the Commonwealth will apply to Scott's trial judge to set his execution date, which the judge will do. Based upon past experience (and the procedure and timetable is very consistent) Emmett will be dead within 90 days, possibly 60.
I remember well when Emmett first got here, back in 2001, and it seems just like yesterday. As I've told you before Virginia, by far, kills its prisoners quicker than any other death row; no other state is even close.In Virginia, you are lucky to make it to the 5-year mark on death row. At every stage of the process, in both the state and federal courts, the primary consideration is expediting the execution as much as possible. The main reason you never hear about Virginia death row prisoners getting off the row after 7, 8, 10 years or more when newly discovered evidence or exonerating DNA evidence is discovered is because Virginia kills its prisoners so fast. Florida, for example, leads the nation with death row exonerations (some 23 to date) and virtually all of those occurred after the guys were on the row for 10, 12, 15 or more years. That can never happen here in Virginia. Anyway, Emmett is now counting down his final days. All of us on the row, of course, feel a similar sword of Damocles hanging over our heads, but once you exhaust your final appeal and the death warrant becomes imminent and inevitable, a different type of urgency fills your being. All of us face the prospect of the arrival of this moment, when you start marking your last days off on your calendar, trying to squeeze as much life as possible out of every diminishing hour...
That's it for now, Sis. I'll write again when my disposition is a little sunnier.
With Love, Bill
I just visited Bill yesterday and he said the judge set Emmett's execution date for June 13, 60 days from this Friday the 13th.
March 22, 2007
Dear Sis~
I watched the movie Titanic the other night, for the first time in years, and was reminded again what a good flick it is. Now, in some circles, it's been stylish to sneer and denigrate Titanic
as a syrupy, overblown cinematic soap opera (this is usually the artsy, literary crowd who view themselves as self-appointed guardians of artistic culture) but for me, the movie passes my own litmus test in telling a good story. It can be easy (as a writer/director) to over-think a screenplay/movie and forget the most important principle, which is to entertain the viewer with a good story. I know when I write, whether it's one of my short stories or one of my novels, I'm trying to do several things (educate the reader about particular things, open up a different perspective on a given subject matter) but everything is subordinate to telling a good story.
My published novel Quietus, for example, is first and foremost an entertaining yarn populated with characters the reader will not soon forget. Everything else I tried to accomplish in Quietus was secondary to that first principle. Ditto for The Third Pillar of Wisdom (which, Sis, I still hope to get published one day) which has its share of social commentary but always within the framework of a well-told tale. I confess to writing for a broader audience, though I do utilize a certain literary sheen. Anyway, returning to Titanic, the back story of how the movie was made and the incredible lengths James Cameron had to go to in order for it to make it to the big screen is an extraordinary tale in its own right. It is entertainment in the best sense of the term, at least in my opinion. When the credits finally rolled, I wasn't left with the deflated feeling that my time could have been better spent, which is more than I can say about some of the hoity-toity "artistic" films I've endured. I don't subscribe to judging the merits of a movie (or book) by how much money it rakes in, but there's a good reason Titanic grossed around a million dollars (i.e., a whole lot of people voted with their wallets). There's nothing to be ashamed of by appealing to the common crowd; Mark Twain has his place, just as much as Shakespeare.
Okay, Sis...I'm outa here.
Love & Peace
Bill
I watched the movie Titanic the other night, for the first time in years, and was reminded again what a good flick it is. Now, in some circles, it's been stylish to sneer and denigrate Titanic
as a syrupy, overblown cinematic soap opera (this is usually the artsy, literary crowd who view themselves as self-appointed guardians of artistic culture) but for me, the movie passes my own litmus test in telling a good story. It can be easy (as a writer/director) to over-think a screenplay/movie and forget the most important principle, which is to entertain the viewer with a good story. I know when I write, whether it's one of my short stories or one of my novels, I'm trying to do several things (educate the reader about particular things, open up a different perspective on a given subject matter) but everything is subordinate to telling a good story.
My published novel Quietus, for example, is first and foremost an entertaining yarn populated with characters the reader will not soon forget. Everything else I tried to accomplish in Quietus was secondary to that first principle. Ditto for The Third Pillar of Wisdom (which, Sis, I still hope to get published one day) which has its share of social commentary but always within the framework of a well-told tale. I confess to writing for a broader audience, though I do utilize a certain literary sheen. Anyway, returning to Titanic, the back story of how the movie was made and the incredible lengths James Cameron had to go to in order for it to make it to the big screen is an extraordinary tale in its own right. It is entertainment in the best sense of the term, at least in my opinion. When the credits finally rolled, I wasn't left with the deflated feeling that my time could have been better spent, which is more than I can say about some of the hoity-toity "artistic" films I've endured. I don't subscribe to judging the merits of a movie (or book) by how much money it rakes in, but there's a good reason Titanic grossed around a million dollars (i.e., a whole lot of people voted with their wallets). There's nothing to be ashamed of by appealing to the common crowd; Mark Twain has his place, just as much as Shakespeare.
Okay, Sis...I'm outa here.
Love & Peace
Bill
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
March 7, 2007
Dear Sis~
I was more than a little surprised last week to find our counselor making rounds accompanied by a playful, yellow dog on a leash. Rusty is a "therapy dog", a male Yellow Lab/German Shepherd mix with one floppy ear and a frantically wagging tale. Our counselor brought him around and opened the tray slot on each of our doors so we could reach out and pet him. It was amazing how such a simple thing - just being able to touch a dog - cheered us up and brought a smile to our faces. This should not be surprising considering how we are perpetually locked down in small cells, deprived of virtually all human contact and interaction, with very little mental stimuli. I was told Rusty will be coming around once a week, but I'm skeptical. You rarely see anything progressive or innovative in prison, and if you do, it hardly ever lasts. The heavy forces of the status quo usually suffocate attempts at innovation...
I'm disappointed to see the Discovery Channel relentlessly running these ads promoting it upcoming new special titled Our Children's Children's War, described as "the war America will be fighting for generations". Ted Koppel, clearly drinking the Kool Aid, breathlessly narrates the program which is designed to indoctrinate Americans into believing that America will be "at war" with "Muslim terrorists" for many decades. This is merely a continuation of the fearmonging propaganda which the Bush/Cheney administration has been indulging in since the 9/11 attacks gave them a pretext to place our nation in a constant, perpetual, never-ending state of war. To be at war, you must first have enemies, of course, and what better enemies than some faceless, stateless entity which can never be "defeated" in the conventional sense. I'm so sick of this administration (and those powerful forces that profit from us being in a continuous war posture) trying to turn us into a fearful country, a nation of cowards who must quake in fear at all of the supposed boogymen populating the world. Sadly, many Americans have succumbed to this propaganda; many Americans do live in a constant state of fear and that fear motivates all of their actions and beliefs. We used to be a bold and fearless country; now it seems we're a bunch of punks scared of our own shadow. Actually, it seems like this country, for the past 60 years or so, has always desired to have an "enemy" to confront, real or imagined. In the words of John Quincy Adams, we are always "in search of monsters to destroy." (Competing with the "Muslim terrorists" for the top spot in our list of enemies, of course, is "the Chinese", and the vague but implacable threat they supposedly pose to our existence)...
Alright, sis, I'll get off my soapbox and mail this off. Keep your chin up and smile on your face!
With Love,
Bill
I was more than a little surprised last week to find our counselor making rounds accompanied by a playful, yellow dog on a leash. Rusty is a "therapy dog", a male Yellow Lab/German Shepherd mix with one floppy ear and a frantically wagging tale. Our counselor brought him around and opened the tray slot on each of our doors so we could reach out and pet him. It was amazing how such a simple thing - just being able to touch a dog - cheered us up and brought a smile to our faces. This should not be surprising considering how we are perpetually locked down in small cells, deprived of virtually all human contact and interaction, with very little mental stimuli. I was told Rusty will be coming around once a week, but I'm skeptical. You rarely see anything progressive or innovative in prison, and if you do, it hardly ever lasts. The heavy forces of the status quo usually suffocate attempts at innovation...
I'm disappointed to see the Discovery Channel relentlessly running these ads promoting it upcoming new special titled Our Children's Children's War, described as "the war America will be fighting for generations". Ted Koppel, clearly drinking the Kool Aid, breathlessly narrates the program which is designed to indoctrinate Americans into believing that America will be "at war" with "Muslim terrorists" for many decades. This is merely a continuation of the fearmonging propaganda which the Bush/Cheney administration has been indulging in since the 9/11 attacks gave them a pretext to place our nation in a constant, perpetual, never-ending state of war. To be at war, you must first have enemies, of course, and what better enemies than some faceless, stateless entity which can never be "defeated" in the conventional sense. I'm so sick of this administration (and those powerful forces that profit from us being in a continuous war posture) trying to turn us into a fearful country, a nation of cowards who must quake in fear at all of the supposed boogymen populating the world. Sadly, many Americans have succumbed to this propaganda; many Americans do live in a constant state of fear and that fear motivates all of their actions and beliefs. We used to be a bold and fearless country; now it seems we're a bunch of punks scared of our own shadow. Actually, it seems like this country, for the past 60 years or so, has always desired to have an "enemy" to confront, real or imagined. In the words of John Quincy Adams, we are always "in search of monsters to destroy." (Competing with the "Muslim terrorists" for the top spot in our list of enemies, of course, is "the Chinese", and the vague but implacable threat they supposedly pose to our existence)...
Alright, sis, I'll get off my soapbox and mail this off. Keep your chin up and smile on your face!
With Love,
Bill
March 11, 2007-Sunday evening
Dear Sis~
I just finished watching a new episode of ABC's Extreme Makeover-Home Edition, which I've observed to you before is one of the best things on TV. It's difficult for me to get through any of the shows without shedding tears (usually more than once per show) because it's so emotional. Each week they find a well-deserving family, which has gone through some type of shattering trauma, and the team of builders goes in and builds them a brand new home in 7 days. One of the best aspects of the program is how invariably the entire community comes together to help the family out, sort of like how in the Amish community everyone gets together and raises a barn or house for a neighbor in a day or two. It's very moving to see so many people give of their time and energy so eagerly to help out those in need. It's a vivid reminder of the goodness in most people's hearts, a reaffirmation that most Americans, given a chance, will give generously to help their neighbors.
In tonight's episode there was a mother (named Faith) and her two daughters, left all alone after her teenage son was killed in a car wreck. The girls were left with a half-built house (it was only framed in timber so it was more like a quarter-built house) which was left exposed to the elements for 2 years out in the Georgia woods. The mother and girls had been sleeping on a mattress on the floor for 2 years, barely able to make ends meet. The build team finished building the house, turning out a really beautiful home. On top of it all, the deceased son had donated his major organs and the build team surprised the mother by introducing her to the teenage girl who received her son's heart! It was a very emotional meeting. Throughout all of this show the mother, Faith, exhibited a beautiful and gracious spirit (and a terrific smile) :} What a great Mom she is!
It's getting late & I'm gonna hit the hay, Sis. (Did you happen to catch the total lunar eclipse last week? You should have been able to see it from your back yard).
Love & Peace,
Bill
I just finished watching a new episode of ABC's Extreme Makeover-Home Edition, which I've observed to you before is one of the best things on TV. It's difficult for me to get through any of the shows without shedding tears (usually more than once per show) because it's so emotional. Each week they find a well-deserving family, which has gone through some type of shattering trauma, and the team of builders goes in and builds them a brand new home in 7 days. One of the best aspects of the program is how invariably the entire community comes together to help the family out, sort of like how in the Amish community everyone gets together and raises a barn or house for a neighbor in a day or two. It's very moving to see so many people give of their time and energy so eagerly to help out those in need. It's a vivid reminder of the goodness in most people's hearts, a reaffirmation that most Americans, given a chance, will give generously to help their neighbors.
In tonight's episode there was a mother (named Faith) and her two daughters, left all alone after her teenage son was killed in a car wreck. The girls were left with a half-built house (it was only framed in timber so it was more like a quarter-built house) which was left exposed to the elements for 2 years out in the Georgia woods. The mother and girls had been sleeping on a mattress on the floor for 2 years, barely able to make ends meet. The build team finished building the house, turning out a really beautiful home. On top of it all, the deceased son had donated his major organs and the build team surprised the mother by introducing her to the teenage girl who received her son's heart! It was a very emotional meeting. Throughout all of this show the mother, Faith, exhibited a beautiful and gracious spirit (and a terrific smile) :} What a great Mom she is!
It's getting late & I'm gonna hit the hay, Sis. (Did you happen to catch the total lunar eclipse last week? You should have been able to see it from your back yard).
Love & Peace,
Bill
Thursday, March 08, 2007
February 21, 2007
Dear Sis~
There's a program coming on the Discovery channel in early March called Planet Earth which, based upon the previews I'm seeing, should be well worth watching. You may recall that the Discovery channel ran a series a few years back called (if I remember correctly) Blue Planet which was all about the oceans and seas; it was an exceptional series with incredile photography and outstanding science. I'm all for any program which enlightens viewers about the environment and the state of the earth, and opens the mind about where we are going as a species and what we're doing to our planet...
We went on quarterly lockdown last Friday, so I'm sitting here waiting for the wrecking crew to roll through the cellblock and tear up our cells. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week or the week after (lockdown usually lasts 16-20 days)...
This afternoon I was laying here on my bunk, not really meditating, just sort of reflecting, when I suddenly recalled an old memory which is still rather vivid in my mind and which pops into my consciousness from time to time for no discernable reason. I was perhaps 5 or 6, and you were 7 or 8, so it must have been around 1959 or 1960. It was Easter morning and Dad had taken us to an early church service, as a prelude to visiting Mother's grave. Others were with us in the car and I'm guessing it was "Aunt Phyllis" and Uncle Al. What I remember the most is that because it was Easter you'd been dressed up in a new, fancy yellow dress, with a matching bonnet and lots of ribbons. I was in some kind of little boy's suit, too. We were all dressed up and everyone was fussing about your yellow dress. Someone was telling me (as we were standing around outside the car, in the bright morning sunshine) that your dress was yellow because it was Easter and my suit was blue because I was a boy. For some reason all that seemed important. Then we went to Mom's grave and flowers were laid on the grass there. I was too young to grasp the significance of Mom being dead (and, even then, Aunt Phyllis was brainwashing us that she was our mother, so I was definitely confused). But that scene has always been indelibly burned into my consciousness. It's a very pleasant memory, despite the context. It's odd what our childish minds choose to retain, isn't it?...
I'll leave you with that memory (if you recall it!) and mail this off, Sis. Give the doggies a tummy rub for me!
With Love, Bill
There's a program coming on the Discovery channel in early March called Planet Earth which, based upon the previews I'm seeing, should be well worth watching. You may recall that the Discovery channel ran a series a few years back called (if I remember correctly) Blue Planet which was all about the oceans and seas; it was an exceptional series with incredile photography and outstanding science. I'm all for any program which enlightens viewers about the environment and the state of the earth, and opens the mind about where we are going as a species and what we're doing to our planet...
We went on quarterly lockdown last Friday, so I'm sitting here waiting for the wrecking crew to roll through the cellblock and tear up our cells. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week or the week after (lockdown usually lasts 16-20 days)...
This afternoon I was laying here on my bunk, not really meditating, just sort of reflecting, when I suddenly recalled an old memory which is still rather vivid in my mind and which pops into my consciousness from time to time for no discernable reason. I was perhaps 5 or 6, and you were 7 or 8, so it must have been around 1959 or 1960. It was Easter morning and Dad had taken us to an early church service, as a prelude to visiting Mother's grave. Others were with us in the car and I'm guessing it was "Aunt Phyllis" and Uncle Al. What I remember the most is that because it was Easter you'd been dressed up in a new, fancy yellow dress, with a matching bonnet and lots of ribbons. I was in some kind of little boy's suit, too. We were all dressed up and everyone was fussing about your yellow dress. Someone was telling me (as we were standing around outside the car, in the bright morning sunshine) that your dress was yellow because it was Easter and my suit was blue because I was a boy. For some reason all that seemed important. Then we went to Mom's grave and flowers were laid on the grass there. I was too young to grasp the significance of Mom being dead (and, even then, Aunt Phyllis was brainwashing us that she was our mother, so I was definitely confused). But that scene has always been indelibly burned into my consciousness. It's a very pleasant memory, despite the context. It's odd what our childish minds choose to retain, isn't it?...
I'll leave you with that memory (if you recall it!) and mail this off, Sis. Give the doggies a tummy rub for me!
With Love, Bill
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
January 22, 2007`
Dear Sis~
Just finished reading The Innocent Man, which is John Grisham's first foray into non-fiction. The book (a best seller) chronicles the sad, but true, story of an Oklahoma man, Ron Williamson, who was tried, convicted and sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. In the process of telling this story Grisham includes enlightening anecdotes of other cases reagrding wrongful convictions, most of which have in common the same litony of failings of the system: sloppy police work, prosecutorial misconduct (including destruction of favorable evidence and the fabrication of false evidence), lying "jailhouse snitches" falsely claiming that the defendant "confessed" to him in jail, and most commonly, astoundingly incompetent defense attorneys (drunks, idiots, drug addicts, and in Ron Williamson's case, a blind trial attorney. None of this is news to people intimately familiar with the criminal justice system (judges, attorneys and defendants alike) but the general public, being naturally apathetic to these issues anyway, is generally ignorant of the scope and breadth of the problems. Joe Citizen desperately wants to believe in the goodness, fairness and competence of the system and he really doesn't want to know just how bad it is. The average person actually believes the system is how it is portrayed on Law and Order, where cops and prosecutors always play fair and only the bad guys get arrested. This book by Grisham should be mandatory reading in all American schools, in high school civics or government classes across the land...
Speaking about the courts, my last-ditch habeas corpus petition was just filed in the Florida Supreme Court (please excuse me if I'm repeating myself; I may have told you this already); the petition is based upon a relatively recent US Supreme Court decision in a California death penalty case, Brown vs Sanders, which I contend affects Florida's capital sentencing scheme, and undermines my own death sentence in particular. It's a solid, meritful constitutional claim, but that doesn't mean I'll obtain any relief. This is pretty much my last legal hurrah, unless something new develops in the interim, so sometime within the next year I'll begin living under the shadow of a possibly imminent death warant. I don't dwell on that, as you know. Death is a reality for all of us; it's just a matter of timing and I choose to focus on utilizing whatever time I have left in the most positive & meaningful manner possible. You'd be surpised what can be accomplished, especially on a metaphysical level, in solitary confinement. It's all about growing and evolving as a human being, as a soul, right? Really, in the final analysis, what else is there?
Time to go, Sis. Remember I love you!
Love & Peace,
Bill
Just finished reading The Innocent Man, which is John Grisham's first foray into non-fiction. The book (a best seller) chronicles the sad, but true, story of an Oklahoma man, Ron Williamson, who was tried, convicted and sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. In the process of telling this story Grisham includes enlightening anecdotes of other cases reagrding wrongful convictions, most of which have in common the same litony of failings of the system: sloppy police work, prosecutorial misconduct (including destruction of favorable evidence and the fabrication of false evidence), lying "jailhouse snitches" falsely claiming that the defendant "confessed" to him in jail, and most commonly, astoundingly incompetent defense attorneys (drunks, idiots, drug addicts, and in Ron Williamson's case, a blind trial attorney. None of this is news to people intimately familiar with the criminal justice system (judges, attorneys and defendants alike) but the general public, being naturally apathetic to these issues anyway, is generally ignorant of the scope and breadth of the problems. Joe Citizen desperately wants to believe in the goodness, fairness and competence of the system and he really doesn't want to know just how bad it is. The average person actually believes the system is how it is portrayed on Law and Order, where cops and prosecutors always play fair and only the bad guys get arrested. This book by Grisham should be mandatory reading in all American schools, in high school civics or government classes across the land...
Speaking about the courts, my last-ditch habeas corpus petition was just filed in the Florida Supreme Court (please excuse me if I'm repeating myself; I may have told you this already); the petition is based upon a relatively recent US Supreme Court decision in a California death penalty case, Brown vs Sanders, which I contend affects Florida's capital sentencing scheme, and undermines my own death sentence in particular. It's a solid, meritful constitutional claim, but that doesn't mean I'll obtain any relief. This is pretty much my last legal hurrah, unless something new develops in the interim, so sometime within the next year I'll begin living under the shadow of a possibly imminent death warant. I don't dwell on that, as you know. Death is a reality for all of us; it's just a matter of timing and I choose to focus on utilizing whatever time I have left in the most positive & meaningful manner possible. You'd be surpised what can be accomplished, especially on a metaphysical level, in solitary confinement. It's all about growing and evolving as a human being, as a soul, right? Really, in the final analysis, what else is there?
Time to go, Sis. Remember I love you!
Love & Peace,
Bill
Friday, January 05, 2007
December 20, 2006
Dear Sis~
Here it is, just five days till Christmas and I'm still trying to catch the holiday spirit! Here's a sad fact: I've only been free for 3 Christmases since the summer of 1966, when I first went to Youth Hall. I'm of a divided mind about the whole Christmas trip anyway. A real part of me is nostalgic for the holidays of our youth; like most people, I retain a lot of warm memories from those bygone days. On the other hand I'm cynically dismayed over the crass commercialization of Christmas, which can be viewed as a non-too subtle plot by the retail industry to guilt-trip everyone into an orgy of spending as we become convinced that we have an obligation to swap expensive gifts with an ever-widening circle of friends and acquaintances. I'm a generous person and I enjoy giving gifts to friends, but I prefer doing it on my own terms, unbidden, without feeling vaguely coerced or compelled into doing so. Over and above that, the whole gift-giving trip has subverted and replaced the original underlying spiritual purpose of celebrating Christ's birthdate. Shopping has become an end unto itself, totally divorced from the divine/metaphysical intent behind the original celebration. Anyway, I'm preaching to the choir here, I know, and I'm not making any unique observations. Maybe when enough people become of a like mind the nation, if not the world, will go on Christmas strike and we'll return to the original intent of loving our fellow man and doing our best to dispense Peace on Earth...Merry Christmas, Sis!
Love & Peace,
Bill
Here it is, just five days till Christmas and I'm still trying to catch the holiday spirit! Here's a sad fact: I've only been free for 3 Christmases since the summer of 1966, when I first went to Youth Hall. I'm of a divided mind about the whole Christmas trip anyway. A real part of me is nostalgic for the holidays of our youth; like most people, I retain a lot of warm memories from those bygone days. On the other hand I'm cynically dismayed over the crass commercialization of Christmas, which can be viewed as a non-too subtle plot by the retail industry to guilt-trip everyone into an orgy of spending as we become convinced that we have an obligation to swap expensive gifts with an ever-widening circle of friends and acquaintances. I'm a generous person and I enjoy giving gifts to friends, but I prefer doing it on my own terms, unbidden, without feeling vaguely coerced or compelled into doing so. Over and above that, the whole gift-giving trip has subverted and replaced the original underlying spiritual purpose of celebrating Christ's birthdate. Shopping has become an end unto itself, totally divorced from the divine/metaphysical intent behind the original celebration. Anyway, I'm preaching to the choir here, I know, and I'm not making any unique observations. Maybe when enough people become of a like mind the nation, if not the world, will go on Christmas strike and we'll return to the original intent of loving our fellow man and doing our best to dispense Peace on Earth...Merry Christmas, Sis!
Love & Peace,
Bill
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