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
Sunday, July 29, 2007
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
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