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