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

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

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

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