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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

April 20, 2009

Dear Sis~
Today Governor Crist signed two death warrants; I don't know the two guys' names (I heard one is named Johnson) but I was told their execution dates are May 15th and June 1st. This is the first time Crist has signed two in one day; he's picking up his pace. Both of these guys were housed at U.C.I., across the river, where 80% of the death row guys are housed (there's only about 60 of us here at F.S.P.)...
Tonight I watched a second installment of a 5-part series on PBS titled We Shall Remain, an excellent mini-series/documentary on the Native Americans, from the days of the Mayflower up to the early 1970's (the second Wounded Knee). This is very well thought out and produced, telling the story from the Native Americans' point of view, for a change. A different history was taught to us in our schools. History, of course, is written by the victors.
A big storm came through a week ago and damaged our TV antenna on the roof, so we can only get 3 TV stations now, 2 of which are PBS, which is fine with me, as that's my favorite channel anyway. All our TV stuff - antennas, cable system and TV's - are paid for by us prisoners and/or privately donated; there's no state money used at all...
I forgot to mention in my last entry that 11 guards here at F.S.P. were fired and/or suspended over a beating incident here. Some guards jumped on one or more prisoners and it was caught on camera. Apparently they thought the cameras were not on because the prison's electricity had failed due to a transformer explosion the night before. One newspaper article said it was 15 guards, with the other 4 guards being at U.C.I., implying there were two separate incidents. It's less than clear just what occurred, but I can tell you that the beatings here have been greatly reduced since I left 9 years ago. The culture and atmosphere has changed greatly, for the better. So, this was somewhat of an aberration. The cameras alone have made a big difference...
OK, Sis, that's it from here. Give the doggies a hug for me!
Love, Bill

Friday, April 24, 2009

Easter Sunday April 12, 2009

Dear Sis~
It's Easter Sunday, a day of reflection for me, as well as pleasant childhood memories...

I just read an interesting article in Parade Magazine, authored by Senator Jim Webb, from Virginia, on overhauling our entire prison system. I've always liked Webb-he's big on common sense, and a real pragmatist. In this article, he seeks to provoke a national debate on why America imprisons such a large percentage of its citizens, as he lays out the statistics to make his case. These are well known statistics to anyone who has made a point of examining this issue, but let me share a few of them with you: The United States has, by far, the world's highest incarceration rate. With 5% of the world's population, we have nearly 25% of the world's prisoners. We currently incarcerate 756 prisoners per 100,000 residents, a rate nearly five times the worldwide average of 158 per 100,000. In addition, more that 5 million people who recently left jail remain under "correctional supervision", which includes parole, probation and other community sanctions. All told, one in every 31 adults in America is in prison, jail, or on supervised release. We spend $68 billion a year on local, state and federal corrections. A large percentage of all inmates are in prison for non-violent offenses, including a substantial number of drug offenders. And these are not the drug lords or big-time dealers; our prisons aer clogged with people who possessed small amounts of drugs. 47.5% of all drug arrests in America in 2007 were for marijuana. Nearly 60% of those in state prisons serving time for a drug offense had no history of violence or any significant selling activity. Four out of five (80%) of drug arrests were for possession, while only one out of five was for sales...

I know from my own 35+ years of prison experience that we could release at least one third of all prisoners without any danger to the safety of society, and I'm being conservative. For reasons I don't fully understand myself, our nation has a love affair with prisons, with locking up our citizens for years and years. We do it casually, almost with glee, with no real thought to the consequences. In America, prison is often the first resort, not the last, and we think nothing of sentencing someone to 20 or 30 years for a property crime or for drugs. Much of this culture is politically motivated and, even more so, economically motivated - the prison industrial complex is a huge and politically powerful lobby whose sole goal is to build more prisons and jails, staff them, and fill them with prisoners. Few citizens know (or care) just how powerful this lobby is, and how it influences lawmakers to pass punitive statutes (like the three-strike laws, or abolishment of parole) to ensure their prisons remain full and more are built every year. We spend more on our prisons than we do on education, which should be a shock to all Americans, but sadly, isn't...

Alright, enough of that...I've got to get back to my legal project (it should be done by the time you read this).
Love, Bill