Jan 8, 2013

Dear Sis~

Another new year is upon us, but how much has really changed?  I just read a disturbing article, including graphic photos, about the seemingly inevitable extinction of the African rhinoceros due to the relentless poaching pandemic engulfing Africa today.  These magnificent creatures, like the equally majestic elephants, have survived millions of years, shrugging off the worst the natural world could throw at them, yet they are no match for the ignorance and greed of modern man.  The slaughter of the rhinos is particularly senseless in that the desired product - their horns - are nothing more than compressed hair, a substance similar to fingernails, yet the wealthy buyers in the Asian markets, primarily China, ignorantly believe the ground up horns are aphrodisiacs.  The level of stupidity is astounding and heartbreaking.  The plains of Africa, including its best-known nature reserves, are littered with the butchered carcasses of these rhinos, shot dead, their horns brutally hacked off (sometimes while the rhino is still alive).  This is not a new phenomenon; the battle has been going on for many years, but the poachers, heavily armed and driven by an economic model that values horns and ivory higher than gold, have inexorably gained the upper hand, and there now remain just a few thousand rhinos in the wild, a mere pittance of their former numbers.  Courageous people are battling mightily to protect these beasts, but their future looks bleak.  These grand animals, like their brethren the elephants, stand as a bitter rebuke to all of mankind, which has no right to extinct an entire species, to declare that such an animal will cease to exist forever more.  This is a revealing statement on the nature of man, a commentary on what we value and what we, as a species, are willing to do to protect our own brethren here on Schoolhouse Earth.  If we, collectively, cannot save the rhinos, elephants, polar bears and lions (yes, the African lion is now on the path to extinction in the wild), who are being consigned to history's ash heap solely by our actions, then we have abrogated any claim to stewardship over this planet and our own future here can rightfully be called into doubt.  I say a pox on all of us if this is the way the future lays...

Well, so far, the governor has not signed any new death warrants (last year he signed his first death warrant of the year on January 2, 2012, wasting no time) but then it's only the eighth day of the new year.  The urge to kill is strong in our blood, often more so in those who purport to be our leaders...

Enough editorializing for now, Sis.  I'm gonna lay back and relax, take the afternoon off, chill, and listen to my little MP3 player (Ray Charles and the Count Basie Orchestra are on deck).

Love,
  Bill

December 25, 2012

Dear Sis~

What a treat it was to visit with you on Christmas Day!  My rare visits are my only real highlights of this otherwise spare existence, the only time - however briefly - I can put prison behind me, interact with free world people on an equal footing, almost as if I am free, sitting in a cafe discussing current events.  Now I'm back in my cell where the Christ Spirit seems very far removed, hugging tight today's memories of our visit...

Last night on PBS I watched a great Christmas Special by Rod Stewart, Merry Christmas Baby, where he sang many of the classic Christmas songs, along with a few musical guests (like Ceelo Green), using a big band (lots of strings and horns) of fine musicians.  I wouldn't normally associate Rod Stewart with Christmas songs, but he's the epitome of a real pro.  The production values were top notch and Rod pulled it off with class and panache.  By the way, on the subject of music, there's a new movie musical version of Les Misérables with Hugh Jackman and Russel Crowe which is getting good reviews.  I read the book and saw an old version of the movie when I was a kid and I never forgot it; that's gotta be one of the best tales ever written, and besides being great entertainment it teaches some serious life lessons about the meaning of true justice, and the importance of compassion, understanding and forgiveness (not to mention common sense) when attempting to weigh a person's worth in the balance...

Well, you know that the execution took place as scheduled on December 11th,  and I suspect Gov. Scott will sign another death warrant as soon as the new year gets ringed in (last year he signed his first warrant of 2012 on January 2nd). What a great way to start off your new year, huh?  Deciding who to put to death.  It's not something I could (or would) do, I know that...

On the subject of clemency, which we touched on during our visit, the last time a Florida governor granted clemency to anyone on death row was in 1983 or 1984.  Nowadays very few governors have the political courage to grant clemency, to spare a life, despite the fact that there's no shortage of prisoners on the row who merit clemency.  Ironically, history shows that in the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's, governors - even in the deep south - freely exercised their powers of executive grace and granted clemency on a regular basis, without fear of being labeled "soft on crime".  But nowadays most governors are scared to death to show mercy, afraid to be labeled soft on crime.  Easier to just kill people off than to be merciful and risk any political kickback...

Ok, Sis, that's enough for now.  It's time for me to hit the hay and get a good night's sleep.  Be good and stay out of mischief!

Love, 
  Bill

Dec 10, 2012

Dear Sis~

We have another execution scheduled for tomorrow, which makes for a somber atmosphere here, at least for me.  A surprisingly large percentage of these guys appear totally unaffected by the fact that one of their own is being put to death just 100 feet away.  By habit, I meditate for the hour straddling the execution, which here in Florida is routinely scheduled for 6pm, and I've always gotta screen out the laughter of guys watching some sitcom, or other inane conversation going on.  Some of these guys are actually unaware that an execution is occurring which shows you how clued in they are.  Talk about lack of situational awareness!  That aside, I'm wondering what a governor is thinking when he deliberately chooses to execute someone just before Christmas?  He could have picked any date, but he chose this time.  On the other hand, my trial judge picked Dec 22nd to sentence me to death.  That was my Christmas gift...  

At any rate, I'm not dwelling on the death and deprivation inhabiting this dump; at Christmas tie I'd like to focus on the good and positive things in my life - like the people who love and care about me - to remember what I have going for me instead of what is against me.  When I look around me, and around the world in general, I consider myself blessed.  Keeping things in perspective  helps maintain the sanity and keeps bitterness and self-pity from infecting the heart...

Give yourself a big Christmas hug for me, Sis, and know that you are loved!

Light & Love,
Bill

November 8, 2012

Dear Sis ~

Well, apparently Governor Scott became frustrated with his inability to kill John Ferguson because last week he signed another death warrant, this time for Manny Pardo, an ex-policeman from Miami who, back in the 80's, killed at least 9 people over a period of time, later donning the Vigilante mantle, claiming they were all drug dealers and he was doing the citizenry a favor by ridding society of its dregs. Less valiant was the fact that he kept all the money, drugs and jewelry he robbed from them. Manny is scheduled to die on December 11th, just in time for Christmas...

Speaking of Ferguson, I don't recall if I told you what happened? He got a series of temporary stays from ever-higher courts until finally the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Atlanta, ordered a stay (which, I believe, was approved by the US Supreme Court) in order to resolve the issue of his sanity to be executed.  Ferguson has been on the row for over 34 years and guys who know him ('cuz I don't) tell me he's been crazy for decades, which is why previous governors did not sign his death warrant earlier.  I guess Scott wanted to test that theory, or else he's getting poor legal advice...

Another death row guy has died of cancer.  I ran into Michael Bruno (whom I've known for over 20 years) in late July when I took a day trip to RMC (Regional Medical Center) for my upper GI tests.  Bruno looked weak and had a persistent cough (the same cough Tom now has) and he'd just been diagnosed with lung cancer, with several spots on his lung X-Rays.  Soon after he began radiation and chemo treatments; Tom saw him almost every day once Tom began his chemo and radiation regimen and Tom reported Bruno's condition to me each day.  He seemed to be doing pretty well, but on Friday, October 19th, he suddenly got ill and two days later he was dead.  The cause of death, we were told, was septic shock, and I'm guessing the infection found its way into his system via the "port" they'd inserted into his chest to funnel the chemo directly into his lung.  Prisons are filthy so putting a port into a guy's chest while making him live in a cell is pretty much a prescription for disaster.  This is especially true here in Florida where the DOC long ago quit issuing and buying (we used to manufacture them) the various cleaning chemicals we used to use to clean our cells and the whole prison, from powdered soap, liquid soap, disinfectants, bleach; all that is gone now and we must buy and use shampoo from the canteen to wash our clothes and clean our cells.  This whole decrepit building is filthy and falling apart...

I watched Runaway Train on TV again, a good movie based on an Eddie Bunker novel (Bunker served time in San Quentin) starring John Voight, Eric Roberts and a young, fresh-faced Rebecca De Mornay.  The movie begins with a very accurate depiction of an old-school penitentiary; FSP was just like that (as was the Rock) back in the day.  I can relate to the movie and the character played by Voight...

Nothing else to report from the Big House!  Give yourself a hug for me.

Love,
  Bill

October 25, 2012

Dear Sis~

Well, the execution has been cancelled, to the dismay of some around here.  Ferguson was scheduled to die on the 16th, but just before then he got a 48-hour stay.  Over the next week he got three such temporary stays from three different courts, with the sole issue being his sanity to be executed.  Finally, it was supposed to happen for sure 2 days ago, on the 23rd, and we woke up to the standard execution-day procedures, eating all three meals very early, the entire prison being on lockdown, and all guards wearing their dress uniforms.  As execution time (6:00 pm) neared the old white hearse pulled up outside the back sally port gate waiting to come in and pick up the body.  As 6:00 came and went I assumed the execution had occurred but around 7:30 a guy on the other side of my wing, which looks out on the back gate and the rear of Q-wing (the death house), called me through the vent and said the hearse never came in, but instead had finally driven off.  On the 11:00 news it was reported that the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Atlanta, had given Ferguson a stay of execution and that the US Supreme Court then approved the stay.  (The accuracy of that precise chronology is debatable because reporters are notorious for mangling stories involving court decisions).  At any rate, he got some kind of stay; how long that stay is remains unknown to me.  I heard on one  news report that the Eleventh Circuit granted the stay in order to decide "whether it is unconstitutional to execute the insane," which is an issue firmly settled by the US Supreme Court long ago in Ford v Wainwright.  If that's an accurate statement (a big "IF") it indicates the Eleventh Circuit may be trying to find a way to undermine or circumvent Ford, a way to go ahead and execute insane prisoners.  Any such ruling would toss the issue back to the Supreme Court, giving them an opportunity to recede from Ford if they so choose.  Also on the 11:00 news was the results of their earlier poll question: "Should insane prisoners be executed?"  Not surprisingly, 59% of the good citizens of Jacksonville answered in the affirmative. ("Yeah, that's right, let's kill all those crazy bastards!")  Now we go back on lottery watch, waiting to see whose death warrant the governor signs next, which is a great mood elevator for the upcoming holidays...

Last night's mail brought me (and others) a notice that the mailroom had impounded and confiscated the latest issue of Newsweek because, the notice stated, it contained an article about "pot use in America."  Censorship like this, which implies serious First Amendment principles, used to be, and is supposed to be, rare.  Only when an article clearly and unequivocally creates a substantial threat to the security of a prison should it be censored.  But, over the years, the Florida DOC has gotten progressively petty (and ignorant) on this issue (since the law now practically forbids prisoners from filing law suits anymore) until we've reached our present state where these impoundments have become almost daily and for the most absurd reasons imaginable.  If I told you the reasons given for some of these censorships you would first laugh and then call me a liar.  The main problem in the Florida DOC is their ill-thought-out policy where if I any peon in any mailroom in any prison in Florida (and we have well over 100 prisons and institutions) decides that something they see in an incoming magazine or newspaper is objectionable to them, a notice immediately goes out to all the prisons and they must all, immediately, seize and confiscate all those incoming magazines or newspapers.  So, we are at the mercy of the dumbest, most ignorant or biased mailroom employee in the state; their opinion spreads through the DOC like rings in a pond when a pebble is thrown in.  As a result, you get things like their impoundment of this month's Esquire because it "shows sexual activity." (Any Esquire subscriber knows it does not contain "sexual activity") or the impoundment of my Field and Stream for a little story on how a person lost in the wilderness can "start a fire from tree bark." (the prison declared this a security threat for teaching us how to commit arson).  When the prisons go to seizing mainstream magazines like Newsweek for having articles about "pot use in America" you know the mental patients are in charge of the asylum. (Whoa! News Alert! People in America smoke pot! What a security threat!) No court in America would sanction this blatantly unconstitutional censorship but nowadays, with nothing to keep them in check (lawsuit-wise) the prisons do just whatever the hell they want to, knowing they are immune from challenge...

Well, Sis, that's all the news from here for now.  Hopefully, I'll enjoy a quiet holiday season, which is about the most, and best, I can hope for.
Love, Bill

October 2, 2012

Dear Sis~

Last week Gov. Scott issued a temporary stay of execution for John Ferguson, the Miami native who was scheduled to die on Oct. 16th.  The purpose is so that doctors can examine him and assess his sanity.  As I'd speculated in a previous letter this guy has a long history of mental illness which is one reason why he's been on death row for 34 years.  My understanding is that previous governors, being aware of his mental issues, bypassed him when deciding whose death warrant to sign.  At any rate being insane as a factual or medical matter, as opposed to a legal matter, does not guarantee he'll be spared.  You can be 100% Looney Tunes from a medical perspective and still be declared legally sane because they involve different standards.  More importantly it will be Simon simple for the state to find a doctor or two who will declare him sane no matter how profound his psychosis.  The state keeps on call a large battery of quack psychiatrists (their "expert witnesses") who will testify very predictably (and profitably) in the state's favor.  Here's the really peculiar thing, in my opinion.  The whole reason behind not executing a crazy person is the idea that it is "inhumane" to kill someone who is not aware of why he is being put to death.  Think about that.  Yeah, it's O.K. to cold-bloodedly and premeditatedly kill people, but only if they know why they're being killed.  In other words, the "bad" part is not the actual killing, it's the possibility that the about-to-be-killed guy may not grasp why he's being killed.  ("We want this guy to know why we're killing him!!!)  Is it just me or does this seem like an odd arrangement of priorities?  This is the kind of twisted reasoning you end up with here, where logic dives down the rabbit hole, when you try to parse the justifications for executing your fellow citizens... 

Here's an update on my friend Tom. When I last wrote he'd been taken away in an ambulance on the night of Sept. 11th after spending 14 or 15 post-seizure days futilely trying to convince the medical staff here that he was dying. Well, within hours of arriving at Shands Hospital in Gainesville surgeons performed emergency brain surgery and removed a golf ball-sized tumor which proved to be cancerous. An MRI also revealed a "large mass" in his chest which was also determined to be cancerous. Just 18 hours after his brain surgery prison officials (over the surgeon's objections) removed Tom from the hospital and returned him here to his cell. I stuck my mirror out, upon hearing the door roll, and saw Tom, a big bandage on his head, tottering slowly and unsteadily down the tier to his cell. That was on the 13th.  For the next 5 days he laid on his bunk, often moaning, while receiving no medication at all (despite the surgeons having prescribed many drugs). Finally, after 5 days he began getting some, but not all, of the prescribed meds (no pain meds, of course).  Importantly, he did not get the most crucial one, the one to stop his brain from swelling.  So he was suffering mightily until just 5 or 6 days ago when he finally saw a free-world oncologist who was shocked that he was not getting the brain swelling medication.  After another 3 days he finally began getting that one and he told me the relief was immediate.  I knew it was bad when he kept telling me he had fluid coming out of his ears.  He's been told he'll get chemo and radiation treatment but that remains to be seen.  If the prison has their way he'll get nothing.  (It kills me to read or hear about citizens crying about all the "great, free medical care" prisoners get.  They are so clueless about what really goes on in prisons and about the criminally negligent medical personnel who commonly work in jails and prisons, many of whom have been barred from treating free-world patients, but who get to work in prisons under special laws that permit such).  The only reason Tom is alive is because he managed to get to a real hospital, out of the grasp of FSP's quacks...

Ok, Sis, that's the news from here - some of it anyway - so I'll post this now and hit the hay.  Give yourself a big hug from me!

Love, 

  Bill

Sept 13, 2012

Dear Sis~

Here's a snapshot of the type of medical care we get here. In the early morning hours of August 30, my friend Tom, who lived 2 cells down from me groggily awoke to find his face and pillow covered in blood and his tongue bitten about half off. He had no memory of what occurred.  That morning his speech was slurred (over and above his extreme difficulty in speaking with a then-swollen, bloody tongue) and I noticed his thinking was confused.  I told him he'd most likely had a seizure in his sleep (he has no history of seizures) and that because he was on high cholesterol medication he may have had a small stroke.  Over the following days Tom suffered progressively severe headaches almost constantly and began sleeping excessively.  His speech became increasingly slurred and his mental faculties were clearly compromised.  I, and others, constantly urged Tom to try to get up to the clinic to see a doctor (even though the two doctors here are notorious quacks) and so he began trying to stop any passing nurses (who go down our row to deliver medications to some) to explain his situation, but none of them were interested. Most just said "put in a sick call slip."  At my urging Tom declared a "medical emergency" which is supposed to get you right up to the clinic.  But instead, a nurse came to the wing, briefly examined Tom's swollen (and now infected) tongue, gave him two Tylenol and told him he was just "out of luck" since no doctor was on duty on a Saturday night.

Meanwhile, day by day, Tom got worse.  He knew something was wrong with him but seemed unable to figure out what to do.  I wrote up a sick call slip for him (by this time his handwriting was illegible and he could not put his thoughts together) and the next day a "nurse" or M.T. (medical technician) came to "examine" him.  He listened as Tom labored to explain what happened, starting with the seizure, then told Tom "Well, some people do this [bite their tongues almost in half] to get attention."  The M.T. then walked away.  By this time about 8-9 days had gone by.  On Sept 6 Tom went to the clinic for his "dental request" because he'd also broken some teeth.  Pursuant to this prison's recently enacted policy he was forced to lay on his back, reclined, in the dentist's chair for two hours with his hands handcuffed behind his back with the "black box" on (a very painful device which locks your hands rigidly in place in the handcuffs).  The dentist fixed one of his 6 broken teeth and prescribed a "rinse twice-a-day for his lacerated, infected tongue, but refused to help him see a doctor (who was just 20 feet away) to treat the real problem, the symptoms following his unexplained seizure.  When Tom returned to his cell his extreme distress was evident and when the 'cuffs were removed and he tried to move his arms in front of him he found one of his shoulders was dislocated.  His wrists were red, swollen and completely numb.  Somehow he managed to pop his shoulder back in place.

At this point I began writing grievances for him, grieving the medical department's refusal to let him see a doctor.  I submitted another sick call form for him, and when the nurse or M.T. (we don't know who is a nurse and who is an M.T.) came to see him the next day he told Tom he had to submit a third sick call form before he could see a doctor (this is the medical department's recently enacted policy, requiring all prisoners to submit three (3) separate sick call forms (costing us $5.00 each time; we must pay a $5.00 co-payment every time we submit a sick call form) before we can actually see a doctor (this effectively triples the mandatory co-payment, from $5.00 to $15.00).

By this time all of us prisoners knew Tom was seriously messed up and was deteriorating daily; the headaches were driving him nuts and his thinking was labored and scattered. His speech was almost unintelligible.  I felt that he was dying. All the wing officers knew he was messed up, and Tom desperately tried to explain his situation to any passing nurse or M.T., begging for help, to no avail.  Everyone just ignored his pleas for help.  It was painful for me to watch this unfold. Finally, two nights ago, on Tuesday September 11 at 7:40pm I heard Tom collapse in his cell.  Tom called out to me, very weakly, for help.  I immediately began yelling and banging for the wing sergeant, screaming "man down" and "medical emergency."  When the sergeant came he immediately saw how serious it was and he called the clinic to bring a wheelchair.  After 20 minutes of trying to coax a disabled Tom into stripping (for the obligatory strip search) and to climb on his bunk, face the wall, and put his hands behind his back, the officers finally entered his cell and handcuffed and shackled him.  They put Tom in a wheelchair and took him to the clinic.  By this time it was past 8:00.  Around 10:15 a freeworld ambulance came through the back gate, then departed, lights flashing, taking Tom to a hospital in Gainesville or Jacksonville (we heard differing reports).  I sat down and wrote to Tom's people, and one of his lawyers, telling them what had happened.  The next day (yesterday) I was reliably informed that Tom was at that moment undergoing brain surgery.  Clearly, he'd had a stroke or aneurysm of some sort, perhaps a series of them, and his life was hanging in the balance.  What I know for certain was that he spent 13 days in his cell begging everyone in the medical department for help, a man clearly in need of immediate medical attention, and nobody would give him the time of day.  Had he simply been able to see a doctor after his initial seizure (which was a classic warning sign) all the rest could have been avoided.  As it is I don't know if Tom is alive, or will survive, or will ever be the person he once was, physically or mentally.  He may be a vegetable for all I know. This type of treatment is typical here at F.S.P and this is why I always tell you how thankful I am for my good health, because if you get seriously sick in a Florida prison, and especially this one, you will probably just die.  Nobody here gives a damn, especially those working in the medical department.  (It takes awhile to stop being shocked at seeing doctors and nurses who are absolutely indifferent to a prisoner's serious medical problems.  I stopped being shocked decades ago after seeing too many friends left to die alone in their cells)...
Light & Love,
   Bill 

Sept 5, 2012

Dear Sis~

Gov. Scott has broken his 5-month hiatus on killing people by signing a death warrant for John Ferguson, a guy out of Miami.  With 34 years on the row and eight murder convictions Ferguson was an easy target (I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did; I'm guessing there were some exceptional circumstances in his appellate proceedings, perhaps some substantial questions about his sanity or mental retardation).  I don't know this guy personally, but I vaguely recall his case(s), which, if I'm not mistaken, involved multiple incidents of drug related home invasions where everyone inside was killed.  I believe he had other co-defendants who were executed long ago, but possibly I'm confusing him with some other cases.  Anyway, the death machine has been cranked up, and like some ancient South Pacific volcano, will now be regularly eating up its quota of human sacrifices.  It's time to mollify the God of Revenge with the spilling of blood!  After all, nothing proclaims our modernity and civilization like the methodical, premeditated killing of our own citizens...

On a more pleasant note I greatly enjoyed our 3-day visit over the Labor Day weekend.  Stepping out of this tiny cell and into the visiting park is, well, it's sort of indescribable.  For those few hours it's like being in the "real world", like another dimension or reality where all my senses are heightened and magnified and everything is well in the world. Then I return to my cell and enter a drab, colorless almost two-dimensional realm which works mightily to suck all the energy and life force from the marrow of my soul.  After 24 years in a 6' x 9' cell this world is about all I know, or at least, it is a real struggle to remind myself that this world, like Plato's shadows on the cave wall, is just a poor reflection of reality.  So, I treasure all of my visits, as few as they are, but especially those with you...

My neighbor Carl was moved a few cells down the row when his sink water (both hot and cold, or more accurately, cold and cold since we have no hot water in our sinks) quit working.  After about 6 days in a cell without water they just moved him into an empty cell rather than get the inmate plumbers to fix it.  That's typical here, where this decrepit, 52-year old building is falling apart due to a complete lack of preventative maintenance and equal lack of competence. This place is a dump.  I came here in 1974, 38 years ago, and I've never seen this prison so poorly run and poorly maintained.  Apathy abounds.  Now, with an empty cell next to mine I've got to wonder who my next neighbor will be; hopefully someone who is not crazy, who yells and bangs all day and night (we get our share of them)...

That's about it for now, Sis.  Keep your chin up and a smile on your face!
Love & Peace,
  Bill

August 5, 2012

Dear Sis ~

     Having a certain degree of free time to enjoy (no legal work on the agenda) I finished reading James Ford Rhodes' History of the Civil War 1861-1865, a concise, one-volume history which is surprisingly comprehensive given the scope of the subject mater. I've read many a history of this war over the decades (I find myself returning to this terrible conflagration time and again) and this is a good one, both being scholarly yet written at the layman's level, and noteworthy for its objectivity.  Rhodes originally authored a seven-volume history of the United States covering the period from 1850-1877 and written (or at least begun) in 1891, including five volumes covering the war.  Later on, beginning in 1913, he produced the single volume I just read, published in 1917, and for which Rhodes was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for history.  What's interesting about this book is that Rhodes was able to, and did, interview a lot of the survivors of the war for his source materials and in that sense he was "closer" to the actual events (he was a teenager himself during the war) than writers of later generations, a fact which subtly makes itself apparent in this book, both by his vernacular and perspective.   Another thing that struck me, and this was surprising, or at least unexpected, was how much the language and rhetoric of the southern politicians who were vigorously advocating for  secession, and war with the Union, matches (often word for word) the rhetoric of today's contemporary Tea Party advocates, from "state's rights" arguments right on down the line.  Whenever I read a history of our civil war I'm again powerfully reminded of what a bloody and violent people we are; it seems to be in our DNA, in our sinews and bones, this deep need to resort to bloodletting to resolve our disputes.  You cannot be a serious historian of this nation without coming to this conclusion, for there have been precious few years in the last 240 where we have not been at war with some nation of peoples, somewhere.  We claim to be a peaceful nation but the cold facts prove that to be a lie...
     Well, Governor Scott has been taking a brief respite from his prior busy schedule of signing death warrants (our last execution was April 12th) but I've heard from a reasonably reliable source (an attorney in a position to know) that he will soon resume.  I've even heard three specific names mentioned but I won't repeat them here.  I've often wondered how a governor makes this decision.  Does he wake up one day and tell himself "time to kill someone"?  How does he choose the particular prisoner from the long list of available names?  Under Florida's system the governor has sole discretion as to who to kill, how many to kill, and at what pace.  It's totally subjective on his part, and necessarily arbitrary and capricious.  Maybe he just throws a dart at the list.  Nobody knows, except the governor and those closest to him.  Only the governor knows if this decision(s) weigh on his heart and mind...
     Alright, Sis, I'll close this up and mail it off.  Give yourself a hug for me and give the doggies a rub on their snouts!
    Love & Peace,
    Bill

July 8, 2012

Dear Sis~

I've just finished reading A Byzantine Journey, by John Ash, which I've been determined to read for almost two decades when a 1995 book review caught my attention and I scribbled a note to myself to find the book, a note I squirreled away and carried around in my files ever since until I finally got tired of seeing it and, through the gracious help of a friend, I was able to make the desire manifest itself.  You don't have to be a history buff, as I am admittedly am, to appreciate this lively and well-written book, a combination travel-guide and history review of the mysterious and enigmatic Byzantine empire.  The author began (and ended) his journey in Istanbul, traveling from historic town to town across modern-day Turkey, visiting the medieval sites, ruins and architectural wonders of the ancient Eastern Holy Roman Empire, recounting the history and long-forgotten battles at each stop.  This is not a dry, historical tutelage; it's a lively and beautifully written account of a thousand-plus years of remarkable history, covering everything from art and architecture to the religions, cultures and ways of life of the countless exotic peoples who fought and died over Cappadocia and the Anatolian plateau, a vast struggle between east and west, between Muslim and Christian, and two different ideas of civilization and life itself.  This is a book that invites reflection and will make you think.  I thoroughly enjoyed it...

I may have already told you how this new, very confrontational and punitive-minded administration has recently banned chicken from our menu.  We used to get a baked chicken thigh about every two weeks, which was the last "real" meat left on our entire menu (all other "meat" has long ago been replaced with an inedible soy-based patty).  The new warden deemed that the tiny bone in our tiny chicken legs (they look like pigeon legs already) are a "security threat" since, in his view, someone may use such a bone to fashion a weapon.  This ridiculous assertion is simply a pretext for him to continue to impose his draconian will upon us and to make our lives even more miserable.  This guy has serious issues and he's been taking them out on us since he arrived here...

That's it for now, Sis, from the (very hot and stifling) Big House where global warming is not an imaginary and liberal scam to us!  I'll write again soon.
Light & Love,
  Bill

To the readers of this blog...see link below

The following link is to a blog that will interest our readers: 

Minutes Before Six  

minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com/

 

Please look into this as it is a very well laid out blog with heartfelt entries from other Death Row Inmates in Texas and across the country. 

June 10, 2012

Dear Sis~

It's been pouring rain, off and on, for the past 7-8 days and according to the local weather girl, the next 5-6 days will bring the same.  Everything here in this big concrete prison (which lacks any effective ventilation) is damp and musty; it's like living in an old castle but without any notions of romanticism or adventure, more like the castle's dungeon, in fact.  This morning I saw a few rays of sunshine and thought there'd be a day-long respite so I went ahead with my regular weekend routing of scrubbing my floor, then doing my laundry.  This was a mistake. About the time I finished and began hanging my sheets, T-shirts and drawers on my makeshift clothesline, the heavens opened up and a powerful thunderstorm moved in.  It's been homesteading this area for hours now and the humidity is so thick that water is drizzling down my walls and the decades-old, multi-layered paint is blistering out, with water trapped in balloon-like knots from water weeping right through the concrete.  This happens all over the building whenever we get any prolonged rainstorms.  As you know from your visits, the roof leaks badly all over and the prison is strewn with plastic 5-gallon buckets catching the water.  Doing my own laundry (most of us do it) has become even more of an imperative over the last year or two.  For starters, you cannot exchange your state clothes for clean stuff at the weekly laundry exchange because all the laundry issues now are old, ripped-up rags, stuff right out of a cartoon version of the rags Napoleon's army wore as they withdrew from Russia.  There is no money available here for any new clothing.  The sheets, towels, socks, T-shirts and drawers are almost black with filth; they look like what mechanics use in garages to clean up with.  The laundry has taken to cutting all the sheets in half lengthwise and cutting all the towels in half (sewing up the edges) to try to make things stretch.  More basic than that, though, is that for at least a year, maybe two, the laundry has simply quit using any soap when it "washes" the clothes.  They stuff they pass out stinks worse than it does when it's turned in.  If you do get something from the laundry, the first thing you and have to do is wash it.  Most people do what I do, they bribe someone to get ahold of a couple of new sheets and a new towel, and then they just keep them, washing them by hand every week.  Since we cannot obtain any laundry soap (for reasons unknown they stopped selling it to us 10 years ago) we've gotta use canteen-bought shampoo to do our laundry (VO-5 is the cheapest).  And of course, we've gotta wash all our stuff in our toilets; this sounds gross to the uninitiated, but we keep our stainless steel toilets scrubbed clean.  You then plug it up and flush it until it fills, then add shampoo and laundry and go to work.  This is old-school and is universal in prisons around the country (although 95% of prisons have made this obsolete by offering real laundry services.  But Florida in general and Florida State Prison in particular are 30 years behind the times and the administration seems to revel in its backwardness).  Hell, this prison doesn't even have hot water to the cells.  Anyway, Sis, that's it for now from the rainy Big House.  I'll write again soon when the sun comes out!
Love,
  Bill

May 10, 2012

Dear Sis~

After allowing it to molder in my locker for several years (while otherwise occupied with more pressing legal work) I've finally retrieved my copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which has long been on my reading list.  This novel, written by a prolific, Nobel Prize winning Spanish author has been described as "a Masterpiece of the art of Fiction."  I'll let you know if I concur when I finish it.  Speaking of books, I recently wrote you about an excellent one I'd just finished, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, the true life saga of a remarkable guy, Louis Zamperini, whose World War II odyssey you won't soon forget. Well, I was pleased to learn that Louis is still alive; I was recently watching a PBS program on Jesse Owens and they interviewed Louis as part of that.  Louis ran the mile in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where Jesse Owens was a teammate, and Louis shared his memories of those times.   Louis must be over 90 by now but he looked great and sounded lucid and articulate.  After reading Unbroken I felt like Louis was an old pal, the kind of guy whose friendship would be true and solid, down to earth, salt-of-the-land type of guy you are rarely privileged to meet.  When you read the book you'll understand why I say this.  I was really glad to see that Louis is still alive and kicking.  

The other day I watched Papillion, starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, on my little TV.  I vividly recall buying this book at Leonardo da Vinci International Airport in Rome in the summer of 1971, picking the paperback off a wire-frame book rack, then reading it cover to cover over the next few days.  At the time, through the lens of a 16-year old, the story seemed adventuresome and exciting and I enjoyed the movie, too, when I saw it perhaps 10 years later.  But this time it was more depressing than epic, a story too closely paralleling my own, a life squandered in the bowels of an oppressive prison system. Instead of inspiring, the movie was just sad.  Funny what 30 years of experience can do to your perspective...

That's all for now, Sis (no new death warrants, knock on wood).

Love,
  Bill

April 12, 2012

Dear Sis~
The execution of David Alan Gore took place as scheduled at 6:00 this evening, just a short while ago. He was convicted of horrible crimes, which makes it easier for folks, acting by proxy, to justify and applaud their own premeditated taking of another human life.  Here in the 21st century we still revel in medieval solutions.  But as someone wiser than me once opined, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

I've just read a great book, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand (who also authored Seabiscuit) which is an autobiography of sorts of a remarkable guy, Louis Zamperini, and which is aptly subtitled "A World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption."  Young Zamperini reminds me of myself as a youth, impetuous, hard-headed and defiant to a fault.  Like him as a kid I was my own worst enemy.  In our respective youths we trod many of the same paths.  Fortunately for him, unlike me, Zamperini found the strength of character to change the course of his downward spiral before it became too late.  I like Laura's dedication page which simply states, "For the wounded and the lost."  I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a great tale of redemption, made better by the knowledge that it is a true story.


Before I close I'll recommend three recent articles about our criminal justice system/prison system which should give pause to any thinking person. The first is a brief one-page overview which sort of sets the table, Incarceration Nation, by Fareed Zakaria, in the April 2, 2012 Time Magazine. (http://www.timemagazine.com/incarcerationnation). The other two, which are more in-depth, are Injustice System, by Conrad Black, in National Review online (www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/294490) and Rethinking Solitary Confinement, by Erica Goode, in the March 11, 2012, New York Times. (http://www.newyorktimes.com/rethinkingsolitaryconfinement/ericagoode).  As someone who has spent his life behind bars I can verify that these articles speak the truth and are on point, and they speak to what we want to be and become as a nation.  They ought to be mandatory reading in law schools and criminal justice classes across America.  
  Light & Love,
      Bill

March 20, 2012

Dear Sis~
I believe you already know we have another execution coming up, this one scheduled for April 12, a guy named David Gore (whom I don't know) who has been on the row for 28 years now.  I'm told - but don't know for sure - that he's an ex-cop, and a serial killer.  This will be Gov. Scott's fourth execution in seven months which is an historically fast clip for Florida.  Traditionally, over the last few decades, Florida's execution rate averaged about 21/2 annually, but Scott has made it clear that he wants to kill a lot of guys.  At this pace he'll knock off six or more per year, a sobering statistic for someone like me who is in the crosshairs...
Our local PBS station broadcasts the oral arguments of the Florida Supreme Court and I catch them whenever I can.  We see all the arguments, civil and criminal, capital cases and otherwise.  It's interesting to see the dynamics of the court as it wrestles with different cases and issues, and interesting to watch the various lawyers in action, lawyers who range from brilliant (mostly the big civil cases where lots of money is at stake) to mediocre, to inept and incompetent (a lot of capital appellate attorneys fall into this category, particularly those from the "registry").  Ex-Supreme Court Justice Cantero made the same observation some years back, stating that "the worst lawyering the court has seen" came from the appointed capital appellate attorneys who appeared before them.  This is not all of them, of course.  There's a small handful who are exceptional. But far too many are mediocre at best and an alarming number are completely incompetent.  Unfortunately, when it comes to capital law, when the attorney screws up the client may well pay with his life.  Recently we watched an oral argument made by an attorney who I am very familiar with.  The prisoner lives on my floor and I know his case very well, having discussed it with him for over a year, and having read a lot of his record on appeal, and all of his appellate briefs.  But when it came time for the oral argument this lawyer became a bumbling dunce.  He was totally unprepared and demonstrated no familiarity with the issues being raised in the brief, which he supposedly authored.  He repeatedly conceded legal and factual points he never should have conceded and which were contrary to his positions taken in the briefs.  His hands were visibly shaking and he often appeared lost.  It was embarrassing to watch this inept performance and very discouraging considering the consequences.  I've seen this particular attorney perform numerous times (he regularly represents capital prisoners) and he's constantly below par; he was at his worst this last time and I could hear his client (who lives just two cells away from me) groaning and muttering with each incompetent statement ...
That's it for now, Sis.  I'll write again next week!
Love, 
Bill

Death Row Diary: February 15, 2012

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/01/30/120130crat_atlarge_gopnik?currentPage=all

February 15, 2012

Dear Sis~

Robert Waterhouse was scheduled for execution at 6:00pm this evening.  In accordance with the established execution protocol he was strapped to the gurney and the needles were inserted into each arm about 45 minutes prior to his appointed time.  Just before 6:00, however, he received a 45-minute stay which morphed into an almost 3-hour endurance test as he remained on the gurney as the seconds, minutes and then hours slid by at an excruciatingly slow pace,  waiting for someone to tell him if hope was at hand, if he would live or die. Just before 9:00 he received his answer, the plungers were depressed, the syringes emptied and he was summarily killed.  Here on the row we can discern the approximate time of death when we see the old white Cadillac hearse trundle in through the back sally port gate to pick up the body, the same familiar 1960's era hearse I've watched for almost 40 years, coming in to retrieve the bodies of murdered prisoners, which used to happen on a regular basis back when I was in open population.  I've seen a lot of guys, both friends and foes, carted off in that old hearse. Anyway, pause for a moment to imagine being on that gurney for over three hours, the needles in your arms.  You've already come to terms with your imminent death, you are reconciled with the reality that this is it, this is how you will die, that there will be no reprieve.  Then, at the last moment, a cruel trick, you're given that slim hope, which you instinctively grasp.  Some court, somewhere, has given you a temporary stay.  You stare at the ceiling while the clock on the wall ticks away.  You are totally alone, not a friendly soul in sight, surrounded by grim-faced men who are determined to kill you.  Your heart pounds, your body feels electrified and every second seems like an eternity as a Kaleidoscope of wild thoughts crash around franticly in your compressed mind. After 3 hours you are drained, exhausted, terrorized, and then the phone on the wall rings and you're told it's time to die.  To me this is cruel and unusual punishment by any definition.  Consider this:  Florida, like every other death penalty state, uses a list of statutory aggravators which the jury and judge use and weigh in determining whether to impose a death sentence.  As an example, some of the aggravators are, the victim was young; the victim was elderly; the victim was a law enforcement officer; the homicide occurred during the course of a felony, etc... Well, the Florida Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the two (2) most serious aggravators in Florida's capital sentencing scheme are: 1) Heinous, Atrocious and cruel (HAC); and 2) Cold, Calculated and Premeditated (CCP).  The Court has, in a slew of cases, held that the HAC applies when a victim is held captive and conscious and knows he is about to die; forcing a victim to consider his imminent death while he is helpless to escape it constitutes HAC.  Likewise, CCP applies when there is "heightened premeditation", over and above "regular" premeditation, and when the killing is the result of a well thought out plan.  By that definition HAC and CCP apply to all executions where we spend years reflecting on our imminent death and the killing is done with heightened premeditation, part of a well thought out plan or scheme...Just a little something to consider...
You know, from time to time, I write about America becoming a "prison nation", and about the prison industrial complex here; some readers may doubt what I say given my status as a prisoner (sour grapes and all).  Anyone interested should read an excellent article by Adam Gopnik titled The Caging of America, in the January 30, 2012 issue of The New Yorker. It should be mandatory reading in all law schools and all Criminal Justice classes in colleges across the nation... 
That's it for now!
Love, 
Bill

Feb 9, 2012

Dear Sis~

Yesterday the prison was locked down all day for the standard "mock execution", the practice run which occurs a week prior to the actual premeditated killing.  For the mock execution they lock down the joint, bring in an array of big wigs, and go through a dry run to make sure the death machine is in working order, everyone on their toes.  The big wigs are just voyeurs, here to vicariously kill someone while allowing themselves the bare moral cover of not actually pushing the knife between the ribs.  Their minions do the actual dirty deed while they can go home with technically clean hands.  These mock executions are as depressing as the real thing, in the sense that it's dispiriting to watch an entire organization (a prison, with all its constituent parts) so seriously dedicate their time and energies to practice killing a fellow human being, as if this is a good and natural thing to do.  It takes some peculiar mental (not to mention moral) gymnastics to justify this to oneself, but we humans have proven ourselves immensely adept at self-delusion and hypocrisy, especially when we bring religion into the equation.   We are really, really good at killing others in the name of God.  We are a strange species, aren't we?  To those who argue that the death penalty isn't killing (or murder, which is merely a legal definition) because it is all done "according to the law", I'd remind them that the Nazis did everything they did "according to the law".  The Nazis, for all their terrible deeds, were sticklers for following the law; they found their refuge in the law, meticulously following the letter of the law before they enslaved and/or executed their victims.  "We were just following the law" is a lame excuse when you are the one writing the laws in the first instance...

Godspeed to Gabby Gifford who is retiring after her term expires.  I hope one day she'll resume her life of public service 'cuz this nation needs a lot more like her.

Gotta go, Sis, I've got work to do.  Be good and keep smiling! 

Light & Love,

Bill

Jan 22, 2012

Dear Sis~

We had a bad stabbing last week over on one of the other (non-death row) wings.  A young white guy named Milkshake, who is rather slow and weighs barely 130 pounds, stabbed another guy who was trapped in the high-security, single-man phone booth sized shower, stabbing him repeatedly through the bars with a  foot-long shank.  This was the third or fourth time Milkshake has stuck someone; it doesn't take a lot to get him motivated.  This entire 1,300 man maximum security prison is a locked down joint.  Everyone is in their cells 24/7 (except the runarounds who are out of their cells a little more than others).  There is no open population here, so theoretically there should be very few acts of violence.  This place is a lot better than it was in the 70's and 80's when it was a serious killing grounds.  Still, we had a recent murder here, and this stabbing was only the most recent in a string of them.  But, there will be no repercussions to any staff, nobody will lose their jobs or be disciplined in any manner even though these stabbings and murders cannot occur without serious breaches of security.  Like most prisons and prison systems, the staff at the top (warden, assistant warden, etc.) views their top priority as protecting themselves and their staff.  There is no real accountability, no serious oversight ('cuz nobody really cares what goes on in prisons).  Prisons are uniformly inept, corrupt, incompetent and hidebound.  If there was any accountability the warden here would have been fired long ago.  He's the worse warden I've ever encountered in my 40+ years in the prison system.  But he's very safe here, ensconced in this parallel universe, this bastion of incompetence, and in fact will surely be promoted in due time.  That's the way it happens in the Florida Dept of Corrections; the bad apples get promoted while the good ones are forced out...

Well, the Miami Dolphins finally hired a new Head Couch, a guy named Joe Philbin, who was the well-respected offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers.  In his first statement Philbin promised that the Dolphins will now be implementing a fast-paced, uptempo aggressive offense, which is exactly what I've been hoping for.  Ever since Dan Marion retired the Dolphins have been saddled with mediocre quarterbacks and conservative coaches who employed safe, plodding run-oriented offenses, coaches who play not to lose rather than playing to win.  Maybe now we've it a home run by hiring Philbin...

That's it for now, Sis.  I'll write you again later in the week.  Meanwhile, keep your chin up and your thoughts positive!

Love, Bill

To the Readers

Dear Readers:
Bill's books, Quietus and The Third Pillar of Wisdom are e-books on Amazon and have been reduced in price to 99 cents each!  Bill thanks all his readers for their support throughout the years and hopes you enjoy his books as well.  Thanks!

To the Readers

January 4, 2012 The New Year

Dear Sis~

Well, another year is upon us.  I feel like I ought to have something profound to say but all I can think of is the too many - over 40 - years I've spent sitting in a cell or prison dormitory watching another new year slide into my life.  New Year's is supposed to represent hope and potential but it's hard to convince yourself that hope and potential abounds when you're doing hard time!  Anyway, 2012 is the supposed end of the world according to the Mayan calendar (or at least the last year of that calendar; perhaps the poor soul writing out that calendar so many years in advance just got tired and quit when he reached 2012).  I don't put too much stock in apocalyptic predictions; humans have been making them since the dawn of time, after all, without any success, and I'm an optimist by nature.  But I confess that as I survey the world around me and what we humans are doing to planet earth it is increasingly difficult to envision a good ending.  There are many good, wise and caring people dedicated to doing right by our planet but they are vastly outnumbered by those who are greedy, desperate and/or just ignorant who are determined to exploit all resources until the last fish, mammal and mineral becomes a mere memory.  Maybe the Mayans were on to something after all...
The search team came and tore up my cell last week; it was a surgical strike (they came for me alone) and I was later told that "someone" wrote a snitch kite on me claiming (falsely) I had a weapon in my cell. I'm fairly certain it was someone trying to get a DR (disciplinary report) dismissed by dropping a dime on me on the hope they'd shake me down and find something, any kind of contraband, and the rat would then get credit for it.  But I had no contraband so the snitch struck out.  If the administration had any integrity they'd write the rat a DR for "lying to staff."  I spent several hours putting my cell back in order; it looked like a hurricane came through, all my property scattered everywhere.  This is the kind of bullshit you have to put up with in prison; it's the nature of the beast.  Hell, it happens on the streets, too, though.  Informants are master manipulators and the police routinely play their game even though they know the rats often fabricate stories and evidence to their own ends...
I just learned that Governor Scott has signed another death warrant and someone is on death watch on the bottom floor of Q-wing.  Scott didn't waste any time after the holidays; he seems determined to execute a record number of people at the pace he is setting.  I don't know whose warrant got signed, so I don't know if it's someone I know.  All I know is that he came from UCI, across the river, where most of the 390 death row prisoners are housed (only 60 of us are kept here at FSP).  This is a depressing turn of events, a lousy way to begin the new year, at least from my perspective.  The execution, when it occurs, will undoubtedly please some people, so it's all a matter of perspective...
With that  morbid news I'll close this up and mail it off.  Keep your chin up, Sis, and keep smiling!
Light & Love,
Bill 


Note:  The prisoner on death watch is Robert Waterhouse and his execution is set for Feb 15th...

December 7, 2011 - Pearl Harbor Memorial

Dear Sis~

It's Pearl Harbor Day; there are very few World War II veterans left alive, and only a handful who experienced the attack on Pearl Harbor.  How the world has changed in the last 70 years!  And yet, from a war and violence perspective, humanity has not changed at all...

About three days ago a guy on the row named Willie Davis hung himself over at the main death row unit at UCI, across the river.  Suicide is a common last resort to the despondent and/or mentally ill on death row.  Then today, on E wing (housing close management prisoners, not D/R) a guy dove head first over the second floor rail, handcuffed behind his back, landing on his head and splitting open his skull.  He was life-lighted out of here in critical condition.  This guy was known to be mentally unstable.  This prison is a warehouse, they just stick guys in these solitary confinement cells, locked down 24/7 for years and years, virtually devoid of any property, with no help or programs available, so their mental deterioration is inevitable...

I'm watching all these Republican wannabees fighting for the Republican nomination and all I can think about is how Dad, a lifelong Republican, must be spinning in his grave as these clowns purport to represent the party of Lincoln.  The eventual nomination will be Mitt or Newt and I suspect  that many Republicans will sit on their hands at election time, a pox on both of them.  It's sad that these two buffoons are the best the GOP can come up with, but certainly a Godsend for Obama, who must be thanking his lucky stars!

Love & Peace,

Bill

Nov 22, 2011 - President Kennedy remembered

Dear Sis~

Writing today's date reminded me this is the anniversary of President Kennedy's 1963 assassination.  Like almost every American alive back then I still vividly recall where I was when I learned the sad news. Even at age 9 I understood (at least to the extent a nine-year-old could) the dimension of the tragedy, which caused me to run home from elementary school with tears streaming down my face...

As you know we had an execution a week ago, the second one in 2 months.  In the week leading up to it, and in the week since, I was more than a little morose.  I long ago lost count of the number of guys I've watched get marched off to the death chamber but it has in recent years become harder to shrug it off, to just accept it as routine, as the way it is, that a civilized society finds it reasonable, even highly desirable to coldly and premeditatedly kill human beings.  Here I am surrounded by the prospect of death, right at the doorstep, which permeates the atmosphere here like a foul odor...

Well, Thanksgiving Day is just around the corner, not that we'll be seeing any decent food.  Back in the day we used to get a real feast on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas; it was a tradition in prisons around the country, lots of real turkey, stuffing and gravy, hot dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, pumpkin (or sweet potato) pie, salad, eggnog, etc.  Those were the two days when we were relieved of the tedium of bland prison food, and before the prison system became so overly hateful and hostile towards prisoners.  Nowadays it's all about being mean-spirited, begrudging us any hint of compassion lest someone be accused of being "soft on crime."  An apt example of this mindset is what recently happened in Texas following an execution where the condemned ordered his traditional last meal and then had the audacity not to eat any of it, leaving it untouched until he was executed.  Some Texas legislator heard about this "waste of money" and got himself into a self-righteous lather, asserting that a person facing execution does not deserve any type of special last meal, that it was a moral outrage to provide one.  So, immediately the head of their Dept of Corrections announced that he agreed with those sentiments and that henceforth all condemned prisoners will only receive a standard prison meal prior to execution.  Even in the final moments before death there can be no hint of kindness or compassion. When did we become such a hateful people? (As for myself I would not even ask for a last meal anyway; I'm not interested in participating in their rituals of death, of being a footnote in someones anecdote)...
Despite my seemingly dismal situation, in the spirit of Thanksgiving Day I acknowledge that I have much to be thankful for, starting with the fundamentals: I'm alive, in sound health and great spirits.  Most importantly I'm blessed to have so many good people who love and care about me, making mine an easier path to tread.  I don't know what the future holds for me but for now it's all good...

Ok, Sis, enough blathering from me.  Give the doggies a belly rub for me, and enjoy the holidays!

Love and Peace,

Bill

October 27, 2011

Dear Sis~

No sooner had I written and sent in my my last blog bemoaning the mainstream media's failure to adequately cover the Occupy Wall Street movement when suddenly it was on every TV channel and front page news in the written media.  These folks have very legitimate grievances; they see (and live) the handwriting on the wall re the direction democracy, and unconstrained capitalism, is headed in this country, but they are easily dismissed by the status quo due to their muddled messages, their lack of a single voice and their inability to translate their anger into a unifying political platform.  The gaggle of clowns vying for the Republican presidential nomination tow the Wall Street party line and disparage these protestors as "a dangerous mob" or as "jealous malcontents" but these people are the warp and woof of our society: teachers, firefighters, construction workers, students, the great middle class who have been squeezed until it hurts, while the wealthiest few have been growing ever richer.  There's no shortage of telling statistics re the economic inequality that now defines our society, but here's one you can chew on:  the wealthiest 400 people/families in America are worth more than the bottom 150 million citizens...
I can't recall if, in my last entry, I told you that Governor Scott signed his second death warrant (just 12 days after Manny's execution), scheduling a Nov 15th execution date for Oba Chandler.  I don't know Chandler personally but I know his case and it's an ugly one, involving the brutal murder of a woman and her two daughters down in the Tampa/St Petersburg area.  It was a very high profile case at the time, and our current attorney general, Pam Bondi, was a law prosecutor down there back then.  I'm sure she has very vivid memories of that horrible case and so it did not surprise me that Chandler's name got pulled out of the hat considering that Pam Bondi is now the person responsible for providing Gov Scott with the name(s) of D/R guys who are ready (in her opinion) to be executed.  Chandler's is the type of viscerally emotional case that gives even the most ardent abolitionist pause.  Anyway, what concerns me is that Gov Scott signed his second death warrant less than  2 weeks after the previous execution.  What I'm wondering is whether Scott plans to emulate Texas' assembly line approach to capital punishment.  We will soon find out, huh?  

Love & Peace,

Bill

October 10, 2011

Dear Sis~
The mainstream media (from what I can see from my admittedly abbreviated view here in a death row cell) is not paying much attention to the protesters "occupying Wall Street" nor bothering to investigate and explicate for the general public the very genuine concerns and issues which have these folks (and most Americans) so frustrated and angry.  People from across America, finally fed up with the status quo, are converging upon Wall Street to do the only thing they can, use their physical presence and voices to vent their rage with America's slow transformation into a stark two-class society, with the ultra rich in control and the rest a nation of burger-flippers.  It's finally dawning on many that our political system (not to mention our economic model) has been totally hijacked by the financial elite (even more so than in normal times, for the rich have always had inordinate political influence).  The average person may not have a degree in economics, may not be particularly financially sophisticated, but they can look around and see what time it is, they grasp the reality - and the adverse trend lines - and what it means to the "American Dream."  The gap between the haves and have nots has never been greater in modern times and is inexorably widening, with no end in sight.  I believed then, and I still believe now, that Obama's biggest mistake - and one which still haunts him today, weighing down on him like an anchor - was bailing out all the banks and Wall Street firms rather than letting them fail (or more accurately taking them over).  Obama was surrounded by and advised by (by his choice) the very scoundrels (i.e. Wall Street alumni) who brought the world-wide economic meltdown to us, and he drank the Kool-Aid they offered him, he spouted their rhetoric about banks being "too big to fail", and accepted their claim that the "only" solution was an unprecedented, astronomically huge transfer of taxpayers' monies from the (future) public coffers into the banks' pockets.  This was the largest heist in world history, done in broad daylight and totally legal.  It would be a joke if the results were not so tragic for the average person, and America in general.  Now, three years later, Joe Citizen, broke and unemployed, scans the landscape and sees the obvious, that the only ones doing well (very, very well) are the very ones who drove us into the ditch, while everyone else is suffering.  The anger, conscious or subconscious, resides in just about everyone's breast, and the one thing they are sure about is that Obama was the conductor of this train when the decisions were made to bail out the rich and ignore the masses.  This is a fact; they can pretty it up and obfuscate it with rhetoric, but they can't change the facts.  Obama had a chance to fundamentally alter the balance of power but he shirked his duty (to the masses) in favor of kowtowing to the elite.  In the end Obama was just like any typical mainstream politician, Democrat or Republican; he went with the big money.  Now he is reaping what he sowed: the deep, visceral residual anger and discontent in the hearts of the average American.  This is part of the anger animating the Tea Party, although many of them have been brain-washed by the right-wing Republicans (and their Wall Street puppet masters) into carrying their water, into believing that teachers, firemen, cops and union workers are the ones bankrupting America, rather than the bankers, the multi-national corporations and the Wall Street movers and shakers who use our national treasury as their own private piggy bank.  If these Tea Party activists ever started thinking for themselves they'd wake up and see how they're being manipulated by the status quo power brokers (who laugh at them behind their backs) and they'd join those protesters on Wall Street.  Now that would be something the media would cover!
Love & Peace,
Bill                                       

Sept 28, 2011 -Manny's last day

Dear Sis~
Manny was executed a few minutes ago, about 150 feet from where I'm sitting. He was initially scheduled to die at 4:00pm, which means he was strapped to the gurney and had IV lines inserted around 3:30, and the curtain was parted around 3:50pm to reveal him to all the gawking spectators, there to see "justice" done.  But, just minutes before they could push the plungers, the US Supreme Court (a/k/a Supremes) granted him a temporary delay, stating that they'd have a decision within an hour.  Manny remained strapped to the gurney for the next 3 hours and fifteen minutes, alone with his thoughts. Can you imagine what is going through your mind at that point? At 7:15 the Supremes announced that they were denying his last-minute bid and the State immediately killed him (the old white hearse, which I've watched pick up bodies here for the last 36 years, had left after the temporary stay was announced and they had to rush it back to the prison).  And we claim to be civilized...
In yet another indication that America is on track to decend into third-world status, we now rank number 46 in the world in infant mortality (down from our consistent top five rankings in decades past).  In  education our students rank just as dismally.  These trends should surpise nobody given our perpetual political gridlock, lack of vision, and the far right's anti-science philosophy (exemplified by Gov Rick Perry who prefers to hold prayer meetings to obtain drought relief rather then accept the scientific facts regarding cimate science).
I'm bummed out right now (I've known Manny for over 30 years, since before I came to the row) so I'm gonna cut this short.  Perhaps I'll be more optimistic the next time I write.
Love, Bill

Sept 18, 2011

Dear Sis~
   I just confirmed that a friend of mine, Russell Hudson out of Ft. Lauderdale, died last week at the UCI death row unit across the river.  He was found in his cell at breakfast time - after his neighbors heard him gasping for air earlier during the night - dead of a heart attack at age 42.  Before transferring to UCI Russ spent several years here on my floor where I got to know him well - personable, smart and a man of his word - and came to like him.  From all outward appearances Russ was healthy; he was slim and active, seemingly in good shape and not a likely candidate for sudden heart failure.  Another reminder of how fragile and fleeting life is.  An extraordinary number of D/R guys have died of "natural causes" here on Florida's row over the last 15-20 years, well over 30, and the far majority of them have been by cancer.  About 5 have died in just the past year or so, including 2 by heart attack (the others were cancer).  So many of us die by cancer that I've come to suspect that there's something carcinogenic in the water supply here.  Today's my birthday, but considering I've been drinking Florida State Prison water since 1974 (with a few years of breaks here and there) I've gotta be thankful for every B-day I get to celebrate!...
   Here's a few interesting statistics about Prison Nation (a/k/a America):  the median incarceration rate among all nations worldwide is 125 prisoners for every 100,000 people.  In England it's 153; Germany is 89; Japan is just 63.  The United States, meanwhile, incarcerates 743 per 100,000, by far the highest rate in the world.  If you include all US residents currently on probation or parole, our correctional population is 7.2 million, about one in every 31 Americans.  America incarcerates nearly 25% of the world's prisoners, even though we have only 5% of the world's population.  Just pause and consider those numbers, Sis, and ask yourself why this is...
   After several stays of executions Manny is scheduled to die on Wednesday, Sept 28th, at 4pm.  He's exhausted all of his legal issues (that I'm aware of), having been turned down all the way up the judicial ladder, including most recently the US Supreme Court.  It does not look good for Manny.  I have to bite my tongue when talking about Manny - a guy with 33 years on the row and a man who, at 61 years old, has completly turned his life around - because his execution will be as senseless and uncivilized as any I can imagine.  But the system, the death machine, is totally indifferent...
  That's it for now, Sis.  I love you, never forget that!
Bill
  

Manny Valle Stay

Dear Readers:

Manny Valle has gotten a 3rd stay of execution to Sept 28th...

August 27,2011

Dear Sis~
Two days ago a unanimous Florida Supreme Court rejected Manny Valle's challenge to the new lethal injection drug (pentobarbitol) and affirmed his Sept 1st execution date.  So, that's going to happen...
Well, last week you endured the earthquake centered just 40  miles from your house and now you're being pounded by hurricane Irene.  Hopefully, this is your quota of natural disasters for the year...
I just enjoyed a fine PBS program, part of their American Masters series, which is an apt title considering the subject, the great folk singer Pete Seeger (the episode is titled Pete Seeger: The Power of Song). Pete is a beautiful, old soul and the epitomy of an American Master.  The program, despite the meanness of the treatment often accorded Pete, greatly uplifted my spirit and reminded me of the best things of this nation, which is the spirit of the people and not its material wealth or greatness of power.   Hearing again all of those wonderful, powerful ballads washed me in a flood of childhood memories, even though back then in the early 1960's I was too emotionally immature and spiritually ignorant to fathom the true, deeper messages of those songs - peace, love, brotherhood, justice, equality.  Watching this moving, poignant program I felt (again) so disappointed in myself, in my failure as a youngster to be awake to the values expressed by the songs (by the times), my failure to find my better half and follow the path espoused by those songs that I mindlessly sang around the campfire.  While Pete was singing his anti-war songs in the early sixties I was fully indoctrinated by the system, foolishly and eagerly anticipating the day I'd be old enough to join the army, march off to war in Vietnam, kill those godless Commies and return home a John Wayne hero.  What a damn fool I was, shallow and superficial, unable to think for myself.  I was sure drinking the Kool-Aid back then!  Meanwhile, Pete gave his all to the values he believed in.  He spent decades being vilified and blacklisted (unable to work) by the mindless mob, the right-wing elements of the power structure - from the FBI to Congress to the Republican Party - simply because he dared to challenge the pro-war agenda then dominating our culture, because he had the temerity to suggest that peace, love, brotherhood and justice were worthy aspirations for us and our children.  Throughout it all, Pete never stopped loving our country, never doubted the essential goodness of the people.  Pete Seeger has come full circle in the autumn of his life; he's an icon, and deservedly so, exemplifying the true spirit of this nation, everything that is good and right about America.  What a beautiful spirit he is!
Love, Bill

August 31, 2011

Dear Sis~
     Manny Valle, who was scheduled to die on August 2nd, received a 30-day stay of execution from the Florida Supreme Court; his new execution date, I am told, is Sept 2nd.  My understanding, and it's admittedly second-hand, is that he's challenging Florida's new execution drug, pentobarbitol (the pink, Pepto-Bismol looking stuff used to euthanize animals at shelters) and the new execution protocols that were secretly adopted in conjunction with the change to the new drug.  Whether this temporary stay morphs into a full stay will depend upon what facts are developed at Mannys' evidentiary hearing in Miami.  Manny is a quiet, soft-spoken, easy-going guy, always ready to help someone out.  I first met him around 1981 when he was on the row and I was in open population, working in the law library.  In that capacity, I came back to death row almost every day to help guys out with their legal issues.  Manny, who was celling next to Ted Bundy at the time, came to the row for shooting a Coral Gables cop during a traffic stop.  Little did I know back then, as I went from cell to cell, that one day I'd join those guys on the row...
     The motor on my little electric fan  burned out recently - couldn't have happened at a worse time - and I've been sweating like a dog in this sweltering heat ever since.  If I'm lucky, I'll get the new fan I bought from the canteen within the next 30 days.  They don't keep them in stock, so they've gotta be ordered.  Hell, I can't even get confirmation from the canteen that my order was received and is being processed...
     I was saddened to learn of Amy Winehouse's death although it was easily predictable, given her self-destructive history.  Another artistic talent gone far too soon.  I've gotta wonder if there was anyone close to her who really cared about her, or if she was just surrounded with enablers.  Experience teaches us that some people just can't be helped; they are resolutely determined to go down their chosen path and no amount of pleading can steer them off that road.  Still, these last few months, Amy seemed so sad and directionless and her actions and behavior cried out for help...
     I watched the first Harry Potter movie on TV last week.  When I was in Virginia they came on all the time.  (unlike here, we he had basic cable there), but I never bothered to catch any of them.  But, with some rare free time on my hands, and because the series is such a cultural phenomenon, I convinced myself to check it out.  I confess to being underwhelmed; I just didn't get what all the hoopla was about.  But, I also had to remind myself that this is for kids and I do understand how children can be transfixed by well-spun tales of magic and wonder.  Upon reflection I recalled how, as a child, I could be transported to other mysterious and wondrous realms by the magic of an exceptional movie, or book, in ways adults are unable to appreciate and quick to pooh-pooh.  So, I won't be a judgmental stick in the mud.  I'm glad kids can still find some magic.  Soon enough, as they "mature", the demands of this world will suck it out of their spirits until it will just fade into foggy, dim memories...
     That's the news from the boondocks of North Florida!
Love,
Bill.

July 10, 2011

Dear Sis~
   I received the latest Florida Law Weekly last week and read that the Florida Supreme Court just reduced old Roy's death sentence to life imprisonment.  This was not unexpected; in fact I've been assuring him for the last 18 months that, at a minimum, he would end up with a life sentence.  But we were both hoping he'd get a new trial.  He had good, solid issues which, had he prevailed, would have gotten him a new trial (and then possibly an acquittal by his jury), but the Supreme Court gave him a thumbs down on that one.  Roy is now 70 years old, in failing health, on many medications and afflicted with onsetting dimentia, and is now doomed to dodder around in some distant, uncaring prison compound for what remains of his life...
   Well, on Thursday, a guy upstairs got careless and got busted with an ounce of reefer during a routine, single-cell shakedown.  He got caught slipping and as soon as I heard that I knew there would be repercussions.  Sure enough, the next day the whole shakedown team arrived on the wing, bright and early (the tip off is always when your sink and toilet water is shut off just before they hit) and stormed through the wing, tearing up all our cells.  I spent 30 minutes cuffed and shackled, locked in the shower while they rampaged through my cell.  As usual, it looked like a tornado hit my cell when I got back, all my property thrown across the floor scattered in the wind.  So, I spent the rest of that day putting all my stuff away, then scrubbing my floor.  I didn't lose much stuff, just the miscellaneous things that go toward making life more bearable, from extra salt to scotch tape to Tupperware bowls to extra towels and sheets.  Nothing to get in trouble over.  The guards in  my cell did steal two packs of sunflower seeds (it's common for them to eat your canteen snacks while they tear up your cell and you're locked in the shower) but that's just par for the course; it comes with the territory.  At least they were not overly destructive; some guards will deliberately smash your glasses, or radio, or even your TV, or flush your family photos down the toilet, if they have reason to dislike you, or if they're just malicious by nature...
   Here are a few interesting facts about America's growing plutocracy and the ever-widening gulf between the super-rich and everyone else (many more statistics, even more impressive and forceful are easily available online but with no Internet access I'm stuck with the scraps I pick up in newspapers and magazines): Between 2002 and 2007, 65% of all income growth in the US went to the richest 1% of the population.  Today, half of all the national income goes to the richest 10%.  In 2007, the top 1% controlled just 26.9%.  And, if you go back 80 years and look at the statistics you see that the curve - the gap between the very wealthiest and everyone else - is growing inexorably.  The problem is getting worse, not better.  The income inequality is intuitively known by most Americans (if not the details of the magnitude) and eventually, I believe, the people will wake up (politically) and do something about it.  But it may take a total meltdown in the financial industry (like what almost happened 2 1/2 years ago) to bring it about.  We are on a very precarious footing in America right now and we can easily see a repeat of the most recent meltdown, except worse. The systemic problems have not been fixed, not even close, and in fact are worse than ever.  This income inequality is just a symptom of the disease...
That's it for now from the big house!
Love,
Bill