... taking away wheelchairs from those who cannot walk, denying mental and physical health care, being held in solitary confinement for over ten years without any legal justification based on their conduct, dangerously unsafe living conditions, inadequate nutrition, inadequate exercise, denial of adequate access to telephones, destruction and loss of necessary legal documents, denial of religious freedom, denial of fair administrative process, failure to timely deliver mail including legal correspondence, and other abuses...
I am sure that this is true, and explains in part why my own correspondent hasn't written to me for some weeks (mail going both in and out of the prison is regularly delayed). Yet again, may I appeal to anyone who is interested to think of writing to one of these men? It need take no more than about twenty minutes every couple of weeks. For many, this is their only contact with the outside world. My own penfriend has been dropped by all of his family, including his twin brother.
Do email me if you'd like further details, or I am happy to speak on the phone.
(I promise a nice, jolly post next time!)
I think we shy away from commenting on these posts Frances because it's an uncomfortable subject. The programme I watched about death row on TV (you told us about it) didn't seem to show any of this suffering, and I couldn't empathise with the men. I thought we would have been told of this suffering and it was not what I expected.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the trouble to reply, Maggie. If people don't comment, that's fine. Provided they've read the post! And I know I do bang on about it, but we all need a soapbox, and this is mine! Texas is particularly inhumane - probably the worst.
DeleteIt is a very uncomfortable subject, Frances. But more than that it is an incredibly complex subject. I think that I have said before that, as a young man, I was implacably opposed to the death penalty and spoke out against it. I still am although the 'battle' as was then has been won in this country. I think, apart from any humane issues, that it fails as a deterrent and is simply a punishment. But it doesn't end there. None of that excuses the inhumane treatment of others regardless of the inhumanity they may have shown. Unfortunately in a country with scant regard for the rights of others at just about every level the treatment of prisoners on death row will not just be at the bottom of most people's agendas; it will not even make the bottom of their agendas. I respect and admire you for what you are doing. However there are causes about which I feel far more motivated and about which I feel that I may be able to make a contribution which may just alter an attitude here or there. So I shall continue to admire your work but I do not feel able to join you in it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, GB!for taking get the trouble to write such a thoughtful reply. Of course, we all have our own causes to support. This has been mine since I was about eleven!
DeleteDo you care anything about the victims of these criminals, Frances? Do you write their families? I don't know whom it is you are writing, but there are people on death row in Texas that ripped little children to pieces after sodomizing them. I would hope you're not conversing with a prisoner guilty of a crime of a similar or more heinous nature.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, let me also say that if there is EVER ONE SHRED OF DOUBT, then the death penalty should not be applied. There should be an incredibly high threshold of proof to merit the application of the death penalty. Until the rules of evidence are changed to reflect that, I support a moratorium on the death penalty.
Finally, for those that just can't reason it out - the death penalty is a deterrent: the person put to death will NEVER commit another crime.