Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Advocates Urge Prison Officials to Reconsider Death Row Isolation

From The Texas Tribune ;

Unlike other inmates in Texas' sprawling prison system, inmates who receive the ultimate punishment are automatically sent to solitary confinement. On Texas' death row, they spend 23 hours a day in their tiny cells. They can't work, watch television, have physical contact with family members who visit, or access educational or rehabilitative programs. 

See entire story here ! 

What are your thoughts ?

28 comments:

  1. I think that the condemned offenders should remain in solitary confinement. After all, they were convicted by a jury of their peers! If they don't like it, they should have thought about it BEFORE they took a life, or lives. It really is that simple. The idea of "rehabilitation" programs? REALLY? What is there to rehabilitate?? They are going to die! Why waste resources on them? Their victim(s) are dead! What about THEM?

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  2. i say give the ones on death row one week to appeal and then fry them. why feed one for years ?They are wasting tax payer money ,precious water and electricity,

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  3. Meanwhile the silent victims are confined to casket. The murderer wants contact visits while the family of the victim would give anything just to hear their loved ones voice again. I guess you know by now how I feel about this nonsense.

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  4. 8:29: Because Texas has never wrongly convicted anyone, right? It is your type of mindset that is driving me away from TDCJ after nearly 15 years of service. I firmly believe convicts should only be given what they are supposed to have by policy, but I also recognize that we officers can fall into a dangerous mindset that sits on the far side of "friendly." The appeals process is there for a reason. We should never lightly take life from another; not because one might deserve it, but because executing a non guilty person is a far more serious mistake than letting a guilty person live.

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    1. I agree that executing a non-guilty person is a serious mistake, but letting a guilty person live? I say let the guilty person "live" in solitary confinement. After all, that is what the point of this blog is...condemned offenders being placed in solitary confinement (no contact visits; no rehabilitation, etc.) until their date with the needle. And if an offender appeals their conviction, and wins; great!

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    2. While I do agree that in the past years there may have been those who have been wrongly executed, I feel the ones that are being executed in our present day society are rightly deserving. One reason why most spend at least a decade or more on death row is because of the many appeals you mentioned. Their case is thoroughly examined over and over again. Most units have inmates who were at one time on death row, but because of the appeals process and new trials granted, they were taken off the condemned list. As of yesterday, a woman scheduled to be executed on Feb 5 still has 12 appeals to be heard. I think that the days of executions being "taken lightly" have been over with for more than a few years.

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    3. In the last year alone 13 wrongfully convicted people were exonerated in Texas. Since 2006, in just Dallas County over 40 people have had their convictions overturned. The poster who I originally replied to stated that he/she thinks that there should be only a one week appeal process.

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  5. i know of one case where the inmate plead guilty,refused any appeals and 12 years later he still gets 3hots and a bunk.

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  6. Really, as officers, our "job" is to give them what they're supposed to have, don't give them what they're not supposed to have and say very little to them. Protect them from themselves, other offenders, employees and the public. We are not supposed to judge them as judgment has already been passed. Our "opinion" of whether or not they should or should not remain in solitary confinement really doesn't matter...just saying.

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    1. As officers, no our opinion on the matter is not important. We are there to do a job. As citizens, especially citizens which are better informed about what the inside of a prison is really like, our opinion matters quite a bit.

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  7. From the Desk of BoBoTheBeaten:

    I guess you would have to ask yourself - Is it your job to torture the condemned until his/her execution or is it your job to carry out the order by the jury of his/her peers? I think the answer to this is much more complex than crime and punishment.

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  8. Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote, "The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons." How we treat people in prison says more about who we are as individuals than who they are as the condemned. There was this really great guy who really was a remarkable revolutionary 2000 years ago that said: "He who is without sin cast the first stone." That same guy also talked a lot about forgiveness and returning the wayward back to the fold. Nowhere did he ever condone torture, isolation, and execution.

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    1. He also said render unto caesar that which is caesar's (obey the law).

      Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you.(judge only if you are prepared to be judged by the same standard).

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    2. While it's true that everyone sins, it's the consequences from that sin that sets the tone for punishment. I know you probably know the difference. I can forgive but at the same time want justice to prevail. It's simple. If you don't want to die by lethal injection in the state of Texas, then don't kill the innocent.

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    3. Well Robyn, I Guess we just open the doors and let em all out.

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  9. they will not be turned back out into society on death row. the crime they committed did not leave the other person alive to see another day. prison is not torture, yes they are isolated for reasons some in society do not understand and the crime had to be so hedious that it does require execution. of course we are not GOD, but those are the laws put forth by judge and jury.

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  10. There was time that DR inmates weren't isolated from the other DR inmates, and a few of them were killed by other DR inmates.

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  11. I am a mother of an incarcerated son. He stole a wallet from a woman at 17 years old...He got 50 years.. I hope you realize what judge that the elected people in small town us rule as god. I pray you take time to see both sides. The justice system gives too much power to one person. They are not god.

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    1. You don't get 50 yrs for stealing a wallet unless you have done other things to lead up to the theft.

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    2. I think there is way more to this story. I wish you would have been more honest.

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    3. From the Desk of BoBoTheBeaten:

      And what sentence do you think your little son should have been given for stealing someone else's wallet? I'll bet in your eyes it was the victim's fault?

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    4. I see ole' Lisa never responded. Sounds like Junior was a hooligan and the stolen wallet was just the last of a long list of crimes he commited to get the 50 yr sentence.

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    5. I hope none of you ever have to sit in front of judge duggan because you would all shut your mouths real quick. When he slams down the gavel and throws the book at you bbecause your lawyer wasn't part of the bastrop good ole boy click.

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    6. And I will repeat. Stealing a purse would at worst be a Class A misdemeanor (unless the lady had more than 1500 cash in it). Max punishment 1 yr in county. Lisa conveniently left out facts that contradicted her 'woe is me' whining.

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    7. And i will repeat it would in a normal situation but not in bastrop county. Clearly you have never dealt with this judge or county and as I previosly stated I hope you never have to feel that man's wrath. What kind of coun. Allwos an atattorney and district attorney to be marriedn and representa client on opposite sides of the fence. One represents and one tries to prosecute?? CConflict of interest by far. That is only a small portion of what goes on in bastrop texas.

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  12. Bastrop, Texas land of the unjust...no one will listen..

    www.gavelbangers.com/judges/texas/trial-level/duggan/chris‎

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    1. You are so very right!!! Bastrop texas come on some one needs to listen look at the innocent live that judge christopher duggan has ruined. He. makes harsh decisions because he can. What happened to innocent until proven guilty???? In his court your guilty no matter if you prove yourself innocent. He will strip you of everything and everyone. Where is the people who care to question this man and his authority? Help us get justice in Bastrop texas.

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