Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Death row syndrome

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about what life is like on death rows. Some people think you get cable television. The truth is, many people on death row have no access to any TV, much less cable.

Some people think you get to lift weights every day. I don't know about most death rows, but in Texas, there is no such program. Think about it: weights in a maximum security environment? I don't think so.

Some people think prison cells are air conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter. States vary, but in Florida, people on death row have suffered heart attacks after temperatures rose to 110 to 120 degrees.

In short: People, this is no picnic. But don't take my word for it. Read the latest from Lonely Abolitionist.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a simple solution to "death row syndrome". Reduce the amount of time between sentencing and the execution date by giving priority to the appeals process on the court calender and the problem is solved.

Something tells me that would be unacceptable to the supporters of this site.

After this debate is won, I guess we can move on to "prison life syndrome", a condition where inmates are dispairing over their loss of the everyday freedoms others enjoy.

Anonymous said...

here here! well said - "prison life syndrome" , i love it, good work.

liberalsim is a mental disease.

"death row syndrome" is the pain felt in the tax payers wallet when pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep murdering rapists alive.

Anonymous said...

I work in a law firm that represents Death Row inmates in their appellate process. I deal first hand and have witnessed the gradual deterioration that occurs in these people due to extended periods of confinement with no other sensory input than a small, lighted window.
If you speed up the time from conviction to execution, then you run the risk of killing innocent people wrongfully convicted by an overzealous, christian, right-wing judicial system that usually never takes the time to truly investigate a case.
In today's political climate where the right wing rules all, it isn't suprising to see people champion the wholesale execution of inmates in order to satisfy their biblical sense of justice...despite the fact that the constitution (which is supposed to be seperate of religion remember!) guarantees these people rights as well.