John Alba #999027
Polunksy unit
3872 F.M 350 South
Livingston, Texas
77351 USA
Let me tell you a bit about myself: I am
a 46-year-old Mexican man. I have been on Death Row (D/R) for 10-years. (I
first arrived on D/R in May 8, 1992) I have 4-children, and 6-grandchildren.
I have my mother, four brothers and one
sister. My father died when I was 15.
I never did finish school. I quit school
after my father died so I could work full-time and help my family. Work was
not a stranger to me, as I had worked since a young child in the cotton fields,
chopping cotton and picking cotton.
We were poor so all of the family had to
work so we could eat and survive.
I have been thinking back on these past
10-years and I am trying to remember how many men have been executed, but
it's been so many that I have lost count? I know, at least, 200 men, some
who were my friends, or most who I had met over the years. It was a sombre
experience to be speaking to these men, knowing that in only a few days,
sometimes the next day, they would be dead. Some accepted it, some didn't.
One man, whose image stays in my mind, I
will never forget. As they were taking him
out of our wing to be executed, he stopped at my cell to tell me "good-bye".
It was his eyes, his eyes were wide open with fear. I felt his fear (if
that is possible to explain) it was so overwhelming. That, took place in
1997, and more than 5-years later, I still
see his eyes
My days on Death Row (D/R) are spent locked
away 23-hours-a-day in a 6-x-9 cell. We are allowed to recreate for one-hour
each day. One shower a day.
There are no TV's on Texas D/R. We are allowed
to buy a small plastic radio from the prison commissary store, and that is
our 'entertainment'. We are allowed to correspond with free-world people.
So as one can imagine, mail-call in the evenings are our 'highlight' of the
day, what we look forward to each day. I would love to have the opportunity
to write to someone who is both open minded and honest, but with a good sense
of humour. I am a sincere person and I don't play head games with my pen-friends,
and I am not looking for romance. I have been on Texas Death Row for over
10 years. I have 4 children and 6 grandchildren. I like to read books on history,
mysteries, autobiographies, some classics. Tough, I'll read anything ! I
like meeting new people and building freindships/correpondences, writing letters,
receiving mail, listening to music from the 60's-80's. I also enjoy being
outdoors, camping, hiking, fishing, swimming, and barbecuing, and just breathing
the fresh air. I like having a garden and growing my own vegetables. Thank
you so much for your time.
John Alba #999027
Polunksy unit
3872 F.M 350 South
Livingston, Texas
77351 USA
Or send an email to penpal@johnalba.com
and it will be forwarded by his supporters.
Contact John Through his supporters at: amygreene@totalise.co.uk
Or For More Info on the case: info@johnalba.com
Penpal’s
a killer on Death Row --- From
The News Shopper
Mexican John Alba is on Death Row for shooting his wife 11 years ago. Reporter EMMA COUTTS-WOOD talks to Brockley student Amy Greene who has been writing to him since she was 15 ...
FOR many British
people, Death Row is something we hear about on the television and in American
films like Dead Man Walking but we do not know much about it.
But for the last eight years,
23-year-old student Amy Greene, from Brockley, has been writing to John Alba
who is on Death Row in Texas for shooting his wife, Wendy, on August 5 1991,
after discovering she was having an affair.
His case is high-profile
in America because he is Mexican and his 28-year-old wife was white and there
have been allegations of racism during the trial.
The 47-year-old is now appealing
for his sentence to be reduced to a life prison sentence.
Although John Alba receives
very little support from his fellow Americans because of the nature of the
case, he receives letters every week from Amy and her family and she has even
been over to America to see him several times.
Amy, of Manor Avenue, started
writing to John when she was 15 and doing a project on capital
punishment at school.
Now a sociology student
at Goldsmiths College in London, she is still writing to him and
campaigning for his sentence
to be reduced.
She said: "I got his name
and address from a friend of my mum who was writing to him at the
time. "Now he has
become a friend and we write twice a week. He is kind and sensitive and in
his letters he talks a lot about his family. I have been over to America
to see him a few times.
"He has pleaded guilty to
shooting his wife and knows he deserves a punishment but to get his
sentence reduced, he has
to prove the murder was not pre-meditated and he is not a threat to
society."
Amy claims there have
been flaws in the case. "His lawyer says the prosecution was racist and
even the jurors were against
inter-racial marriages. I was really touched when I met his four
children. I realised how
important it was to campaign for his sentence to be reduced."
Amy has been in contact
with his lawyer and has set up a fund for John.
She added: "I want
to see justice for John. He doesn't deserve to be on death row."
11:50 Tuesday 16th July
2002.
Pen Pal Request from:
http://www.internazionale.it/carcere/carcere.html
"Dear Internazionale, my name is John
Alba, and I am a Death Row prisoner. I am writing to you, because I
would like to ask you if you can help me find some Italian pen-friends, who
would like to correspond with me? (...) I have 4 children and 6 grandchildren
with another on the way and so I am feeling like an old man. :-) Days here
can get very long and very lonely, and so mail call is the chance for us to
disappear into another world for a moment or more.
If anyone would like to know more about me then please look at a website that a friend has made for me www.johnalba.com. I really look forward to receiving any letters that will come my way."
The CCADP offers free webpages to over 500 Death Row Prisoners
Contact us for more information.
"The Eyes Of The World Are Watching Now"