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Ronald W. Clark
Death Row, Florida
Ronald
Clark's craft works are for viewing purposes only and are no
longer available for purchase. Since these were made, the Florida
Department of Corrections has banned all hobbycraft materials from
death row prisoners.
NEW ESSAY - COMMENTARY ON THE IRAQ PRISONER ABUSE SCANDAL - By
Ronald Clark
"UNAMERICAN"
says Donald Rumsfeld
The abuse of the Iraqi prisoners by American military men and women is
"UnAmerican", quote unquote by Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. I'd
just like to know what America he's been living in??!!
Caught on tape mid-1990s, officers staging fights between inmate gang
members, then shooting the inmates down in cold blood.
August 9, 1997, New York, officers stripped naked Abner Louima and
"sodomized" "raped" him with a nightstick!!
Louima suffered a torn bladder and intestine and required several
surgeries to repair the damage.
Caught on tape 1996 in the Texas Dept. of Corrections (T.D.O.C.) where
President George W. Bush was then Governor, videotape of nude inmates
crawling over each other as officers kicked them in their testicles,
beating them with nightsticks and had german shepherds attacking and
biting inmates. Sounds all too
familiar? Kind of like a total re-enactment of the Iraqi
abuse! "Déjà vu all over again".
In 1999, Governor Jeb Bush brings in Michael Moore
to become Secretary of the Florida Dept. of Corrections
(F.D.O.C.). Moore is the same man that ran the T.D.O.C. in the
90s for George W. Bush.
Just six months into his term, controversy arose at Florida State
Prison (F.S.P.) under Warden James V. Crosby, Jr. For on July 17,
1999 on Q-Wing, aka the notorious "X-Wing", officers were assaulting a
young kid when inmate Frank Valdez spoke up, "Leave him alone!"
The officers then told Valdez to
cuff up. Valdez complied. Once he was cuffed behind his
back, nine officers entered the cell of Frank Valdez and they kicked,
beat and
stomped him, breaking bones, crushing his ribs and leaving him to die
of internal bleeding in that cell all alone.
In 2003, Michael Moore finally stepped down as Secretary of the
F.D.O.C. Governor Jeb Bush made a move that would shock everyone.
For he would place James V. Crosby, Jr. in charge of the entire
F.D.O.C. This was a man that was not capable of overseeing the
safety and well-being of the one thousand inmates under his care at
F.S.P. without the inmates being assaulted and murdered. So the
question I present is, what was Governor Jeb Bush thinking when he
placed such an unworthy man in charge of the care and safety of
the approximately 77,000 inmates in the F.D.O.C.?!
So I say to Donald Rumsfeld and to the World that the Iraqi abuse is as
American as baseball and apple pie. So be not deceived by
Rumsfeld's "UnAmerican" lies. For the abuse in Iraq is, "the
American Way".
Written by Ronald W. Clark, Jr., #812974, June, 2004
Florida State Prison
7819 N.W. 228th Street
Raiford, FL 32026-1160
**********************************
Written
by: Ronald W. Clark, Jr. # 812974 -
October 2005
Sit back and
let me take you, step by step, through a hideous, outragious,
unbelievable adventure, that hopefully you will never experience.This
is a world and the fate of a man doomed by Capital Punishment.
The Judge
states,you are to be taken to the Florida Department of Corrctions,
where you will be held until such a time where a deadly mixture will be
ran through your body, until you are pronounced "dead", May God have
mercy on your soul. You are then sent to Florida State Prison (F.S.P.)
and placed on G-Wing, in a 9x6 foot cell, where you will spend 164 out
of 168 hour's a week, of the most miserable form of confinement there
is. You will be housed here at F.S.P. until room is available at Union
Correctional Institution (U.C.I.) Where 300 plus death row inmates are
housed, awaiting the final outcome of their appeals. You may sit in one
of these cell's 10, 15, 20 even 25 years awaiting the final decision.
Over these year's you will make friends with some of these men, and you
will watch as some of these men deteriorate under the imminent imperil
of death, or the pressure of existing year in and year out in a
9x6....54 square foot cage. Condition's the human mind are not
meant,and in some case's not capable of dealing with. You will pass by
cell's going to medical, ect..and see the anguish and stress on the
faces of men,who know their appeals are exhausted and at any minute
their death warrant may be signed. For once your appeals are exhausted
in the United States Supreme Court your file is sent to the Governor's
office in Tallahassee,where it is reviewed. You are then given a
clemency hearing. You will be turned down and you know it clemency is
not given, they're just going through the motions. So after that
the Governor signs your death warrant,placing the time and date on it.
7:00 pm April 20, 2006 The warrant is then flown to Raiford,Fl and
handed to the Warden at U.C.I. The Warden will send his officers to
retrieve you. They will make a show of it, coming 10 to 12 officers
deep. Your attorney will have warned you weeks in advance that your
file is on the Governor's desk, and your warrant is going to be signed.
So everytime you hear the electric door pop at the front of the wing,
you ask yourself, are they coming for me? That door may pop two dozen
times a day. So by the time the 10 to 12 officers do show up, your
nerves are shot! So they come to your cell front and state, get
dressed. You will go through a strip search, be handcuffed, and
escorted out front where the Warden will be waiting for you. Officers
will be sent in to pack your property and send it to F.S.P. You step
into the office, in front of the Warden, where he reads you the
warrant, informing you of the date and time of your death/murder. You
will then be escorted outside, placed in a van and driven to F.S.P.
under heavy surveillance. You will arrive at the back ramp that leads
to the 2nd floor, this is the same ramp you walked up years earlier,
upon your arrival at F.S.P. You will walk up the ramp, and enter the
rear of the building, walking straight down the hall, 40 to 45 yards,
coming to a section called "times square" an electronic gate will open,
you will enter it, turning to your left,walking 10 yards where you will
stop at another electronic gate, waiting for it to open, where you will
continue on 10 more yards, coming at a stop at another gate. An
officer will come out on the other side of the gate to your right
and open the gate with a key. You will enter the gate turning to your
right, entering the door where the officer came from. You will now have
entered the clinic,where you will be examined. You will then be
escorted back out the same way you came in,only you will not make a
turn at "times square" you will keep walking some 200 yards, going
through 3 electronic gates, passing 12 wings,that house some 1,200
inmates at F.S.P. Upon entering the 3rd and final gate, and walking the
final 25 yards, you will pass G-wing,the wing you were hosued on years
earlier. You have reached the end, come to a stop at a solid, steel
door, done in black and tan, with a big black letter "Q" written over
the top of the door. The officer's open the door. You step inside, over
to your left, is a Sgts. desk, to the right of the desk you will see a
board, attached to the wall, with name's written on it in black ink,
the top of the board has 12 cell's listing the names of the
individual's, the middle of the board has the same listing. These are
inmates that have been involved in something serious. You glance down
to the bottom of the board, on the right side. 3 cell's are listed, and
you see your name and number and the date and time of your execution.
To your right is a stair case, two set's, one going up, the other is
going down. You walk down the first 8 to 10 steps, turn to your right,
and go down the remaining 8 to 10 steps, again turning to your right,
where you see another board, again, with 3 cell's, your name and
number, and date and time of execution is again listed and the cell
where you will be spending the next 30 to 60 day's of your life. You
will pass these boards each time you see your attorney, preacher, or
spiritual advisor,or going to visits or medical, so you will be
reminded and re-reminded on a daily basis of the dated and time your
life will end. You step toward's the board, a gate door is opened
manually by key, you step through, another Sgt. Desk is to your right.
This is for the Sgt. that oversee's these 3 cell's which are called
"Death Watch Cell's". To your left a gate is again opened with a
key. You walk through and down about 12 to 14 feet where the door
is opened to your left. You step through and the officer shuts the bar
doors,removing the cuffs and chains.
You look around at
the sink, toilet, and steel bunk with the thin mattress that you've
grown so accustomed to over the year's, but your thoughts immedialty go
to all of the men you've known over the years and how many have spent
their last remaining days sleeping restless nights on that very bunk.
You pace back and forth with so many thoughts, thoughts of the past, of
the present, of the remaining 30 to 60 days, and the strength and
courage you must show for the sake of your family and loved ones, and
the pain and anguish you must endure. Your property arrives,and is
placed in the cell with you. So you take out your pen and paper, and
start writing letters, saying your goodbyes to family and friend's that
are unable or unwilling to come visit. The day's have passed rather
fast, and you're down to the last week. Seven day's left to live. Your
property is removed from the cell, placed outside the cell in cardboard
boxed. An officer will now be stationed in front of your cell, watching
and logging down your every move for the next seven day's. So he will
hand you a book, paper,pen ect..from your property, you will return it
when you are finished.\par
Today is Friday,
April 14, 2006, the last Friday you will be alive. The next few day's
pass. Your thought's continue to fall upon that your, last Saturday,
Sunday, Monday, Tueday, Wednesday, you are measured for your clothes
that you will be executed in. It's Wednesday April 19, 2006. 7:00 pm.
You have 24 hour's to live.This time tommorrow you will be in the
chamber. But, you're now being relocated to the backside. So you are
escorted back out, once you step through the gate where the Sgt.desk is
located. You will pass by the board with your name, number, and
tommorrow's date on it, with the execution time 7:00pm. You walk
another 12 to 14 feet and come to a solid door, it's opened, you step
through, walking 3 feet, turning to your right, walking through another
gate, 12 to 14 feet. 3 cells are located to your right, but 3 to
4 feet ahead of them is a large sliding gray door. Behind this door is
Florida's death chamber, that has seen many a soul's taken. Some
guilty, some not, but all the same, taken under the false pretense of
Justice. You enter one of the 3 cell's. Your given your last meal.
Also, you will soon have a last visit with your family. So you
will be escorted up front. The visit is anything but a joyous occasion,
for you see the pain and anguish all over your loved ones faces. That's
when you realize that your suffering ends in less than 24 hours, but
your families suffereing will continue on. You think to yourself, is it
I or they who are truly sentenced? The visit ends in what is a tearful
goodbye. Your escorted back to the cell. People you've never seen are
constantly coming down to see you. Most are big wigs from Tallahassee.
You get a restless night's sleep. Awakening to your big day, Thursday,
April 20, 2006. You have less then 12 hours left to live. The time
tick's off, minute by minute, hour by hour, it is now 6:00 pm. The
medical tech comes to see you. He look's at your arm's to see where he
is going to hook up the I.V. The big gray door slides open and
the gurney is pushed out and in front of the cell. Your standing at the
bar's, looking at the gurney, thinking of all the men who have expired
there. You are removed from the cell, your layed upon the gurney,
officer's putting leather straps on your wrists, ankles, across your
chest, and even your forehead. The medical tech hook's two I.V.'s
up. A back up to ensure everything in their plan goes well. Your pushed
into the execution chamber. People are hooking tubes to the I.V.
You look into a mirror that is positioned over head at an angle. You
see a curtain. You hear a slam, as the large gray door to the chamber
is being shut. Your heart is racing faster than it ever has. The
Warden gives the signal, you see the curtain being pulled back, it is
opened to reveal many faces, some recognizable, most not.
Victim's family, your two witnesses and members of the media. The
Warden start's off reading the warrant, stating that you have been
convicted by a jury of your peer's and sentenced to die, on this 20th
day of April, 2006. May God have mercy on your soul. Then he
states, do you have any last word's. Upon your final words, the Warden
gives a hidden signal to the executioner. The executioner releases a
deadly mixture that is now running through the tubes, into your viens.
A last thought goes to your loved one's. You look at the many faces
staring back at you. Closing your eye's for the final time.
The medical tech comes in at 7:19pm, taking your vital sign's and
pronouncing you dead at 7:23pm. The curtain closes, and the
witnesses are taken out of the rear of Q-wing to awaiting vans that
carry them out. And the clean up begins, a white hearse pull's
through the rear gate and to the back of Q-wing, where your lifeless
body is loaded in it, and driven off to the morgue
Within a few
week's a box arrives at your families, inside are your personal
belonging's.
The deed is done,
and the mourning continues.
This act was
commited under the mantel of Justice, by a civilized society that
proclaims the Roman Empire to be barbaric,Yet what I just described is
the highest form of premeditated murder that has ever taken place! A
murder planned to the precise minute, where their fellow citizen's sit
around and view this horrific case of state sanctioned homicide.A
penalty that is arbitrarily and capriciously handed out to the poor.
For the only true equality in the American legal system is the poor
equally get screwed by a system portraying Equal Justice.
Ronnie's
Original Notes For His CCADP Webpage.
Note : Ronnie's father was NOT sentenced to death.
All donations are very much appreciated. Let me tell
you a little more about myself and my life on death row,
I've been incarcerated since Feb 7, 1990, for armed robbery
murder.
They
offered me life in prison but I wouldn't take it. Because they
gave
my codefendant
25 years, took it to trial lost and was sentenced to death. I was
21
years old.
My friends call me
Ronnie, I'm 6'4", 230 lbs, blue eyes, brown hair. Born on April
20, 1968
in Jacksonville Florida.
The only family I
have is my mom who lives in Oklahoma and my dad is in Florida in a
county jail awaiting
trial and they are seeking the death penalty in his case. If you
would like
to write him, write me and I'll send you his address. In
this situation you really need someone to stand by you, and he
doesn't have anyone out there. He's
52, born May 1, 1947, he's 6'1", 200 lbs.
The death penalty is
all about politics. Its not about justice. Only 1% of
murder cases get the death penalty, and its a poor mans
punishment. If I or my
dad had 50, 000 to pay a good lawyer, they would have never seeked the
death penalty. But when you can't afford a lawyer and they assign
a public defender to handle your case, they know when you go to trial
that you don't stand a chance. The lawyer I had is now a judge,
and he had sentenced guys to death. Its all about political gain
and I don't understand why everyone can't see it.
I have a 9th grade
education. I have had to learn to study law, which I spend my time
doing, that, hobby
craft, and exercising here in my 9x7 foot cell which I only get out of 4
hours a week. I
also write poems and letters.
I write my dad a
couple of times a week. Keeping him off death row is my main
concern right now. He's in a small court here in Northern
Florida so if any attorneys would be kind enough to take his case pro
bono I'd be so thankful. His case is a crime
of passion and the public defender that he has on his case has already
list
2 cases and he has 2 guys on death row. So my Dad will be #3 if
he
goes to trial with this P.D.
Well, thank you for
taking the time to read this. Have a nice day.
May God Bless you,
RONNIE
More Ronald Clark Links:
Ronald
W. Clark Jr. on Florida's Death Row
Ronald's Original Penpal Request
Roses are red,
my life is quite blue, I'm seeking a friend could it be you ?
Write
tome and we will see, maybe their friendship was meant
to be. Its loyal friends I truly
seek for these are the ones that are quite unique. Age, race, sex
is not required, its friendship that I desire.
Well
a little about myself. My name is Ronald W Clark Jr. but my
friends call me Ronnie. I was aborn on April 20, 1968. I'm
6'4", 220 lbs, blue eyes, brown hair and I'm confined to a 9x7 foot
cell on Florida's Death
Row. I only get out of this cage 4 hours a week.
I've
been incarcerated for over 10 years. I'm in here for armed robbery
murder and I was offered life in prison. But I wouldn't take it.
So I went to trial, lost, and got a death sentence. The Death
Penalty is all about political gain. These prosecutors use it to
further
their career. Only 1% of murder cases get the death
penalty.
If you have money you don't even have to worry about it. If
you're
poor, the state will give you a bum lawyer and there's no way to
win.
My lawyer just laid down. But I
really would like to find some good friends that will be there for me,
and help
me out, maybe come visit. I write poems, do hobbycraft, and
work out in my cell everyday. Please write, I will answer all.
UPDATE
March
2000 : Ronald has been transfered to Florida State Prison and is now in
'super max confinement' locked down 7 days a week 24 hours with access
to the canteen only once a month for essential items only. He is
in urgent need of funds and/or stamped envelopes (maximum of 10 at a
time) and friends to write him.
MARCH 2001 - UPDATED PEN-PAL REQUEST:
32,
6'4", 230 muscular, blue eyes brown hair. Incarcerated 11 years
on Florida State Prison Q Wing which is right over the electric chair.
I have nothing to look forward to but mail. I lost a
lot of letters moving from UCI to FSP. So if you wrote and I
didn't answer please write again.
Clark, Ronald W. DC# 812974
Florida State Prison Q1203
P.O. Box 181
Starke, FL 32091
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Contact us for more information.
"The Eyes Of The World Are Watching Now"
This page was last updated
October 28, 2005 Canadian Coalition Against the Death
Penalty
This page is maintained and updated by Dave
Parkinson and Tracy Lamourie in Toronto, Canada
View Some of
Ronald's Artworks