A TYPICAL DAY IN HELL - KNOWN AS TEXAS DEATH ROW:
I write to allow people in the free
world to understand that Texas prisons
are using "CELLS DESIGNED TO PUNISH"
to house death row inmates.
The psychological torture
which is being inflected on death row inmates
needs to be documented
and presented to someone in authority with the power
to stop this abuse.
A light in each death
row cell is turned on remotely by the guard in the
picket at random hours
of the day and night, depending on the wants of the
individual guards.
The light is a 2 foot by four foot florescent, four-bulb
fixture that is inset
into the stainless steel wall above the toilet/sink
combination. The
cell is just shy of sixty square feet, which obviously
floods the cell with
bright light.
There is the noise of
the steel barred gates being slammed shut every time
the guards walk into
any of the areas to the inmate cells, at all hours of
the day and night.
Envision a huge sheet of steel, eight foot by four foot,
being hit as hard as
possible with a sledge hammer and the sound that it
would make. Each
time the guards walk in to any of the cell areas, that
noise rings out throughout
the entire pod of sighty-four cells.
Then there is also the
sould make when the guard sticks the crow bar type
device in, to open the
food slot and slams the lid down. The same noise
again, as it is being
slammed shut. The noise of the food slot being opened
and shut is like dropping
a metal sauce pan on the concrete floor in a small
enclosed area.
Some guards carry this
crow bar device around, and use it to strike the
metal cell doors to any
cell where an inmate is sleeping. The guard hits it
against the door when
an inmate is asleep, just to get a rise out of them.
The guards laugh as they
say they have to make sure you are still alive.
Other guards use a flash
light and point it into your face until it wakes
you. This is done
every few hours.
When you couple this type
of abuse of psychological torture, with the
extreme isolation of
the inmates in these cells (where is is impossible to
have any type of conversation
with another human being, due to the constant
noise) it is obvious
that any long-term exposure to these conditions will
result in mental and
physical breakdowns. This is cruel and unusual
punishment.
Some guards treat all
inmates like they are dogs, while other guards will
just do their job without
all the abusive acts.
The difference between
a death row inmate and an inmate doing time in
population, is mostly
a matter of luck or lack of luck. The death penalty
will usually be sought
by the courts due to the political aspirations of the
district attorney that
is trying the case, or the district attorney learning
the accused is unfortunate
enough to not have the money to hire a decent
attorney, therefore is
being given the "dregs" of the attorney pool that sit
and wait appointments
by the courts. In either case, it is a biased
decision to seek the
death penalty.
Death row inmates have
been thrown into this "hell" due to the actions of a
few inmates. The
majority of the people on death row are of a passive nature.
The work program
that was allowed prior to Thanksgiving day escape of 1998,
allowed death row inmates
a chance to share legal issues and fight for their life.
Group religious
services and recreation allowed the condemned men to live out
their remaining years
in an environment where they could reflect on their mistakes
and teach others in the
free world not to make those same mistakes.
Being allowed to do crafts
and to watch television were simple answers
to occupying the mind
of the condemned.
Taking all this away and
inflicting this barbaric treatment on men faced
with the ultimate punishment
is cruel and unusual punishment.
Twenty-three hours a day
in a cell designed to punish is cruel and unusual
punishment for death
row inmates to endure for the years they have left
awaiting their fate.
No human contact.
No human conversation.
It is hell on earth!
God Bless,
Roy.
August 10, 2001
| Return to Roy Pippin's Homepage |
