To those who have logged in and have enjoyed my introduction, I wish to give thanks to you all.
I begin this update by acknowledging Barack Obama; the first African-American to be inaugurated as President of the US. Millions headed to the nation's capital to witness the event take place. The inauguration is a day people around the world will look upon as a day of change.
I'm excited about this. I'm stepping into 2009 with a changed attitude, looking at 2009 as a year of change. Thinking positive as I continue to try to overcome this adversary in my life & become a free man again. "What is it that I have to look forward to?" Thinking positive, I'm thankful to have this platform. Able to share my thoughts, opinions & educate those of you interested in understanding prison life, as well as the death penalty & judicial system. You'll read events & details surrounding my life dealing with prison officials & my legal battles. These descriptions will provide you with insight with a struggle with the death penalty.

To update you: on October 27, 2008 several prisoners were downgraded from level 1 to 2 for damaged mattresses discovered during lockdown. For those of you unaware: level 1, 2, 3 is a system unit officials use as a behavioral method. Nonetheless, the only thing wrong with my mattress: it happened to be new. No holes nor anything else to suggest the mattress was damaged. Discovered during x-ray another mattress liner inside. Nonetheless, myself & other inmates were given disciplinary case & found guilty. In my case, the charging officer did not witness me destroy any mattress nor did he know the condition of the mattress when it was given to me - or able to explain where I would get an extra mattress to put inside the one I had. When I asked the charging officer these questions, he had no explanation. Inside Kangaroo Court all it takes is the word of a guard to make me guilty. It's been a year and a half since my last disciplinary case. Thinking positive!

I assisted another prisoner in writing a grievance. The charging officer claimed he searched through the mattress of this prisoner & discovered contraband at 5:20 p.m. The only problem with this: the section this prisoner lived on, wasn't pulled out & searched until 8:20p.m. that night. This was 3 hours after this guard claimed to have searched this prisoner's mattress! When this was pointed out during Kangaroo Court, the disciplinary hearing was reset, 29 days later the case was dropped to a miner. He was found guilty, given 30 days commissary restriction.
How can this prisoner be found guilty when it's clear this guard did not know what he was talking about? We won the appeal. Yet, this prisoner ended up doing 60 days on level 2 & 21 days of commissary restriction, all because a guard said he found contraband inside his mattress. After winning his appeal, this prisoner was given back his level 1. In my case, my appeal was extended, I received a notice of extension from the grievance department stating that more time was needed to make a decision.

In 47 days I will have completed the 90 days' punishment. Surely I'll win my appeal, even though I will have been punished for something I did not do. Deja vu, I've already experienced something like this many times. I've heard unit commissary won't be selling any radios for 6 months! My typewriter & radio is something I'll be forced to replace. To any prisoner a radio is a source of news & escape to the outside world. Mine was taken due to one prisoner exposing prison officials a dirty little secret: "their guards bring in cell phones...", something they wanted kept out of the public eye.
This reality was justification for prison officials to embellish erroneous ass disciplinary cases, confiscating property as a form of retaliation, using prison rules to justify their actions. This cruel reality can generate many syndromes, mental illnesses & other disfunctions. 19 years & counting I suffer psychologically when I'm forced to endure an injustice behind these walls. However these 19 years have taught me when to engage into battle, I'm trying to win the war. I need a strong mind to do this, I'm thankful not to have lost my mind.

For Andre Thomas a.k.a. Squirrel, as known to those of us on death row, the syndromes suffered behind these walls caused him to pull out his eye & eat it! On December 9, 2008 guards discovered Squirrrel's face covered with blood. He was taken to unit infirmary, where they discovered Squirrel had eaten his eye... This is a serious illness that should never have been allowed to go untreated. I feel so blessed not to have fallen to this level where my mind disengaged from reality. Yet, I witness the disfunctional inmates daily.
There's one who spits on the guards! They've written him disciplinary cases, moved him, refused to feed him. He continues.
There're those who're extremely paranoid, refusing to eat & those who cover themselves in their own feces.
This is the world that I witness daily. This is only a small amount of what I'll share with you from this platform. A doorway which allows us to make a coonection & an escape for me from this cage I exist in. I'm blessed to have a few who believe in me, justice, equality, fairness & my innocence. Sharing their time & resources to provide a mental sunshine impowering me & hope of correcting this injustice - liberating me from this cage...

20-02-2009, 00:00 geschreven door Sunshine