Posted on 04/25/2003 12:22:33 PM PDT by new cruelty
JACKSON, Miss. -After running a few laps around the exercise pen, Alan Dale Walker lies down on the cool concrete, closes his eyes and imagines he is anywhere else but on Mississippi's death row.
For Walker, convicted in 1991 of raping and killing a woman, it's one of the few opportunities to escape the screams and maniacal laughter of his fellow condemned inmates. The conditions here are so bad that some contend they are literally driving the inmates insane.
A federal lawsuit filed on behalf of six inmates by the American Civil Liberties Union says the stifling heat, filth, insects and other conditions could explain why some of those on death row are suffering from mental illness.
"I used to raise fighting chickens," Walker wrote in one of several letters he and other inmates sent to The Associated Press. "The way I had those chickens caged up makes me think about how they have me caged up here."
State Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps said the death row at the prison in Parchman shouldn't be singled out.
"I've been in this business for 23 years and I've been to many prisons throughout the U.S. Ours is no different from any other state that I've been in," Epps said.
At a hearing on the lawsuit earlier this year, James Balsamo, the director of environmental health and safety at Tulane University, said he took temperature, humidity and air volume readings in about 15 cells at Parchman last August, and found the heat index exceeded 100 degrees
Many inmates keep their windows closed to protect themselves from spiders and insects, he said, which adds to the heat and ventilation problems.
Another witness, Dr. Terry Kupers, a California psychiatrist who has written a book on prison madness, said he found several inmates with mental problems in a tour of death row last August.
"They mess up their cell, they're totally disheveled, they scream day and night, they smear feces, they throw feces and urine down the hall, they flood the tier," Kupers testified.
In a recent telephone interview, Kupers said conditions at Parchman were worse than any he's seen at death rows in six states - and they directly contribute to severe emotional and mental problems.
"There were massive problems there," Kupers said. "It was a combination of extreme isolation and idleness along with very hazardous sanitation conditions that I've seen nowhere else."
He said the mental health care amounted to "warehousing" inmates and providing some with medication. He said they need true mental health care because many may never see an execution chamber.
Six people have been executed in Mississippi since 1976. Out of approximately 170 death sentences in the state since that year, about 70 have been vacated. There are now 66 men and one woman awaiting execution.
Epps said mental health care should improve when Correctional Medical Services, a St. Louis company that specializes in prison health care, begins its contract with the Mississippi prison system July 1. Among the changes will be adding four full-time psychiatrists to bolster the current part-time workers.
Margaret Winter, associate director of the ACLU's National Prison Project, said more needs to be done and adding psychiatrists "will not address the enormous problems that were identified during the trial."
Carolyn Clayton, who helped found the victims' rights group Survival Inc. after her daughter was kidnapped, raped and slain in 1986, said she had mixed feelings about making improvements to death row.
She said conditions described in the prisoners' suit sounded harsh, but "I immediately go to the victim's feelings. Their loved ones are in the ground."
For Walker, convicted in 1991 of raping and killing a woman, it's one of the few opportunities to escape the screams and maniacal laughter of his fellow condemned inmates
Boo hoo. Do they remind him of the screams of the woman he raped and murdered?
A large percentage of people in jail were drug abusers on the outside. Years of drug abuse alters their brain chemistry. That is likely a bigger reason many of them go insane. Charles Manson is the poster child for that. Researchers need to control for that effect before suggesting policy changes.
Personally, I'm more concerned about wild animals kept in zoos. Whenever I go to a zoo the animals pace back and forth in endless repetition. It's not like these animals can pick up a book and entertain themselves. Zoos are really a sad thing. Maybe 100 years from now people will look back at our prison-like zoos and wonder what we were thinking.
I've told folks about this philosophy and some have said that will only make for very angry people coming out of prison. My view is that a prison term spent mostly in isolation will give that prisoner real pause when thinking about future criminal acts. The incidence of prison rape would drop basically to zero and thus the rate of AIDS in prison would drop as well. While providing the facilities as described above might cost more than the typical facilities, I think that cost would be offset by reduced personnel costs along with reduced medical costs resulting from a dramatic drop in incarceration related injuries resulting from rape, fights, etc. I suppose somebody like Amnesty International would say this treatment would be inhumane, but I think prohibiting a small time crook from being hardened into a big time offender due to brutal treatment from other hardened inmates is very humane.
Ya think?
By definition they were twisted pukes before they got there. Prison didn't make them that way. So it's not all bad that they have to spend their final days -- or years even -- living in close proximity with others who are just like them. Maybe they'll come to realize before checking out that they are in the right place and that society absolutely must protect itself from such sociopaths.
I also have a problem with how some "conservatives" view prison rape as perfectly acceptable.
It's shameful. And in the case of people who will be turned loose on society at some point, I think it's counterproductive.
He said the mental health care amounted to "warehousing" inmates and providing some with medication.
Why not provide ALL OF THEM WITH MEDICATION!!
Sodium Thiopental
Pancuronium Bromide (Pavulon[TM])
Potassium Chloride (KCl)
Works for me, no more screaming...
Keep the faith for Freedom
Greg
1. Quicker executions would put an end to this "cruel and unusual" punishment.
2. If prison life is so bad, why do death-penalty opponents favor life sentences? Seems they want to be more cruel to the inmates than the death-penalty advocates - at least we want to put them out of their misery.
Just sit in there and think about what you did. Every minute of every day.
Thankfully no one bought it and he went to meet..Satan courtsey of the state of Tennessee. The first inmate to be executed in 33 yrs.
Prison is a bad place. It needs to be a bad place. I am paid very well to work in these conditions and understand that it it part of my job.
Nothing bothers me more than people that have never walked a day in my shoes and never walked a tier in their life pontificating on how tough inmates have it.
The problems that these inmates are facing are for the most part directly related to their own behavior and are delt with in a manner consistent with behavior problems.
When the correctional staff begin to complain of the working conditions I will be a wee bit more attentive but when yet another article comes along where inmates are whining about actually having to "pay" for their crimes I tend to get a little hard of hearing.
I hope that I didn't come off to ranty but i have been listening to this type of drivel for 15 years and frankly when I leave work hearing a bunch of convicted felons complaining about their lot in life I can't help but think...
"I quess I earned my pay today" :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.