Death-row prisoners fight for their rights ------------------------- Consider this:
These are just some of the current issues in the struggle of death-row prisoners in Texas. PURE says resist! The group Panthers United for Revolutionary Education is circulating a letter on death row. In it PURE explains: "The seemingly petty harassment that we are subjected to daily is slowly but clearly having a cumulative effect. ... Some have given in ... and expect to be treated with cruelty and disrespect. But PURE vehemently disagrees ... and stands ready to speak up and out for any prisoner, regardless of race, who's willing to refuse and resist the politics of cruelty. "The people can make a change and PURE believes in the people, not the system!" The letter was circulated the day after a prisoner was not allowed to use the toilet. Handcuffed behind his back, he was roughed up by guards after he refused to go into a filthy cell. Later, when one of the guards was asked if he would have sat on the filthy toilet, the guard said no. Asked why he would force a prisoner to use it, the guard said: "I'm human. You're not." For "recreation" at the Ellis Unit, death-row prisoners have a cramped day room and a small caged yard. The day room has a urinal and a basin. If a prisoner needs to have a bowel movement he is at the mercy of the guards to escort him back to his cell. Some guards have been refusing. Instead, they amuse themselves by wagering on whether or for how long a prisoner can hold his bowels. In a statement now being circulated, titled "When the Overseen Cease to Obey the Overseers," an anonymous prisoner writes: "The ultimate shame comes when nature prevails and the prisoner is forced to defecate on himself or in the latrine or on the day room floor ... "...the painful choice of living with or without one's dignity is one and the same choice of whether to `die fighting on one's feet or living on one's knees.' "... Come to our aid by writing or phoning the prison director or the Ellis Unit warden demanding a stop to this insanity." Protesters list demands On Oct. 26, anti-death-penalty protesters drew cheers from prisoners inside the Walls Unit, where Texas' 107 executions have taken place, and from visiting family members. A bullhorn helped protesters' words penetrate the 40-foot-tall red brick walls as they demanded that Daryl Wheatfall be released from solitary confinement, and that death-row prisoners be allowed to use a toilet when they need one. They also demanded the prison release its report on the July killing of a 20-year-old Mexican prisoner at a unit near Abilene. A guard on horseback shot Daniel Avellaneda in the forehead while the prisoner's hands were in the air. The prison cremated Avellaneda's body before even notifying his family of his death. The guard was never charged or tried. A Mexican family talked to protesters on Oct. 26. They had driven all night from the Rio Grande Valley to visit a prisoner. One family member commented, "These guards are so sick and cruel, it seems like the system doesn't have the real criminals locked up." Members of the coalition taped an enlarged copy of a list of demands on the door of the prison administration building across from the Walls unit, then went inside to give a copy to the warden. Guards refused to get the warden. And they threatened to ban the monthly protests if the demonstrators didn't immediately leave the unit's entryway, cross the street and remove their demands from the administration building's door. When the protesters refused, the guards themselves tore down the demands. [The Texas Coalition plans a statewide meeting in Austin on Nov. 9. For information, readers can call (713) 523-8454. To protest the treatment of death-row prisoners, contact TDCJ Director Gary Johnson, Administration Bldg., PO Box 99, Huntsville, TX 77342-0099, (713) 277-3030; and Warden B. Thaler, Rt. 6, Ellis Unit, Huntsville, TX 77343, (713) 295-5756.] - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@wwpublish.com. For subscription info send message to: ww-info@wwpublish.com. Web: http://www.workers.org) |