I have corresponded with prisoners in the USA since 1995. My first pen pal, from Georgia,
went home on parole in 1997 and has stayed out of prison, according to GA DOC records. I
missed the letters and when Karla Fay Tucker was executed in Texas I decided to find a
penpal on death row as a way of protesting against the death penalty. I found Curtis and we
are into our 7th year of writing. It has been a long haul as I have followed him from
Florida's death row through 5 different facilities and he has recently transferred to the 6th
one. I am hoping he will remain in this facility until he finishes his sentence in about 4
years' time. ( His death sentence was overturned in 1998 and he was re sentenced for 2nd
degree murder. I myself believe he is innocent but a scapegoat had to be found to close a
case that dragged on for 7 years )
Traveling with an inmate from one facility to the next is very frustrating. More so if one
does not live in the USA. The prison authorities do not want to co-operate at all and lie and
excuse themselves all the time. One sometimes gets help from the prison chaplain..as I did
when Curtis was still on death row.. but for the most part being a prison chaplain is another
state paid job and the chaplain has to abide by prison rules.
Each time Curtis has transferred some of his property has disappeared. I have had to give
him extra cash to buy a new radio twice and he has always lost some underwear. It seems
the property department does not care one bit that family and friends have to keep sending
money to enable the prisoners to survive the winters and there is little if any investigation
done into how the property disappeared. Many prisoners rely on help from their Moms who
often are on welfare or receive disability pensions and sacrifice their own needs in trying to
help their sons or daughters.
Unfortunately I have had very little backup from Curtis' family and I can understand this
as he has a bad past history. Also he has many mental health problems and can be
somewhat manipulative. I guess his family and so many other families find it easier to just
pretend there aren't problems. They do not want to be told by outsiders that they are wrong
and should be more involved. It took me a number of years to come to terms with this
problem.
To date I have 5 prison penpals. .one is on death row and two are doing life without parole
sentences. One will be released in 9 years time..he is turning 37yrs and will be almost 50
when he gets out.. and Curtis will hopefully be out in 2007 or 08. He depends solely on Gain
Time as he is not educated enough to work on his own appeal brief and does not get paid in
prison for the work he does, so he cannot afford a prison "lawyer". The reason he gets no
pay is because, while on death row, he accepted a package for an inmate while he was in the
"hole" and was not warned that the package contained a "joint". Unfortunately he did not
flush the item when the guards caught him receiving the goods. It seems that had he done
so he would not have been written up. Receiving the "joint" is classified as a felony and so
he is penalised for the rest of his stay in prison.
I had one more pen friend on death row and we corresponded for almost 5 years.
Unfortunately we had a falling out and now I am waiting to see whether he will carry on
writing. He is awaiting re sentencing and I am hoping he will get a sentence for 2nd degree
murder as I do not believe he should have received the death sentence or even a new
sentence of life which will probably be without parole.
I have graduated from just being a pen friend to having my own domain and I am a
member of different groups,although I prefer to free-lance. I also have my own news group
and message board. Lately I have been researching cases and have put up web pages for a
couple of people. One of them has been fortunate in having his case taken on by the same
man who worked on the case of Joe Amrine who was exonerated in Missouri not too long
ago. I also put up the odd petitions,there are three in circulation. One is/was for the saving
of Lynda Lyon who was executed in the electric chair in Alabama in May 2002. One is/was
for a stay of execution for her husband George Sibley and the latest one is to try to get the
Governor of Florida to abolish the Three Strikes, You're Out law plus other useless laws.
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?vla7dd77
I will keep on with this work for as long as I can as I am committed and "addicted"! I am
not against punishing criminals but even if they are locked away I do not wish them to be
treated inhumanely. They have bodily functions as we do and they have health problems
and they need stimulation and encouragement to change their attitudes. I realise that many
will never change, but most can and should be given the chance to do so.
If I lived in the USA I would work towards setting up halfway houses for released inmates
so as to give them a chance to get on their feet and find meaningful employment.
While in prison all those that are uneducated should be enrolled in programs that allow
them to get their G E D. Those who are educated should be able to study further so that
when they get back on the street they will be able to be more selective job-wise. Those who
are unable to cope with studying should be able to learn a trade. All these things work
towards promoting good self esteem which in turn leads to becoming a responsible citizen
in society.
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09/17/03