Prison Kills

I found an article by Mark Johnson about the death of his friend Craig Morrison incredibly sad. Craig fitted the profile of so many of those incarcerated by our criminal justice system, he came from a working class family, his father left home, his mother was an alcoholic and he ended up at 12 being put into 'care'. At 16 he was left to fend for himself he soon drifted into drug use and petty crime. Craig's account of his own childhood can be read in a Guardian Article published in 2008.

Like so many young people who are failed by society and damaged by its institutions it was his fate to end up in court where a man in fancy dress and a wig will have told him it was his fault and what was needed was that he be subjected to pain. This he would have been told was "justice".

Despite the criminal justice system's best attempts some convicts manage to escape its clutches and found outlets for their humanity and talents, sometimes a section of the criminal justice system actual helps them. This appears to have been Craig's experience at Grendon prison ten years ago which proved to be a turning point in his life.  Following release he appeared to be the very model of a reformed prisoner, he got a degree and followed this up with employment in a number of criminal justice agencies. He became a sought after speaker at reform conferences and seminars.

On New Year's Day he killed himself.

I never met Craig but his story didn't surprise me.  I have know far too many ex-con's kill themselves. I have read a few of their suicide notes. The damage done to individuals in state institutions, children's homes and prisons is immense. The suicide rates for prisoners are five times the national rate (and 18 times the national rate for 15-17 year olds. For male ex-prisoners they are over eight times the national rate and for women ex-prisoners they are 36 times the national rate. (source: See Page 21)

Just being in prison reduces life expectancy, the average age of male prisoners who die from 'natural causes' is 56.

So we do still have a death penalty, just not one handed out explicitly. Prison Kills.

Stop the Death Penalty

Mohammadi Ashtiani - Update and New Appeal for Support

Last Thursday I blogged about Sakine Mohammadi e Ashtiani's impending stoning in Iran.  Since then the Iranian Government have indicated that they no longer intend to stone her.  However they are still planning to kill her by hanging.  I have recieved this appeal from Amnesty International USA for signatories for another appeal to the Iranian authorities.  Please support it.

Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian mother of two, could be executed at any moment.

The Iranian government was until recently set to carry out the barbaric use of stoning against Mohammadi Ashtiani for allegedly conducting an "illicit relationship outside marriage," despite the lack of any corroborating evidence against her.

Iranian officials were prepared to bury Mohammadi Ashtiani up to her chest and then throw stones at her head until she died. But after a major international uproar, Iranian officials changed their minds.

Mohammadi Ashtiani is now in danger of being executed by other means.

Iran's government just doesn't get it - execution is wrong no matter which means are used.

What's worse - Mohammadi Ashtiani has already been punished for her alleged crime. In May 2006, she received 99 lashes as her sentence and has been imprisoned ever since.

But the fact that Iranian officials have already changed their minds once about Mohammadi Ashtiani's fate proves that they are listening. Iran's draconian policies are not immune to international pressure.

Let them hear how outraged you are. Tell Iran to stop the executions by signing the petition here.

Help Sakine Mohammadi e Ashtiani Live!

Please support this appeal

Sakine Mohammadi e Ashtiani faces a horrible punishment for an act of nature: sex.

But apparently sex outside of marriage is volatile enough that this woman deserves to be executed by stoning. At least some people in Iran think so. She will almost certainly be murdered by a corrupt "justice" system in a most excruciating way unless WE do something about it. This petition is that something.

Although stoning is sadly not terribly uncommon in some parts of the world, saving one person from this atrocity could help to build the movement against inhumane punishments and executions worldwide and promote more justice in troubled nations like Iran. YOU have power to help stop this, the choice is simply yours to do it or not. I urge you brothers and sisters, for we have no more room for hate in our world, the free MUST remember the forgotten. This is simply our duty to our fellow human, to stand up for her when she cannot. I beg you to share this with anyone who would sign it, as it will send a strong message to those capable of helping this poor woman have her right to life.

By signing this petition here

Further details here

Help save Troy Davis

I received this e-mail from Amnesty asking for support for Troy Davis on death row in the USA.  Please support.

Dear Friend,


Troy Davis has one last chance to save his own life.

He has faced 3 execution dates, despite the fact that most witnesses have recanted their testimony since he was convicted of murder 19 years ago.


On Wednesday, June 23, a U.S. Supreme Court-ordered evidentiary hearing will be held in Savannah, Georgia.

Stand with Amnesty. Demand justice for Troy Davis.

Troy was sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer in Savannah, a crime he maintains he did not commit. There was no physical evidence against him and the weapon used in the murder was never found.

The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony. Since his trial, all but two of the nine state's non-police witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony, many alleging that police coerced their original statements.

But for years, appellate judges declined to let these witnesses appear in court, citing procedural rules and technicalities. Finally, last August, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a new evidentiary hearing for Troy, deciding that he should have one last chance to prove his innocence before the state of Georgia tries again to put him to death.

However, at the hearing Troy must "clearly establish his innocence," which is an incredibly high legal standard.

Wednesday, June 23, Troy's life is on the line.

Join Amnesty. Denounce the death penalty for Troy Davis.

Regardless of the hearing's outcome, no execution should ever take place when there are so many doubts about guilt.

Georgia cannot afford to make such a mistake, and Amnesty International is urging state officials to do everything in their power to prevent injustice from taking place.

Thank you for taking action on behalf of Troy Davis.

In Solidarity,

Laura Moye
Death Penalty Abolition Campaign Director, Amnesty International USA

Frank Skinner calls for death penalty for children

Shocking article in the Times where Frank Skinner argues that teenage "thugs" should be killed off to save money on prison costs. calling for 'a genuinely constructive death-penalty policy' he argues that some people are so evil they deserve to be exterminated.

Very nasty.

Mumia Abu-Jamal & the death penalty - Petition to President Obama

From Robert R. Bryan, lead attorney for Mumia Abu-Jamal:

Today I put online a petition for President Barack Obama regarding Mumia & the death penalty. I ask that you & your colleagues sign it as soon as possible.

Signers within the first few hours include Günter Grass, Nobel Prize winner in literature, Madame Danielle Mitterrand, former First Lady of France, Fatima Bhutto, Noam Chomsky, Ed Asner, etc.

I expect a decision next week from the U.S. Supreme Court on the question of the death penalty. Mumia & I are very concerned, because earlier this week the court denied relief in a similar case, Smith v. Spisak. Either we get a green light to proceed with the new jury trial we previously won on the question of death or life, or we are closer to an execution.

Robert R. Bryan
Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, CA 94123-4117

Please sign this petition now



Details of Mumia's case online here

One thousand deaths too many

Siddique Abdullah Hasan is one of the Lucasville Five--a group of men railroaded onto death row in Ohio after a 1993 prison rebellion in which inmates at the Lucasville prison rose up against the abuses and arbitrary rules of prison guards and officials. In the article below, published originally on SocialistWorker.org Below, he writes about the July 21 execution of Marvallous Kenne--the 1,000th prisoner to be executed by lethal injection in the U.S. since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.


IN SPITE of the milestone we have made with the election of the first African American president, it is sad that we have to witness, in the 21st century, in such an industrialized nation, that we've come to the point that we have executed the 1,000th person by way of lethal injection.

Is it really just a coincidence that Marvallous Keene in Ohio, the victim of this 1000th lethal injection, was a Black man?

As if lethal injection is a sanitized way of killing someone! The reality is that regardless of how the execution is being carried out, it still amounts to murder. Another murder that this society doesn't need to make society safe.


There are too many injustices and too much unfairness to support lethal injection or any other form of execution in this country. Too many minorities are being victimized by it. And you have veterinarians not willing to use some of the elements of the lethal injection on animals, yet this government is willing to use it on human beings. They are saying that animal life is more important to them than human life.


But it's hard to tell Ohio authorities, considering that they just killed two people last week--and that, between now and February 4, they have seven more executions scheduled.


What has really touched a nerve with me is that one of these people scheduled for execution on January 7 is a very good friend and dear Muslim brother of mine. Not only is he a dear friend of mine, but I'm also trying to see to it that he gets a proper Islamic burial.


What we need is for concerned citizens in Ohio and elsewhere to show some collective responsibility. We need a national movement to put this issue on the table so that Barack Obama's administration must turn their attention toward the criminal injustice system.

Should we wait on them? No! We should unify our efforts in the anti-death penalty movement and demand that Barack Obama's administration do something about it. We must come with an agenda and submit this agenda to Barack Obama and the Justice Department.


It is my hope and prayer that the soldiers in the abolitionist movement will step up to the plate and use every resource available at our disposal to not only fight the injustice of capital punishment in Texas, Georgia and Ohio, but work toward abolishing it on a national scale.



Imam Siddique Abdullah Hasan, from Ohio's Death Row
You can write to him at Siddique Abdullah Hasan, R130-559, Ohio State Penitentiary, 878 Coitsville-Hubbard Road, Youngstown, OH 44505.
His Web site is at http://www.freehasan.org/


Staughton Lynd's definitive account Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising is one of the best accounts I have read of the dynamics of prison and provides both a good account of the uprising and equally important how the criminal justice system's response was itself a perversion of justice. I really recommend it as a must read of prison literature. The Introduction can be downloaded for free from here.