Anynumber:none

Gone to Wordpress. Come on over...

2010-01-10T15:51:00.000-08:00

Hello, thanks for checking in on Any Number : None. The blog has been re-invented at Wordpress

Please come on over and keep reading what I'm up to with all this death penalty, letter-writing and running stuff.

Confusion around plight of Joshua French in the Democratic Republic of Congo

2010-01-07T15:33:00.000-08:00

The case of Joshua French and his friend Tjostolv Moland, both Norwegians, seems to have received relatively little press coverage. The pair, former soldiers, were condemned to death under military law in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on 3rd December 2009, for the murder of Abedi Kasongo, a driver who was taking them back to the Ugandan border after their touring motorbike broke down. Both men have steadfastedly protested their innocence, explaining that Kasongo was in fact the victim of an ambush. I can't help but wonder if one of the reasons for any lack of hoo-ha is that there is a sense, reading between the lines, that these guys (then employed in private security services) somehow dropped themselves into it? DRC isn't your average adventure holiday destination after all.

My response to this is SO WHAT? Reading the Reprieve case notes reveals a series of horrific transgressions of justice and human rights which deserve a wholesome challenge. For a start, there is the question of why the two men were held, tried, convicted and condemned to death by firing squad by a military court, in violation of the DRC's own constitution. The military courts claim, falsely, that this is their right for crimes involving firearms. Undoubtedly the secrecy and disregard for proper legal procedure which has characterised this entire scenario is primarily a result of a complete breakdown in the application of the rule of law in DRC.

Furthermore, the two men were initially asked to pay $500million in compensation. Whether this would be in exchange for their lives is unclear. If so, this brands the prevailing justice system of the DRC as little better than banditry. French's sister is reported as confirming that the two men were not engaged in any military capacity at the time of their arrest, and alleges they were set up by the Congolese government for the purposes of extortion. The Norwegian government has apparently stumped up cash to provide recompense to those wronged by the murder, but has denied the allegation of the two men being 'spies for the Norwegian government' and refused to pay up for such. Although I am not sure why they have made any concession, when that looks like an admission of culpability.

So what of the farcical and tragic circumstances of the trial and appeal? According to Reprieve,

"French and Moland understood little of what was said when they were sentenced to death, as most of it was held in French, which neither of them understands. During the appeal judgement, the chief judge stopped the interpreter from translating on the grounds that he was slowing things down."

It should be noted that Reprieve's involvement in this case stems from the fact that French is half British. Clive Stafford-Smith the Director and Founder of Reprieve said that the 'legal process' surrounding this case has

"included torturing Joshua, parading him around town in front of lynch nobs, and forcing him to sign statements under threat of death."

He added,

" The British government must redouble its efforts to end this nightmare."

I thought I'd find out some more about what the government are doing - so I sent an email letter to David Milliband, the UK Foreign Minister, to ask for their support. To my pleasure (and surprise), I did receive a reply. Below is the substance of both my letter, and the reply I received yesterday.

Dear Mr Miliband,

I am writing to urge you to make the strongest possible representations on behalf of the British Government to the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to intervene in the case of Joshua French, a British national, who along with a Norwegian friend, has been accused of murder, which both men deny, and sentenced to death. Joshua has today had an appeal against his sentence rejected, in the most nightmarish and improper circumstances, unless $500million can be raised to save his life. The entire process has been a mockery of Human Rights and justice, with the trial and sentence being handed down by Military tribunal; this is in itself in contravention of DCR's constitution, which states that non-military personnel must be tried in legitimate civilian courts.

Please, please work with the team at Reprieve UK (copied) to do everything you can to understand this case and furthermore, with any discretion at your disposal, to ensure that justice is properly served and Joshua can be brought safely home to Britain.

Whoever said 'Hell is the absence of Reason' must have been talking about situations like this; the death penalty is ALWAYS wrong, but to have it meted out under such abhorrent circumstances as these where seemingly nothing rational can be done is not tolerable in our times.

Yours sincerely,

In the hope that something can be urgently done for Joshua.

Kathy Brown

and the reply...

Dear Ms Brown,

Thank you for your email of 03 December 2009 to the Foreign Secretary about Joshua French, who is in detention in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I am replying as consular officer for Southern and East Africa.

Our colleagues in Kinshasa are providing consular assistance to Joshua, whose welfare is a priority. They have visited him on numerous occasions since September and are prepared to raise any concerns he may have regarding the conditions of detention with the Congolese authorities.

We do not take a view on innocence or guilt but we do want a fair trial. We closely monitor cases and respond to any concerns raised with us by the British national or their legal representatives.

The British Government is absolutely opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. We have recently raised our opposition with the Congolese authorities and will continue to do so. We hope that now the death penalty has been confirmed, it will be commuted to imprisonment as we understand that the DRC has signed up to a moratorium against the death penalty. We will make representations to achieve this end at whatever stage and level is deemed appropriate.

We are cooperating with the Norwegian authorities in order to ensure that our representations are consistent and have the best opportunity to achieve our objectives.

Kind regards

Needless to say I was quite interested in this reply on a few counts. Firstly, it sounds as if the primary consideration of the FCO's local consular office is in ensuring Joshua's welfare - which is good news, were it not for the fact that his welfare is kinda at its nadir at the point at which he is murdered by firing squad. Secondly, that the Britsh government are opposed to the Death Penalty on all counts and request a fair trial - but they do not say how they are attempting, if at all, to rectify the fact that French did not receive one.

Most puzzling though is this matter of the DRC's moratorium on executions and the expectation that French and Moland's sentences will be automatically commuted to life imprisonment. I've asked them for clarification on this aspect. The specific reference I have found in this case comes from news as early as December 4th that the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Stoere was assured during conversation with Alexis Mwamba, his Congolese counterpart, that a current moratorium meant that executions would not now be carried out. I am confused by this, since my understanding of a moratorium is that it is defined as a temporary position. So why this implies automatic commutation to life is unclear and inconsistent. But if true, 'tis worthy of some celebration in that it at least gives Reprieve and the governments of Britain and Norway time to right the wrongs. Wikipedia (which, gratis, should not be taken as gospel) states that the DRC does not currently apply the death penalty. In which case why were the two men sentenced to death in the first place?

The whole thing smacks of blackmail, corruption, bullying and flagrant disregard for human rights to me. I'd like to see more exposure of this in the international press.

5 reactions to the execution of Akmal Shaikh

2009-12-29T03:14:00.000-08:00

The Sadness

There can be no more poignant summary of the sadness felt by many at the outcome of the campaign to save Akmal Shaikh than this statement issued by Reprieve UK on behalf of his surviving family:

STATEMENT ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE FAMILY OF AKMAL SHAIKH

We are deeply saddened, stunned and disappointed at the news of the execution of our beloved cousin, Akmal. This was carried out this morning despite repeated requests for clemency and a proper appraisal of Akmal’s mental state.

We are astonished at suggestions that Akmal himself should have provided evidence of his own fragile state of mind. We find it ludicrous that any mentally ill person should be expected to provide this, especially when this was apparently bipolar disorder, in which we understand the sufferer has a distorted view of the world, including his own condition. That this was regarded as sufficient grounds for refusal by the judicial authorities to order any mental health assessment is shocking to us.

(Photo Courtesy of AP Photos : http://www.daylife.com/photo/04r9b6c5GF03S?q=soohail+shaikh)

Despite our own and other pleas, the Chinese authorities have maintained their refusal to investigate Akmal’s mental health. We are comforted that the authorities have confirmed that Akmal has been buried in accordance with his own and his family’s wishes.

On behalf of the family we thank the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, as well as all the other Ministers and officials for their efforts which were sadly ignored by the Chinese authorities.

Finally, we now request the media to kindly respect the family’s privacy and allow us the space to grieve.

--- SOOHAIL and NASIR SHAIKH
Cousins of Akmal Shaikh, on behalf of the Shaikh family

The Fury

The Guardian Newspaper was expressing fury at the notion Akmal would be executed at al, and unleashed it in full this morning with a headline focusing on the outrage felt by those who have worked hard for and supported his reprieve.

The language used throughout this piece reflects the frustration, ire and sadness felt by British leaders and campaigners alike. The BBC during the course of the evening had described the conversation yesterday between Foreign Office representatives and Chinese oficals as 'a frank exchange of views', which, they conceded, was a metaphor for a full-on argument. China's record on Human Rights is not good, and the widespread exposure of this case has done nothing to further their reputation.

The BBC have provided a short collection of responses to the execution here.

The Bile

Despite its full and fair coverage of the Akmal Shaikh story this morning, the Daily Mail is also guilty of having allowed the online publication of this utterly repugnant piece by columnist Leo McKinstry. He states

"The British government, with its prattle about human rights, likes to think a refusal to use capital punishment is a badge of a civilised society. The truth is the willingness to execute dangerous criminals is a sign of compassion. It means a government is determined to protect the vulnerable and maintain morality."

He concludes by saying

"There is nothing barbaric about the death penalty. The real barbarism lies in refusing to punish criminals."

Demonstrating once again, as so many proponents of capital punishment do, that he has missed the point. No-one is saying that drug trafficking is not evil and reprehensible. No-one is saying crime should go unpunished. His sophistry also displays utter ignorance - that anyone could suggest that there is nothing barbaric about the death penalty has clearly done no meaningful research on the matter whatsoever.

It never ceases to amaze me that a matter which seems so instinctive to myself can be so twisted by hatred by others.

I apologise to all here and now for driving traffic to the Daily Mail website. As we all know the stance of the Daily Mail is to drive circulation through whatever editorial means possible. If in doubt, scan the Wikipedia entries concerning the Daily Mail and founder Viscount Rothermere and his successors to form your own opinion of how they play on hatred to secure their business objective.

If anything we should go out of our way to ignore the rag and make it hurt.

For further bile, if you have the stomach, simply take a look through the comments made in response to Reprieve's video footage 'Final Plea for Akmal Shaikh'. In my mind this is nothing more than desecration of a tombstone. Unbelievable. I wonder how those gainsayers would react if Reprieve were to leap to the defence of them, or one of their friends or relatives in international jeopardy?

The Chinese Response

There has been no official response to or report of the execution yet across Chinese news channels. However the sense is one of stubborn and righteous indignation:

In Beijing the Chinese government said it resisted any interference in its judicial affairs. "We express strong dissatisfaction and opposition to the British reaction," said Jiang Yu, a foreign ministry spokeswoman. "We hope the British side will face this case squarely and not put new obstacles in the way of relations between Britain and China."

(Source: The Guardian)

Comment on articles and Youtube footage included Chinese viewpoints, defensive of their country's action and taking the view that Akmal Shaikh was first and foremost a drug trafficker.

The impact

In the words of the Guardian, "experts said the long-term impact would be small...."

"The two sides are just posturing for their own citizens," said Wu Qiang of Tsinghua University. "Akmal Shaikh is only an isolated case. Unless the UK raises the issue to the EU level I don't think there will be big influence on relations."

I like to think there is an impact of a different kind. We simply cannot overlook the social web influence factor any more. Last night, several of us on Twitter tried and failed to get the #SaveAkmal hashtag to trend (i.e. reach the list of top topics currently being mentioned in the community.). But with every high-profile case of this kind we obtain a little more awareness of the inhumanity and irrationality of Capital Punishment. Today, the name Akmal Shaikh has reached the volumes required in Twitter for it to trend. It all helps!!

It is my fervent hope that the ultimate impact of the doomed campaign to save Akmal Shaikh wil be another baby-step towards the eventual elimination of the Death Penalty in every nation.

If you oppose the Death Penalty, please consider following @TheOptimismClub on Twitter and joining the Facebook Group

Murder in China and the Birth of The Optimism Club

2009-12-28T19:01:00.000-08:00

Picture courtesy of Getty Images - http://www.daylife.com/photo/0gc28hF30P6zw

Tonight has been energising, exhausting and emotional. While a band of sturdy campaigners have stood an actual vigil for the reprieve of Akmal Shaikh outside the Chinese Embassy in London this evening, I've been proud to keep my own personal vigil of sorts online, in the company of a whole crowd of Tweeters determinedly plugging the #SaveAkmal hashtag.

At time of writing, we still do not know if the Chinese have actually gone through with the Sentence of Death they confirmed at 2.30 am. We're all watching various news sources which cautiously suggest it must have happened. But still no official word. Which gives rise to the last strand of hope that the ultimate clemency may have been granted. Who knows right now. Poor Akmal. Poor Akmal's family. Poor China. But, y'know what? It's not in vain. Energy doesn't vanish, it is simply transformed.

The hope and the tentative positivity displayed this evening showed me that there can always be optimism. And that optimism drives an energy and a force of its own. And that with a medium like the social web at our disposal, we can create the domino effect. We can target and challenge death penalty issues wherever we feel they might have most effect. I truly believe this. So tonight will see the birth of @TheOptimismClub. The tweeters who were standing virtually united to promote the cause of Akmal Shaikh in his tragic final hours (we assume) are by default some of the founding members of that group.

There are a whole lot of haters and vicarious murderers out there - the black-aura'd 'hang-em-high' gang. But I for one won't stop opposing capital punishment until I die.

The Optimism Club gives me a channel to focus on my death penalty interests separately from my regular Twitter ID and invite contribution from others who want to challenge the death penalty's persistence worldwide. Gonna be a task and a half. And now it's 4 a.m. so more on this anon... Comments are welcome!

British woman donates savings to save Akmal Shaikh

2009-12-28T12:44:00.000-08:00

I wouldn't normally copy and paste a Press Release in its entirety but time is running out for Akmal Shaikh, so am posting this here for expediency as it's not yet up on the Reprieve site

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Dec. 28, 2009)

EXECUTION DATE: TUESDAY, 10.30AM (2.30AM GMT)

British woman offers her savings for a reprieve for Akmal Shaikh; British government place new evidence developed today before Chinese authorities.

Akmal Shaikh’s execution is set for 10.30am on Tuesday morning, Urumqi time (2.30am GMT). It is now less than nine hours away.

Meanwhile, a British woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, has offered her savings (£8,235) to the Chinese government, for donation to a Chinese charity of their choosing, if they will spare Akmal’s life. She does not know Akmal, but has had close experience with bipolar disorder, the illness that afflicts him, and recognizes how it could easily have led him to his current predicament. She made her kind offer to the Chinese government, through Reprieve.

“I know that manic episodes can give a person a sense of invulnerability, and that this leads a person to do crazy things that they would not consider when they are stable,” said the anonymous donor, in a letter to Reprieve. “It also makes the person vulnerable to the exciting ideas suggested by others. Anyone looking at the pathetic ‘pop song’ written by Mr Shaikh, and hearing of his hopes that this would somehow bring world peace, must agree that he was not rational when he agreed to carry the suitcase with these drugs in it. Asking for compassion for this man obviously does not imply that one condones drug smuggling in any way. Compassion is the most important human virtue.”

Meanwhile, Dr Peter Schaapveld, the forensic psychologist who has generously donated his time towards the case, has reviewed the new evidence, issuing a further medical opinion:

“The new information just received by Reprieve and which I have now read, confirms the view that Mr. Shaikh was clearly suffering from a severe mental disorder. These witnesses who knew him well have given specific examples of behaviour which are only explained by mental disorder. What is more these examples occur at the material time; that is the time immediately preceding the actions that led to his arrest and death sentence. It is therefore all the more urgent that consideration be given to mental health issues in the case which would in any legal system in the world lessen the severity of a court's sentence. I can only ask along with his legal team and the family that this be done.”

The British government has made additional submissions to the Chinese authorities seeking clemency, including the statements of four witnesses who came forward to Reprieve today corroborating Akmal Shaikh’s mental illness, and the photographs submitted by journalist-photographer Luis Belmonte that so dramatically illustrate his illness.

“This anonymous British woman illustrates the Christmas spirit far better than our habitual consumerism," said Reprieve's director Clive Stafford Smith. “Let us hope that her kindness finds its due reciprocation from the Chinese authorities.”

For more information the primary contact at Reprieve is Sally Rowen (sally.rowen@reprieve.org.uk 020 7427 1099/ 07773 348833) or Clive Stafford Smith (clivestaffordsmith@mac.com).

* * *

Notes for Editors:

Reprieve, a legal action charity, uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantánamo Bay. Reprieve investigates, litigates and educates, working on the frontline, to provide legal support to prisoners unable to pay for it themselves. Reprieve promotes the rule of law around the world, securing each person’s right to a fair trial and saving lives. Clive Stafford Smith is the founder of Reprieve and has spent 25 years working on behalf of people facing the death penalty in the USA.

Reprieve’s current casework involves representing 33 prisoners in the US prison at Guantánamo Bay, working on behalf of prisoners facing the death penalty, and conducting ongoing investigations into the rendition and the secret detention of ‘ghost prisoners’ in the so-called ‘war on terror.’

Reprieve

PO Box 52742

London EC4P 4WS

Tel: 020 7353 4640

Fax: 020 7353 4641

Email: info@reprieve.org.uk

Website: www.reprieve.org.uk

Reprieve is a charitable company limited by guarantee; Registered Charity No. 1114900 Registered Company No. 5777831 (England) Registered Office 2-6 Cannon Street London EC4M 6YH; Chair: Lord Bingham; Patrons: Alan Bennett, Julie Christie, Martha Lane Fox, Gordon Roddick, Jon Snow, Marina Warner

It's important to stay elfie at Christmas

2009-12-27T09:21:00.000-08:00

When the daily diet will hardly stave off

scurvy, when all around you are tempting you with yet another newly-opened box of chockies, when the family have a seemingly bottomless appetite for sausage rolls, leftovers + chips, and it seems ungrateful not to indulge in all the alcoholic miscellany that you never normally touch in the course of the year... what about a nice run in the snow on Christmas Day morning to do some bloat-offsetting?

With this thought in mind, the family Brown set off at 8.20 am on Christmas morning, our two cheerful elves in tow, to Basingstoke Parkrun. Kindly volunteers led by Rachel Elliott had agreed to set up and run the regular 5km course (using coloured route markers instead of white, to stand out against the snow). There was a wonderful turnout of people dressed for the occasion - about 50 in total including Santas, Rudolph, a turkey and a Christmas pudding, and elves.

It was jolly chilly, and the snow had compacted to ice with a slush layer on top, making running (especially corners) pretty treacherous going. I set off at a waddle - eventually toddling into the finish in 43rd position, and agreeing with everyone that it had been 'pretty horrible'. But we then set about some mutual congratulation and celebration with some rum and Baileys brought by us, and some panettone, crunchy mince pies and chocolate crunchy tiffin brought along by others. And so it was the perfect start to a festive interlude of gluttony and sloth.

OK - so I have lapsed back into idleness for a few days now - but with Frimley Lakeside 8 mile looming in 4 weeks and the Reading Half-Marathon in March 2010, I need to swiftly get back into some long-distance waddling. Starting tomorrow.

Race Report: Grim Challenge or Grin Challenge?

2009-12-27T04:19:00.000-08:00

Oh dear, only 3 weeks late writing up my report of the race of the year. I ran, I waded, I crawled, I survived... the GRIM CHALLENGE 2009. This was a departure from the races I've achieved so far this year in being more of a X-Country style event; and for me, at 8 miles, the longest distance I would have covered to date on unpredictable terrain, was never going to be about doing a time.

In the event, I came way down the field, with a time of around 1 hr 49 mins, and a finishing position of 2464 - in contrast to my friend Mark who came an amazing 77th out of the field of 2800 runners. So no, this was NEVER about a time, for me it was just about getting round - and I MADE it!

So many of my friends and colleagues think I am crazy to have tried it and I have earned their admiration and respect. They can't imagine how anyone would want to engage in such discomfort. The 10km races were one thing, training for my first half-marathon in 2010 another, but... freezing cold tracts of water, gooey mud, hills and cargo nets?

Miles of smiles

The clue is in the smiles. See the picture of me, here, taken by the official course photographer at around the 5-mile mark? Well, this time last year I was perusing the race pictures and website following my husband and two of his mates taking part. They had said how much they'd enjoyed the run, and I was struck by how many of the participants were laughing in the photographs. It was either the shared rictus of mass hysteria or else - gadzooks, these people were actually enjoying their self-inflicted torture and taking it less than seriously. I was also conscious that while husband, and his friends had all finished the course in respectable times under an hour and twenty, there were many, many other finishers still pouring (literally) across the finish line at times far in excess of this. It got me to thinking that, as a novice runner last year, there was a possibility I might be able to run 8 miles - or an hour and a half non-stop - by the same time this year. And if that were the case, maybe I should be buying into some of those happy, muddy, pink-legged vibes too?

Also - just look at how many people enter this thing year on year! The organisers run it over two days due to the sheer number of entrants (almost 6000). The 2009 event took place on 5th and 6th December. We were glad we'd chosen the Saturday (5th) version because it bucketed it down with rain in the week running up to the event, letting up a bit for the Saturday, but re-soaking the already churned-up course for the Sunday participants during the night after we'd finished. The other reason, of course, being that by running on the Saturday we were giving ourselves and our mates time to go out and celebrate in time-honoured fashion with a proper session around the pubs of Farnham afterwards.

The shape of the race

There were six of us who'd registered together, myself and Geoff, Carol and Mark and Maria, and James who couldn't make it on the day due to calendar blunders. Here I am with Maria and Carol before the race, looking cheerful, feeling nervous... a bit like that moment on a rollercoaster as it chugs to the top of the first apex and you're thinking 'Er.... remind me why I wanted to do this?' It was a first time for all three of us. We all set off from our position towards the back of the pack, leaving the guys to forge on ahead. We'd agreed to run our own races rather than try and stick together - which was best for all of us, not least because Maria managed to finish almost twenty minutes ahead of me, and Carol ten minutes ahead! I much prefer to set and manage my own pace when running. Maybe I'd do better trying to keep up with other people but distance running has so much personal psychology involved - it's much better run as a solitary activity. I did, however, spend much of the race believing I was still ahead of Carol which kept me going all the way, thinking 'Crikey, I could come in ahead of Carol here!' Of course, she had somehow edged ahead of me early on and I hadn't seen her but it acted as great motivation all the while, thinking she was on my heels!

The course wended its way in a convoluted fashion around Aldershot's Army tank training area, with a mixture of sand, rubble, leaf, mud and heather underfoot. The first section was varied terrain, with some gentle hills, and a descent towards the half way mark and the famous series of puddles and mudpits that the GRIM is famous for. The picture taken here is courtesy of Keith Baxter (http://twitpic.com/s8u11).

My favourite section, and it turned out, the favourite bit for many of us, was the 5 to 7 mile bit, which somehow, seems to be very fast-paced. I felt like I was flying along that bit, passing quite a few people and with sustained momentum. Almost like a long, gradual downhill with gravity on your side - although I swear it wasn't all downhill. I shared comments and giggles with people all the way round at various points, and was grateful to a lady who gave me encouragement at around 6 miles as we hit a few uphill hairpins. We agreed that 'what goes up must come down' and were rewarded in due course. The big surprise was after 6 miles - where naturally, you are thinking 'Woohoo! Only 2 miles to go!'.... and I can tell you this was the LONGEST 2 miles in the world! All of a sudden the course took off across a raggedly duned area with a series of ups and downs. This did well to counter the accusations I'd heard of the previous year's course being monotonous for much of the final 4 miles. But it was a bit of a shock to the system to be kept physically guessing at that stage. The nasty steward at around 7 miles told fibs too. He said 'Only about ten minutes to go, and it's all flat now'. Groan. Right before the end in the Grim there is a section that looks like a swamp, with spikey thin tree stumps coming up out of the water, and a long gulley with water along the bottom to follow several hundred yards up to the final loop. In the swamp was an abandoned St John Ambulance vehicle tilted downward in the mire - I can't imagine what possessed the driver to think s/he should attempt to drive along there. It gave me something to ponder, anyhow, as I mentally grumbled the last two miles feeling distinctly longer than that.

The last few hundred yards of the Grim take runners in a long loop past the spectators and waiting familes, through one last silly puddle before the finishline.

Here I am wading through. I realised about here that Carol and Maria were waiting with the guys cheering me on to the finish, but

what the hell, by this time I was exhausted, my

knees were complaining rather a lot, and all I wanted was that dry towel I knew Geoff had in the rucksack for me.

Just why it seemed so long became quickly apparent when Mark told us his GPS watch had measured the overall course at 8.79 miles! No wonder the final few miles hurt.

Here's Carol finishing the race, and with Maria waiting for me to finish. The smiling faces tell a story, don't they?

The sense of personal triumph, of being part of a community of nutters, and yeah, probably of relief of the whole thing being over, all contribute to making the GRIM an event worth attempting, in spite of the obstacles and hardships. I've already said I'll do it again next year (instead of the Vegas Half Marathon which was the same weekend and which my friend Marjory completed and enjoyed this year, and sounds most amusing). Hmmm. GRIM 10, or Las Vegas half? Which would you go for?

Sending a life-sized hug for Xmas

2009-12-23T08:45:00.000-08:00

In a recent post I asked what you could send for Christmas to a man on Death Row, and you may recall me having said that in fact in the case of my penfriend 'B', all the guy really wants in the world is a hug from his mum?

Well, I came up with the idea of making my friend an almost-hug for Christmas. I thought it would fit all the criteria listed here for things that can't be sent. The only risk is that the mailroom for his facility may not allow an item that is considerably larger than A4 and slightly unusual to be given to him. We'll see. In the meantime I took photographs, as a record of how my family and myself set about making a 'hug' to send over to him, as a gesture that was the closest thing I could come up with to the real thing.

We used Xmas wrapping paper - so that we could get one long continuous section, and so that it would be lightweight. And one side would be snowflakes and Christmas trees. But wrapping paper is frail and so this did mean we had to be careful at every stage not to perforate or tear it.

So my husband drew around my outline, and then we set about decorating the 'hug' with messages, Christmas sketches and cartoons. I encouraged my daughters to graffiti it with anything they liked, really.

This of course meant some annotation and friendly bickering between them on paper, but it all added to the character of the piece. Everyone was humble about their drawing ability, but we all had a go. We decided to each do a self-portrait too. I never set out to cover the entire outline with colour - I didn't want to either overload the paper with ink and risk it tearing, nor to discourage everyone with too much work to do; this was supposed to be a pleasurable exercise after all, not a chore.

Finally, I cut out the shape of the hug. It's a 'me' made from paper that represents the thoughts and friendship of our family.

The added poignancy of this gift is that my penfriend's 'house', as he calls his cell, is less than 6 ft (one armspan) wide. Here's how he described it to me in a letter after he recently moved accommodation:

"I don't think I'm going to make it out to yard today. This is unfortunate for me because I need to work out. These houses over here are too narrow to work out in. I guess I could take my mattress off my rack and work out up on here... It's a little cramped because I have such wide shoulders. The cell is very long and narrow.

I'd guesstimate 5 x 12. My arm span from finger tip to finger tip is 6'0. Everyone's is their exact height I guess. Anyway from my left finger tips to my right elbow/forearm is the width of the walls...."

As you can see from this photograph, a room-width of less than a double-armspan is not large at all. Claustrophobic? Try it. Stand with your fingertips touching a wall near you. Reach out with the other arm. Now imagine being able to touch another wall with your elbow. Then imagine a metal shelf for a bed also occupying that room-width. Comfy?

Well, the hug was folded carefully and posted to the United States last week. It should arrive in time for Christmas but there's no telling how long it will remain in the mailroom, or even if it will pass inspection. We worry it won't - but at least I have the photos as a record of making the hug and what it looked like in the end. If I haven't heard that our gift has arrived by mid January then I will be able to send these photos to B so he can see what we had in mind.

Oh - we also sent my penfriend some cash via JPay for him to spend on commissary, plus a year's subscription to BBC History magazine as this is a subject of real interest to him, and he has a young mind which needs stimulation. The magazine could spark some areas of specialist interest in due course - I hope so, and will be glad to provide him with further learning material if that's something he wants to do.

Happy Christmas B - and to his family - and to everyone on Death Row or facing Life Without Parole. And a Happy Christmas and thank you to those who have befriended condemned prisoners and who take time to remember that they are human beings too.

And my wishes for peace to the friends and families of the victims of prisoners on Death Row.

I am Troy Davis!

2009-11-30T14:08:00.001-08:00

...and so are you. So is everyone. We are ALL Troy Davis. It's along the same lines as 'I am Spartacus' (if you're a Kirk Douglas fan) or 'I am Brian' (if you prefer the Monty Python angle). A kind of 'one for all and all for one' pledge of friendship and comradeship. But with a vital difference; and vital is the pivotal word. Troy Davis will NOT be allowed to die. Troy Davis has paid more than enough for a crime he did not commit; twenty years on Georgia's Death Row and 3 near-executions attest to that. If Troy's forthcoming hearing fails and he is subsequently murdered by the State, then truth, justice and a piece of all of us will have died alongside him. It is an unspeakably fragile relief then, that through the undinting campaigning efforts of his sister and other supporters, and with death-penalty-qualified pro bono legal help finally onside, Troy now has a chance to contest not just the evidence against him, but effectively to set a precedent which could challenge American constitutional law.

'Where is the Justice for Me?' : An evening with Martina Davis-Correia in London

November 25th 2009, the eve of Thanksgiving, and once again I

was back at the Amnesty Human Rights Action Centre in London, this time to hear from Martina Correia, whose brother Troy Davis has spent the last 20 years facing execution for the murder of Police officer Mark Allen McPhail in 1989. Accompanying Martina, were her son, Troy's 15-year-old nephew, De'Jaun, and

Richard Hughes, drummer with top UK band Keane. Richard, a long-time human rights supporter has been campaigning publicly on behalf of Troy and earlier this year, travelled to the United States to visit Troy in prison along with a small delegation from the UK including Amnesty's Kim Manning-Cooper and UK

Photo: Jesse Quin

parliamentary representative Alistair Carmichael MP. It was good to have Richard tell us a little of his visit, and to introduce Martina and De'Jaun. The story which resonates with me from Richard's retelling, is the story of Troy getting to walk on grass for the first time in over 15 years, shortly before his last sickeningly close stay of execution in 2008. Just seeing a blade of grass, let alone touching one, is a minor miracle. You can hardly imagine, can you, how that must feel? As Richard says in his article in the Amnesty magazine (November/December 2009 issue), one of the debilitating facets of life imprisonment (and there are many, so many cruelties and barbarisms associated with Death Row - but that again is another blogpost-in-waiting), is that after years of walking only on concrete, prisoners' knees start to fail.

There is much background available describing the progress of Troy's case, and the groundbreaking evidence of 7 out of 9 recantations of eyewitness testimony, plus 9 new instances of evidence against the real primary suspect for the murder. There's a wealth of material around this case that I could include in this post, but I won't. Just search online: there are a host of websites set up to campaign for Troy and support his family and seek his reprieve. 'Innocence Matters' is a slogan heard repeatedly and determinedly in connection with Troy's case. For Martina, and for Troy, it is one thing for the courts to award him freedom on the grounds of technical innocence: what really needs to happen is for an outcome of actual innocence be granted to the man. It makes me ponder the validity of the word 'pardon'. Surely the granting of a pardon implies the convicted person actually did something wrong and is being forgiven for it? In this case, as with many other proven and suspected miscarriages of justice so callously enacted by the State (and I refer to Britain's past as well here, alongside all nations who have at some time sanctioned capital punishment), it is the State who owes an apology to the exoneree, not the other way round. The pardon should be granted by the individual to the Courts and the system which by a failure of the legal process has denied justice, not only to the wronged convict, but to the family of the victim too. This was a point which Martina made repeatedly, as did Richard: Troy's case is as much about the disrespect paid to Officer McPhail's memory and to his family as it is to the Davises. How can they ever attain any kind of peace or respite from what happened until the true villain is brought to justice?

We also heard on Wednesday from Troy's nephew, De'Jaun, an amazingly charismatic and confident young man, who has previously addressed an audience of several thousand at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The film clip that Amnesty played of that speech brought tears to several people's eyes and yes, I was there also, rummaging for my tissue and surreptitiously wiping away my tears. De'Jaun, or 'Dada' as the gang affectionately call him, has experienced a lifetime of prison visits, and is the epitome of a well-adjusted young man, who told us with awe, about his Uncle Troy's words of guiding wisdom which have encouraged him to work hard and behave well.

Here's a photograph of me with Martina and De'Jaun.

The highlight of the evening for me though has to be the phone call that Amnesty's Kim Manning-Cooper arranged while the guests were still milling around and speaking with Martina, De'Jaun and Richard. Later on, with only a handful of people still in the building, we eventually heard from Troy himself, on the other end of a phone line in Georgia, and were able to shout hello and let him know we were all rooting for him. A moment of magic - especially for me, who have yet to hear the voice of my penfriend far away in his own concrete box. I hope that will happen one day soon.

And the upshot of the evening, my friends: can there be any more compelling case against the death penalty than the risk of executing an innocent man?

Race Report: Pine Ridge 10km

2009-11-22T07:52:00.000-08:00

Wot a Mug!

22nd November 2009

Just taken part in my 5th 10km race (this year, and ever..). The character of each race I've run this year has been very different, and turning up to the inaugural Pine Ridge event (run by InMotion Sport, who also organise the GRIM events), I was expecting a flattish undulating run through woodland, and given how much more running I am doing these days, was harbouring vague hopes of scoring my best time over the distance. Fat chance!

Nooo.. sadly my PB still stands at the time I did in York in August - that was a nice flat road-race from the racecourse to the City centre along the river and back. Look - here's me in the local free paper (in the sunglasses, white vest)! Every inch the Paul Radcliffe, Nawwwwt!

Pine Ridge is quite different: peaty, boggy, sandy and strewn with tree roots. The route led from the middle of nowhere back to the same spot via a long circuit across commonland, over a footbridge spanning the A3, into woodland on the other side and up narrow spongy paths to the highest point of the race on Ockham Common. This included, at the summit of the (pine?) ridge, a steepish hill with steps cut into the path. This was also roughly the half-way point. It was nice to be told that it was downhill from there! Other hazards included fallen trees, and I had to do my 3-day eventing impression a few times to leap, colt-like over trunks of silver birch and fir, or stumps lurking insidiously at the edges of the track. Not to mention the water hazards, which as we will see, were to become both more and less significant in the latter part of the course.

* * * *

There were over 850 race entrants, according to the main website, and the organisers had to close registrations early because of over-subscription. Luckily, with the woodlands adjacent to RHS Wisley as the venue, on a cold damp November Sunday, there was plenty of parking available. There were portaloos next to the car park, which my hubby and friends availed themselves of. It was still 45 minutes short of the race so I decided to report to the start and collect my race chip. We set off following the trail of people streaming onto the common land next to Wisley village. And walked. And walked. And became more puzzled as to where the start may be... Eventually we met people heading back in the opposite direction and obviously hoping to hit the loos again before race time. After 15 minutes I was getting worried I wouldn't have enough time to squeeze in that last vital wee. A lot of blokes obviously had the same idea and were opting for the wayside bushes and tree trunks! Ah well, if necessary, I would just have to do the same!! It was a VERY long walk to the start - at least a kilometre. When we arrived, and had collected our chips (the RFID cardboard tag type with the twisty wire ties), my friend Carol and I decided to head in the direction of the 'Toilets' sign, in the opposite direction form the one we'd just come. We joked that it would probably end up leading us back to the car park again. It didn't... but it DID lead a further kilometre or so along boggy tracks, up hill and round bends until we reached the oasis of green tardises. We had to jog back and just made it to the start before the off.

* * *

So, the route was as described above, but I haven't mentioned the best bits yet! Apart from the slightly challenging terrain, the topnote of the day was the weather. What had begun as dull, middling but mild November, with a slightly playful breeze, turned into an adventure of an epic nature. OK well, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but it was a fun set of climactic conditions: shortly after the halfway point, the rain started and I had to take my specs off (when will they invent rainproof ones?). This made it harder to spot the tripping hazards and I had to watch my step carefully. The rain didn't continue to whinge down though, oh no... it picked up. I didn't mind - it's nice and cooling when you're running. But after a while, it turned from jagged rain into water cannon, and then into hailstones. Joy! My fellow runners and I were giggling as we went, fellow lunatics on a quest with no purpose other than to finish. And shortly thereafter, with my running shirt plastered to my body, my pants squelching and my running shoes waterlogged, I decided not to bother skirting the puddles any more and plough straight through. With thunderclaps sounding overhead, I managed to speed past about three people pussy-footing round the bogs. I did go knee-deep at one point in a deceptively deep bit of quagmire, but amazingly managed not to slip or fall.

* * * *

Ultimately, I got round without walking; I was last of our small group of friends who were there and crossed the line on a clock time of 1hr 8. I felt GREAT! It was such a different race to the norm, and I knew it would be good practice for the GRIM in a fortnight's time. Chip time will be just over 1 hr 6 but that's OK. It's about the same as I did for Mortimer in much more clement conditions, it's better than I did at Alice Holt with its nasty hills; and I've got til next York to try and get under the 1 hr target I've set myself this year.

* * * *

I like the runners' mugs that were handed out ('Run Forest' - see above). We also got nice green 'Pine Ridge' T-shirts which were marginally more tasteful than the ones you usually get. But best of all, coming away plastered in blackish mud, freezing cold and with knees intact and no blisters was strangely satisfying. I remarked to my husband that I'd probably come about 700th in the race, and as he encouragingly replied 'Yeah, but that's ahead of about 59 and a half million other British people'. Fair point!

:-)

post scriptum: Results now in and I came 594th out of 686 with a chip time of 1 hr 7:14. The only way is UP!

The winning time was 36:35.

The slowest finisher finished in 1 hr 31:24

What do you give the man who has virtually nothing for Christmas?

2009-11-17T15:18:00.001-08:00

I'm planning some surprises for my penfriend for Christmas. Now this isn't an easy thing to achieve. Consider the list of items that will not get past the prison mailroom. Here is the list from the State Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation as to what cannot be sent in. Quite right too, it's not a holiday camp after all for goodness' sake! (In spite of the claims made in this article about the luxuries of Death Row; NOT true, btw, I can guarantee!)

No tattoo patterns or gang logos

No factory or handmade jewellery, clothing or food items

No glitter, stickers, address labels (other than the blue airmail sticker on the envelope)

No letters with perfume, powder, lipstick or oil stains on the envelope or letter

No glued, plastic, metal or laminated items

No cancelled checks, copies of cheques, copies of money orders, birth certificates, marriage licence, Photo IDs, deeds or credit card applications

No hand-painted art (children's drawings are allowed as long as they are not in wax)

No cotton paper or tracing paper

No musical greeting cards

No lipstick, hair (human or animal) or unknown substance (body fluid)

No mail piece or item unable to be searched without destroying it

No unapproved mail from other State Correctional Facilities

No third party mail between individuals

No obscene materials, this includes, but is not limited to, material containing sexually explicit images, defined as images that depict frontal nudity, whether in the form of personal photographs, drawings, magazines or any other pictorial format

There is also a long list of topics which are disallowed in correspondence: incitement to commit crime, codes, maps and directions, descriptions of how to make weapons etc.

I was amused by "Contains illustration, explanations and/or descriptions of how to sabotage or disrupt computers, communications or electronics". Better not send any Windows Vista instruction manuals then, lol!

So you can see from this how trying to come up with something fun and/or quirky is a bit of a challenge. I regularly send prints of photographs, printouts from web-pages, and have ordered books and magazines for my friend from publishers. These are allowed, though I cannot send in books or magazines myself. This Christmas, given the list above, there'll be no baseball caps, knitted sweaters, glittery cards or phials of bodily fluids then. But it's important for me to ensure that this year, he has something. I have a couple of mystery ideas which I'll let you know about once I've investigated some more... feeling all smiley at the thought of surpising my penpal with something meant just for him which meets all the criteria of the mailroom censors.

And all this in spite of the fact that this guy would be most happy if he could only get a hug from his mom.

* * * * *

On another note, I am hoping soon to have some content in this blog from my penfriend himself. He said I could use his first name, but I'd rather not. Let's call him 'B'.

Three wishes that Governor Rick Perry could grant this week

2009-11-17T14:27:00.000-08:00

I refer you all to today's blogpost from Texas Moratorium Network: "Three Executions in Three Days in Texas, starting today"

Well - I went and did as TMN requested and contacted Governor Rick Perry to beg for clemency in the case of all three men. The web form for email submission was not exactly designed for non-US residents; I guess the Governor's Office cares little for the opinion of those who will never have the right to vote for him, but ho-hum. I made up an address and phone number (well, actually, I used the address for the Hilton in Austin), but used my genuine email address. Here's a photo of him. He looks like a nice guy, doesn't he? The kind who would listen, who might feel some compassion and have the gumption to do something because it is right? Maybe? Ha. Feels a bit like throwing a snowball into the ocean, for all the impact it is likely to have but I'm glad I did it anyway. Here's what I wrote:

Dear Governor Perry,
Although I have been able to complete this webform in full honesty as it does not allow for addresses outside of the USA to be entered, I nonethless wanted to take this opportunity to contact your office via the swiftest means possible. I am a resident of the United Kingdom, but with a strong personal interest in a matter which affects us all as citizens of the world. I have given my real name and email address.

I am aware of the impending executions of Texas inmates Gerald Eldridge, Danielle Simpson and Robert Thompson in the coming 3 days and I want to ask you, as a fellow human being, to consider clemency in the case of all three men. I am not a voter of course, but an observer and commentator on what is happening around the world in matters of the Death Penalty. The facts tell us that Gerald does not have the IQ to have fully understood the severity or outcome of his crime, that Danielle has volunteered to be executed because the burden and conditions of waiting on death row make it unbearable for him to live any more - but rather than take his own life he will 'allow' you to go ahead and murder him (which effectively makes him a martyr); and that Robert himself never committed the murder for which he has been condemned. But aside from the individual tragedies that mean none of these men should have their lives taken from them in this way, there is a more general reason for asking you to consider making the clearsighted, compassionate and informed choice this week to spare these men. In the eyes of most of the world, the death penalty is seen as barbaric and in contravention of human rights, whatever a perpetrator's alleged crime. The USA is increasingly exposed as one of the last bastions persisting in taking the life of a human being in the name of justice. As you know in your own state, the financial burdens are calling the matter into question; and at federal level, the nation is under pressure to desist in the hypocrisy of decrying human rights aberrations elsewhere in the world while ignoring and perpetuating the mess and questionable justice that is the capital punishment system within its own borders.

Mr Perry, you have a chance to do something different this week. Be bold, send a message to the world that Texas is progressive and ready to reinvest in humane justice. Please, please, give these three men the reprieve that they least expect at the moment their faith in humanity reaches its lowest and most feeble spark. Show them what goodness is. Please spare them.

With kindest regards

Kathy

There is a detailed document outlining the history, roles and procedures open to State Governors in considering clemency upon the final gubernatorial appeal (love that word... gubernatorial...) to be found here (pdf document, 15 pages). I admit I haven't had a chance to read it all through yet, it kind of needs a printing off to really absorb. But it confirms it is within Perry's remit to grant last-minute reprieves and commutations (but not pardons) without explicit recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

"Governor, upon the recommendation
of the Texas Board of
Pardons and Paroles (appointed
by Gov.), has the authority to
remit fines and forfeitures, grant
reprieves, commutations and
pardons" (table, page 14 of 15)

The next three days are going to be gut-wrenching, my friends.

Say it loud and say it often, but above all say it with panache!

2009-11-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to acknowledge a couple of really excellent articles I have read in the past couple of days, disparaging the Death Penalty.

It is time to abolish the Death Penalty

This News Junkie Post by Gilbert Mercier is spot on and makes some excellent points.

I was originally going to write a post for my blog called 'When is it OK to commit murder?' in order to set out my take on execution being no better than sheer State-sanctioned murder, but Gilbert puts it perfectly in his opening para:

"The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights. It is a premeditated and cold blooded killing of a human being by a state. This cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment is done in the name of justice. It is barbaric and violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of human rights."

And the photograph (shown here) he uses sums it up brilliantly. In fact I am going to use that on my blog homepage (can't see any copyright restrictions?) It shows a bumper sticker with the legend 'Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?'

He also makes the point that America can hardly take an international stance on human rights when it has its own backyard situation to explain. I was thinking this very thing recently when friends on Twitter decrying the human rights situ in Iran were begging for foreign nations to openly criticise the Iranian government for allowing the execution of minors to go ahead (amongst the rest of the human rights abominations practised in that country). Apparently Britain and France etc were very swift in doing this, but for some reason it was taking the US Congress some time to come out and make a public international declaration against Ahmadinejad and the actions of his "judiciary". Hardly surprising given the domestic tolerance of the death penalty and everything that is despicable in relation to that. I would personally say that the USA is over the line, not close to it, on the matter of human rights. In another post I want to set down some thoughts about 'cruel and unusual punishment'; I can think of more than a few ways that the United States exact this on their condemned prisoners and their families and the families of victims.

Look, NOBODY deserves to die*, nobody. FFS, death comes soon enough to us all in any case. 'An eye for an eye' is barbaric, outdated, uncivilised and irrelevant outside of Bible-driven reactionary culture. And in any case it belongs to the dimension of Religion, not State issues. No-one would deny that the most dangerous members of society need to be incarcerated for the protection of that society; nor would they deny that in most cases, rehabilitation and 'corrective' atonement is not appropriate; nor would we deny that leniency has failed the public in the past - where people paroled too soon have succumbed to recidivism and lives have been lost or ruined as a result. Perhaps, too, there is a case for making punishment fit the crime. But punitive measures should NEVER be irreversible - for the obvious reason that even one innocent person wrongly executed or maimed makes the system inhumane and untenable; and neither should they result in cruelty as defined by international standards of human rights.

I truly, truly believe that every living person has value. It is most probably a lack of sense of that value which has led people into the lifestyles which has resulted in their criminal act (but that's a whole different matter). It is my belief that penal reform should embrace incarceration with relevance, irrespective of a person's crime. Killers should pay by having their freedom removed, by being denied access to common luxuries, and by being obliged while in confinement to work in some way which both proves their value and makes restitution both to their community and to the families of their victims.

But anyway - this is a whole different thing and I am straying from what I wanted to say next. Which was to point my readers to the other excellent article I stumbled across recently - by Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle. A wonderfully sardonic set of observations around the cost of maintaining a system of execution by lethal injection for even one individual vs the funding it would take to get a bunch of under-privileged youngsters through a college education. As usual the comments in response to the article are a mix of support and callous unswerving ignorance, but we can't do more than ask for debate and keep, keep, keep repeating the manifold reasons why the death penalty is just WRONG.

The Lethal Injection College Fund

Pure class! Go read it in full here.

An excerpt:

"Here's my simple and semi-obvious idea: what if Washington D.C. had taken the same $30 million, and instead of killing a single remorseless criminal, created upwards of 600 full-ride college scholarships for lower-income or minority students, at 50 grand each?

In other words, for every criminal a given state is seeking to execute -- like, for example, the Fort Hood killer, who they say might well be eligible for the death penalty -- we take the same tens of millions in taxpayer dollars and send hundreds of kids through college instead, kids who otherwise would never have been able to afford it and in fact might've ended up on the streets or in prison.

We'll call it the Lethal Injection College Fund. It shall, by its very existence, do nothing less than completely transform the ugly American revenge impulse into something celebratory and optimistic. We shall transmute a brutal crime into a glimmer of hope and possibility. From dark to light. From excrement, flowers. From our most violent nightmares, a hint of grace. What a thing."

Cor, indeed, what a thing, bless ya Mark!

* I admit, I am struggling with the issue of immediate reactive self-defence and the defence of others. I think this may be the only time when it may be OK to kill - when all else fails in terms of stopping someone from killing you. The same might also apply for cases of severe cruelty and provocation if all else failed. However I can also see that there would always be an argument for stopping any such threat by causing injury rather than death...?

Even the Police Chiefs agree...

2009-11-13T17:06:00.000-08:00


... that the Death Penalty makes no sense.

In a recent report released by the Death Penalty Information Centre, the findings from a poll of US Police Chiefs conducted in late 2008 were also included. The net message of the report reinforces two of the many reasons why the death penalty should be abolished:

IT IS NOT A DETERRENT AGAINST CRIME : since few perpetrators of violent crime consider the consequences of their actions; and many commit their crimes under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.

IT IS FINANCIALLY INEFFICIENT AND UNJUST : since the cost of administering the appeals system and housing condemned inmates is a massive drain on State budgets; and more of this money could be made available for other things including better assistance for victims' families.

Most of the Police chiefs polled ranked the death penalty as the least efficient use of taxpayers' money, when there are not enough police on the streets fighting crime and the causes of crime, particularly in the area of gang culture and drug abuse, and when there are not enough funds available for equipment and training to help solve crimes

California spends $137 million per year on the death penalty and has not had an execution in almost four years, even as the state pays its employees in IOUs and releases inmates early to address overcrowding and budget shortfalls. In Florida, where the courts have lost 10 percent of their funding, the state spends $51 million dollars per year on the death penalty or $24 million for each execution.

Sadly, the well-established financial argument has led some commentators to call for a resolution to this issue in the shape of shortening the time elapsed between sentencing and execution. In some parts of the world, already, execution follows directly from sentencing, with minimal or no opportunity for appeal. In the recent case of the executed 'DC Sniper' John Allen Muhammad, the time served was only 7 years (6 on Death Row), however the longest-serving death row prisoners have been there over 30 years without arriving at an execution date; such lengthy waits in death row conditions raise all sorts of questions about 'cruel and unusual punishment' and give rise to prisoner suicide and 'volunteering' for execution (but that's a topic for another blogpost, another day...). But... heaven forbid those States pushing to reduce the time to execution and hastening death - the appeals system is there for a reason! Too, too many cases of wrongful conviction, and well... sigh... no-one deserves to die, no-one, let alone have their state-sanctioned murder precipitated to save money!

So to the second point raised: clearly, the death penalty as a sanction has little deterrent effect. This is again a hotly debated issue - but aside from the obvious and instinctive view that someone intent on killing or out of their mind on drugs is not going to stop and pause and think 'Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't do this or I might get into trouble?', let alone that they might lose their own life as a result of their action, the statistics just don't reflect that the threat of capital punishment reduces capital crimes.

"The death penalty is a colossal waste of money that would be better spent putting more cops on the street. New Jersey threw away $250 million on the death penalty over 25 years with nothing to show for it. The death penalty isn't a deterrent whatsoever. New Jersey's murder rate has dropped since the state got rid of the death penalty. If other states abolished the death penalty, law enforcement wouldn't miss it and the cost savings could be used on more effective crime-fighting programs," said Police Chief James Abbott of West Orange, New Jersey. Abbott, a Republican, has served 29 years on the police force and was a member of the state commission that recommended the death penalty be abolished.

One area where retentionists, especially those working in penal enforcement roles, i.e. prison officers, observe that the death penalty does carry weight as a final sanction is in the prevention of violent crime amongst lifers. They argue that prisoners already sentenced to life, with or without parole, may commit murder against each other or against prison workers because they have nothing more to lose. Indeed, in some US States the murder of a prison or police officer carries a mandatory death sentence, and murder by a convict is the number one 'aggravating factor' formerly listed in the American Law Institute's model penal code which would direct jurors to arrive at a death sentence verdict if committed. These are shown below:

Aggravating Circumstances.

(a) The murder was committed by a convict under sentence of imprisonment.

(b) The defendant was previously convicted of another murder or of a felony involving

the use or threat of violence to the person.

murder.

(d) The defendant knowingly created a great risk of death to many persons.

(e) The murder was committed while the defendant was engaged or was an accomplice

in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing or attempting

to commit robbery, rape or deviate sexual intercourse by force or threat of force, arson,

burglary or kidnaping.

(f) The murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest

or effecting an escape from lawful custody.

(g) The murder was committed for pecuniary gain.

(h) The murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, manifesting exceptional

depravity.

Interestingly the American Law Institute has just announced that is has abandoned this element (section 210.6) of the Model Penal Code because of doubts around the workability of the whole system...

“For reasons stated in Part V of the Council’s report to the membership, the Institute withdraws Section 210.6 of the Model Penal Code in light of the current intractable institutional and structural obstacles to ensuring a minimally adequate system for administering capital punishment.”

I am hoping to uncover more facts behind this aspect of the death penalty as 'the ultimate sanction' in due course.

Run, don't drink!

2009-11-06T15:29:00.000-08:00

After a bit of a full-on week at the conference, and with the Pine Ridge 10 km and the Grim 8 Challenge looming, I decided to have a month(ish) off the alcohol, and I also set up my Justgiving page to start trying to get some funding going for Reprieve. I posted a status on Facebook to let all my buddies know I was on the wagon while in training, and began grovelling unashamedly for some sponsorship. Well a few good souls did show up to pledge some suppport and help me on my way, and the effect has been... er.... no drinking and more running!

This is a good thing, it's the first time I've really tested myself on the 'guilt factor'. People are sponsoring me and I can't let them down. So, I am pleased to report that this week the first week in November, I have put in circa 7km (4 miles) in hill/speed training with the local runnning club (in the cold and the dark on Tuesday evening); and that this morning I actually raised myself from my bed shortly after 6a.m. and bothered to head out for a 5 km (3 1/2 mile) run round the local streets. Crikey, did my legs feel heavy after Tuesday night's session! But I know it's all good. Tomorrow morning is the regular Saturday Parkrun. In spite of this being a regular fixture I haven't been for a few weeks, and I'm looking forward to it. I need to get these leggies loose.

What I really need is some LSDs (long slow distance sessions) to get me used to running >10km. That can be next week's target.

God but I miss the drink though.

All that glitters sure ain't gold...

2009-11-03T14:16:00.000-08:00

My friend has just sent me a link to a TV show that will be airing in the UK next Monday (9th November). Channel 4 is showing "The Execution of Gary Glitter", a documentary-style look at

'an imaginary Britain in which the death penalty has been re-introduced, the film confronts viewers with the possible consequences of capital punishment in the UK.'

I will have to watch this, of course, but it is with a sense of instantaneous nausea that I am anticipating the aftermath. I fear this is going to excite the British public into a bloodlust frenzy. You see, Gary Glitter (born Paul Gadd) is the epitome in British currency of the kind of sick weirdo that deserves eradication. Or worse! Emasculation, torture, disembowelment and then execution if he's LUCKY. Apparently.

OK, maybe I'm expecting the worst. It might be possible that the documentary exposes and puts into genuine perspective the real, moral, practical, financial and human abhorration that capital punishment represents. But I suspect it will not go far enough, and what we will end up with is just enough treatment of the topic to stir emotion and generate column and comment MILES on the subject, and the ugliness of uninformed reactionary rhetoric will yet again have its day.

Just like the BBC's recent gift of a platform to the BNP in Question Time, maybe this will actually turn out to be a good thing. Maybe like Great Aunt Doris's tablecloths, it is beneficial to occasionally get these issues out and aired, so that we can remind ourselves why we hid them away in the first place.

Oh well, good. We'll see. As long as at the end of the day we all remember that civilised society sees the abandonment of irreversible forms of punishment as progress. Thank goodness Britain is in the EU, and the spectre of capital punishment rising from the grave won't become a reality on our shores anytime soon. Brrrr.

Mission accomplished

2009-11-01T12:31:00.000-08:00

Last week I was in Florida for a work conference, which sounds like a lot of fun (OK, OK, it was!) but is also tremendously hard work. Yes, I ended up with 'EFS' (Exhibition Foot Syndrome) made worse by a final night of dancing. I can't resist a bit of a boogie, and my feet were practically raw by Friday morning. And glad of the 8-hour flight back to the UK so they could relax and swell in the little red Virgin Atlantic socklets to such an extent that I couldn't actually get my shoes on when we landed :-). Such is life.

I was pleased to get a chance to visit the USA again. As well as enjoying the people, the climate, the food and the grandeur and excess of it all, it meant I was able to do something by way of a small service for my friends at Lifelines UK. On my final day, I had a mission to complete, namely, the fetching of a batch of US Post Office money orders to bring back to the UK. Lifelines provides a service to its members who wish to send money to their penfriends as a gift. Let's face it, the list of what we can send into the US prison mailrooms is pitifully short, and especially with Christmas coming up, having the facility to post a small something to make our friends' lives better by a small measure means a lot.

This turned out to be a straightforward exercise. It was made clear to me that Western Union money orders would not do, so it wasn't a simple matter of visiting the nearest Publix store, I had to actually hop into a cab and make my way to the nearest US Post Office. They're not as plentiful as Post Offices in the UK, and I didn't have the benefit of a rental car so this meant a $15 cab-ride in each direction.

As you'd expect, there was a bit of a queue at the counter but not too bad. The assistant was surprised to be asked for ten individual $50 and $25 money orders to be printed off, but did so obligingly and painstakingly. It took a while, as each one is requested and printed off separately. I was amazed while there to learn they'd run out of stock of 98c stamps! Especially as there are so few Post Offices and that normal stores and gift shops do not carry them - not in any great number in any case. I bought all the remaining 26 they had to pass on to my penfriend. 98c is the minimum US postage rate for international letters. Clearly the people of Orlando don't write overseas very often. Or perhaps they DO and that's why the stock had run out??

In any case, I managed to get the money orders with no bother and transport them home. It was strange while I was on my mission to look around and observe my fellow US Post Office customers going about their business in a State which still metes out the Death Penalty and where the majority of State residents are in favour, and wonder what they would have said if they'd known what was taking me so long at the counter and holding them up in their own errands.

* * * * *

Some prisons are introducing electronic money transfer systems to help make the whole process of getting funds to prisoners easier. I welcome this as I do most of my personal banking online these days in any case, and I'll be exploring this method of getting my friend his pressie in the coming weeks.

* * * * *

Some stats about the death penalty in Florida
(source: Florida State Department of Corrections Annual Report 2007-8 and from the DoC website)

On June 30, 2008, there were 391 inmates on Florida’s death row.
Florida administers execution by electric chair or lethal injection.
Lethal injection became an option for death row inmates in FY 1999-00.
The executioner is an anonymous, private citizen who is paid $150 cash per execution.
A death row cell is 6 * 9 * 9.5 feet high.
Four inmates were executed in 2008 and 2009.

The average length of time spent by these 4 inmates on Death Row was 19.45 years.

I've only just begun...

2009-11-01T09:17:00.000-08:00

My journey with respect to understanding more about Human Rights issues is really only just beginning. I am awed by the amount of work that is going on through organisations like Amnesty, and government bodies like the Council of Europe to highlight, resolve and prevent travesties in human justice and dignity around the world. It's a huge and daunting topic; but I suppose this makes me realise how important it is to throw my relatively miniscule effort into the ring too. I don't believe there can ever be too many people taking up the cause of delivering basic human rights, most urgently in the matter of the death penalty, but in cases of torture too.

Since I started following people on Twitter I've had my eyes opened to some abhorrent current practices of which I was only vaguely aware, and which I genuinely thought belonged to another age. Methods of execution in current usage include electrocution, the firing squad or other sorts of shooting, stoning in Islamic countries, the gas chamber, hanging, and lethal injection.

The USA by such extremes is 'relatively' humane... if there can be such a thing. See the Death Penalty Information Center's list of authorised methods of execution by State. However, the question of what constitutes 'humane' does not bear a great deal of scrutiny when it comes to it, not on any level. In a later post, I am going to look specifically at what happens when an execution goes wrong.... a topic which has recently been thrown into sharp relief by the sickening events at the scheduled execution by lethal injection of Romell Broom in Ohio.

One of the most appalling stories I have come across in recent readings was this report from Somalia, which featured fairly widely in the press in 2008. A 13-year old girl was buried to her neck and stoned to death after reporting a gang rape at the hands of the al-Shabab militia.

Next step on my journey, then, will be to locate and follow people on Twitter with something of interest to report or add to the debate. I get a bit overwhelmed by the flood of tweets on some regionally-specific tragedies, which I just don't know much about - like the situation in Iran, where death by stoning is still meted out as a punishment for adultery, where juveniles can be legally put to death, where legal under-representation is commonplace and skewed by any civilised standards, where the parents of a murder victim are permitted to kick away the hanging-stool of a perpetrator, and where the life of a murderer can be spared by offering enough cash to the family of the victim. But I'm glad I've decided to pay some more attention to what's happening in the world around me, and to pass on my learnings to my children, and to anyone else who will listen.

My primary interest will inevitably be what's happening in the USA; frankly because of my personal involvement due to my correspondence; but also because, well, it seems with all the financial pressure being commentated openly in the US domestic press, that this could be the first of the many remaining retentionist nations to be persuaded to abolish the practice. For a list of who's abolished, and who retains the Death Penalty as of October 2009 - see here.

For a full Amnesty report on the state of play with the Death Penalty by region in 2008, see here.

Gimme Shelter!

2009-10-24T02:56:00.000-07:00

Big round of applause for my friend Antony, who began running last year, like me. Here we are together after completing the York 10k in August 2009, which was my second-ever 10k and Antony's first.

Antony enjoyed the prep for this race so much that he foolhardishly decided to pit himself against the Virgin London Marathon 2010. I have to admit, after watching it on TV earlier this year, I did also experience a vague and vicariously euphoric sense of confidence that I too could complete the 26-odd miles without significant damage.

Well, Tony went ahead and investigated how he could enter. He didn't get an independent entry in the online ballot, but decided to sign up to run on behalf of Shelter, the charity for housing and the homeless. Tony has been training very determinedly and improving his distance and times as he goes. Getting a charity place carries with it a commitment to raise a minimum amount of funds. Tony has to raise at least £1600, and some of his friends, myself included, have pledged to assist him.

If you would like to donate something to help him in his motivation for the big event on 25th April 2010, then please visit his Justgiving page here.

* * * *

Me, I'm not quite so crazy. Once the mild vicarious euphoria had subsided and my friend Marjory (who carries all the blame for getting me hooked by introducing me to Parkrun in the first place) had put this all into perspective ("that's like running a Half-Marathon and then running it again: utter madness"), I decided instead that I would most definitely aim to complete a Half Marathon during the course of 2010. Fair enough.

My first attempt at this will be the Reading Half in March. I know this, because my husband has just entered me, dagnabbit! I will be seeking sponsorship for this myself in due course, on behalf of Reprieve, but just for now let's not detract from Antony and his nutsville Marathon onslaught. If you think Shelter is a worthy cause, please spare a few pennies and help Tony on his way.

So... more of this later, I have other gruelling exploits to face in the meantime. Like the GRIM. Aaaargh.

A quickie greetings card

2009-10-20T15:34:00.000-07:00

Sent my penfriend a greetings card today, a 'blank inside' cute one with some cheeky guinea pigs on. I try and vary what I send and he likes that. Normally I type my missives out on the computer, for two reasons. One is to keep a record of what I've written so I can refer back and don't keep repeating myself. This applies also to the pictures and photos I send, which are usually copied and pasted into a letter. I also number my letters so that he can tell if one goes missing in the series.... if I start talking about something that makes no sense and references earlier conversations then at least he isn't too confused - and because I have an electronic copy of the letter I can always run another copy off to send if there are some that don't turn up at all.

The other reason is that my handwriting is pretty hard to read. It's a long time since I had to write extensively by hand and my lazy cursive scrawl takes a bit of deciphering. Incidentally my young penfriend has very good, tidy handwriting (although he often apologises for it - it's perfectly acceptable, especially given the lack of time that he spent in education as a youth).

So today I tried to write neatly but had to go back through and overwrite a few words that even I would struggle to recognise.

I wanted to make sure I had one letter under way in case a strike breaks out. Also to remind him I am going to be on the same Continent as him next week. More of that later - but as I explained, it will feel very strange to be in my correspondent's own country and know I couldn't go and visit him or give him a phone call, even if I made time available and travelled to his State penitentiary. He is still denied 'Grade A' privileges. This means no phone calls, no contact visits and various other throttled activities. The inability to have any physical contact is a genuine recurring cause of frustration and sorrow for this guy - his mother comes to visit him most weekends and she hasn't been able to hug him or touch him in over four years.

This to me is cruel and inhumane. I only have his word for it that his behaviour has been good - but given that he wants to achieve 'Grade A' then why would he jeopardise that by acting otherwise? Admittedly I have some way to go yet in really building trust between us, but to be honest, he has nothing to gain from lying to me or manipulating me. He values my friendship and I will continue to correspond in good faith.

Anyway, I will be able to buy some US postage stamps to send over to him while I am there.

I also wanted to give him a heads-up about the postal strike. Still crossing all my appendages!

* * *

Today I went onto Reprieve's website to sign up for a regular donation. To my surprise I received an email back from Helena O'Neill from the charity to say thank you as that was the first standing order donation they'd received via the website. Recurring donations are very important to Reprieve as they enable them to plan their investigations better knowing that there is a regular resource coming in. I'd urge anyone thinking of making a donation to consider making it a repeating/monthly one as it makes a huge difference. And don't forget the Gift Aid!

Running total : 1

2009-10-20T04:05:00.001-07:00

It's REALLY wet outside - low clouds and the kind of dense drizzle that I know is going to have me soaked through in seconds. But go out in it I must... I have challenges to meet, routines to maintain!

I've been running for a while now, and I'm not very good, but I've been bitten (quite literally as it happens, but that's another story). I have started echoing my husband's cry, as we drive past people out for a jog, of "I should be doing that!". I'm at the stage where I feel like going for a run almost as soon as I finish the last one. Yummy endorphins!

So I thought I should begin my running story in this blog by capturing how far I have run this year so far! I can't be very accurate, but I can get a fair approximation becasue I have *tended* to stick to known distances. I'm definitely trying to notch up the miles - both to show myself I can run further in any one go and improve my overall stamina, and also to get me out and active more often. So I have invested in both a Garmin Forerunner 405 (GPS-calibrated) and a Nike+ sportband (pace-calibrated). Distance is not my only metric. Nike+ online allows me to keep track and set goals around frequency of runs, speed (pace) and distance.

I've signed up to three challenges to help motivate me.

1) Parkrun Crispy's Challenge: Get my PB over 5km down to 27 minutes by end of May 2010
2) Parkrun nike+ challenge: One of a team of 3 representing Basingstoke Parkrun to try and notch up as many miles run as possible between September 26th to October 24th. Each Parkrun team is competing against the 20+ other Parkruns. I'm not usually a distance runner by any means, but this sure is dragging me out of the house!!
3) The Grim 8 Challenge in December 2009. Oh my goodness, yes! I have crazily signed up to run 8 miles through water, mud and ice. And I can't even run 8 miles yet!

Well, I say I can't... I probably can. I just haven't!

But just how far have I run this year? I'm no Forrest Gump, but let me see....

4 x 10km races = 40km
17 x 5km Parkrun = 85km
1 x 5.5 mile race = 8.3km
57.4km logged on Nike+ = 57.4km
Less 2 x parkruns logged on Nike+ = -10km
Plus two runs of 9 and 11 km in training = 20km
Plus about 4 runs of 8 to 9 km in training = 34km
Plus about 3 training runs of about 5km = 15km

GIves a running total in 2009 of 249.7km - let's say 250km. Not bad for a n00b. Today is day 293 of the year (I went here to find out), so that's a running average of 0.853 km per day. I MUST be able to drive up THAT average!

Rain still hasn't died down. Harrumph, oh well, off I go for some more!

A strike would be a blow...

2009-10-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

Royal Mail: The spectre of a Communication Workers Union strike in Britain in the run-up to Christmas is front page news daily at present. That, and the action of Royal Mail in advertising for twice as many temporary seasonal workers as usual, which is suspected of being an attempt by them to offset the impact of an all-out strike on their business and future revenues.

Now, being the nostalgic leftie that I am, I am largely sympathetic to striking workers. I don't say that this is blackmail, I believe in the power of a union of workers to take action as a last resort. I can't believe they take it lightly, being villified by the public and putting businesses and services at risk. Let's face it, they are consumers of their own service as well; they will suffer from their industrial action along with the rest of us.

And these things aren't a major inconvenience to me, normally speaking. I have holiday in hand at work so I might enjoy taking some time off for some physical Christmas shopping this year, instead of the usual leisurely online clickfest. Friends and relatives can manage without Christmas cards. If I need to get something out in desperation I can always pay for Mailboxes etc. While a mail strike will undoubtedly be a major smack in the chops for some people, it is at most, for me, a bit of a pain in the arse. Or would be ordinarily. But this year, I spy on the near horizon a different kind of impact.

As a Lifelines letter-writer, the thought of not hearing from my penfriend for weeks on end makes me more than a little melancholy. I am determined that any strike won't get in the way of me getting correspondence over to HIM. You see, letters to Death Row prisoners are often quite literally a lifeline. In the majority of cases, these men and women have no other form of communication or friendship with the outside world. Becoming accustomed to the ebb and flow of news and updates is something which we both appreciate and daren't take for granted.

My husband pointed out early on in my Lifelines membership that each and every Death Row penfriend takes on a huge emotional risk in beginning a correspondence relationship. And similarly that I was taking on a massive responsibility to my penpal. Indeed, the organisers of the charity go to lengths to remind members that prisoners are in many cases dependent on this hand of friendship from acrosss the Atlantic. We are urged to let our coordinators know if for some reason we decide not to write or are unable to for any period of time; that way, the emotional need of the prisoner can be accommodated, to some extent, by a reserve or replacement writer.

I am fortunate enough to have a reasonable income. So I will not be letting a mail strike get in the way of getting mail over to my friend; I will use whatever postal service is within my reach to ensure he gets something to lift his week. But other Lifelines writers are not in the same position and will feel the effects of this strike in both directions. Plus, I know for sure that both my penpal and I will regret a throttle being placed on my inbound mail. Getting a letter written by a friend is so exciting in these days of ready electronic communication. Somehow the thrill of a handwritten address on a DL envelope, a stamp and a postmark is so much greater than a (1) symbol next to the word 'Inbox'. True, the prison mail service can be tricky and fickle at the best of times, but in my experience so far, outbound mail through their mailroom has been OK, with delivery to the UK within 4 or 5 days on average. Under normal circumstances, without a letter in the post for weeks I would be very troubled indeed, given the understandable number of possible reasons for concern.

So if the Communications Workers Union and the Royal Mail fail to reach a rapid resolution this season, I'll be at a loss. I would miss him, worry about him, and be itching for the service to ramp up again. Fingers and everything are crossed the guys can sort things out.

If you are interested in finding out more about becoming a Lifelines correspondent, please visit
www.lifelines-uk.org.

Lifelines Autumn Conference 2009, London

2009-10-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 17th October I made my way to the Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre in London UK for my first ever participation in a Lifelines Conference. I've been writing to my penpal on Death Row since May of this year and it's going really well, so I was keen to meet fellow writers, State coordinators and committee members, put faces to names and swap stories and advice. The icing on the cake for the day was the agenda of speakers and I knew as soon as I had registered this was going to be something completely new and eye-opening for me.

The day was hosted by Lifelines Founder, Jan Arriens. I'd taken along my copy of 'Welcome to Hell', which is bit like a Lifelines Bible - it absolutely sets the scene for the type of correspondence one might expect when befriending a Death Row prisoner, and I managed to grab Jan during the lunchbreak and ask him to sign my rather battered copy. Proceedings were punctual, friendly, and one thing I particularly liked was that the four guest speakers on the day were given plenty of time to tell their story, there was no pressure to finish and in the case of our two eyewitness guests, they each had over an hour, which felt like they could really relax into relating to us their experiences and learnings in the way most comfortable to them. This made listening and learning a real pleasure. As a newcomer to the whole arena, I have many, many questions in my own mind, and feeling a little like a fish out of water, I was watchful for anything that I didn't particularly understand, believe or which simply, for one reason or another, might not ring true. By the end of the day, I realised that I had been rapt throughout, and was entirely comfortable - if not with the sometimes harrowing, sometimes infuriating, content of the speakers' tales, but with the authenticity and genuine emotion which each one of them brought to bear.

Reprieve

First, we heard from Sally Rowen, Legal Director for the Death Penalty at Reprieve. Reprieve is a charitable organisation which investigates and represents the rights of condemned and convicted British prisoners around the world. Sally's office has grown from just two people to some ten now working to represent over 30 prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, in addition to numerous British nationals facing the death penalty. As well as the matter of potentially flawed identification, arrest and conviction, Reprieve recognises that some of these prisoners have NO access to legal, moral or practical support in country, and in many cases, the UK does not even know that these people are languishing in prison and in some cases utterly without the means of communication. Through their contacts and increasing presence in prison institutions and camps around the world, Reprieve is getting a much better picture of just how many UK citizens are incarcerated outside of the UK and aims to provide assistance to as many as resources allow.

“I didn’t think such an organization existed. I always thought that we all were “a no value prisoner”. Thank you for providing hope.”

Virendra Govin, a British man on Death Row in California

One of the efforts ongoing in relation to the US death penalty is Reprieve's EU National investigation. There is a plan to establish exactly what constitutes 'nationality' in each of the EU member states, so that this information can be fed into a massive survey and cross-referenced as far as possible against each of the 3000+ US Death Row inmates. The purpose of this is to establish whether any more of these qualify for assistance and support on the grounds of EU national status. It's obviously only the tip of the iceberg as EU law cannot be brought to bear on US territory, however, for some prisoners, just knowing that someone has acknowledged their existence and that they have some form of communication channel with people who have an interest in their case is SOMETHING.

www.reprieve.org.uk

Erwin James

Erwin (profile here) writes a column for the Guardian newspaper in the UK. His unique perspective as journalist is that he is a former convict who served 20 years of a life sentence, and was released in 2004. His mission is to be the authentic voice of the prisoner now he is on the outside, and to educate the public - and the young and future policy-makers and educators in particular - on what needs to change in the penal system in order for it to work better. This sounds super-simplistic when I try and tell it back. Erwin's story - of his descent into crime and conviction, and his subsequent renewal and regeneration as a human being, is complex, life-affirming stuff. Hearing from Erwin was a reassurance to his audience of letter-writers that having people who give a shit and are able to give back a sense of value to the 'scum' that the rest of civilised society wants to forget is not just humane, but is a key element of rehabilitation; in the case of a life sentence, is a VITAL piece of rehabilitation. Erwin's 'lightbulb moment' was the realisation while in prison, that he had a forgotten talent for English and writing, which prison visitors then encouraged him to nurture. A-Grade success at GCE O-level, followed by further study and a degree subsequently paved the way for a man who had previously faced total detachment from society to gain the skills, contacts and confidence he needed to ultimately face the outside world as a genuine contributor.

ipno (Innocence Project New Orleans): Emily Maw

Loved this girl! Emily is a British lawyer who works with prisoners in Louisiana and Mississippi, to identify, investigate and resolve cases of wrongful conviction. As Director of ipno, Emily also helps give prominence to the issue of mistakes being made and ignored by the criminal justice system. Since 2001, ipno has secured the release of 15 innocent prisoners. Two of these served 27 and a half years in prison before finally getting their innocence proven and their convictions overturned. Emily explained that the American judicial system cares so little for potential miscarriage of justice ( the lawyers have got their numbers of convictions in the bag, right, why worry any more?), that even once a prisoner IS proven innocent, it can take years of effort to actually get that person released and back out into free society. ipno focusses not on condemned prisoners, but on LWOP (life without parole) convicts, since a LWOP sentence means there is NO State representation available after the Direct Appeal stage is exhausted. So once a conviction is secured, there is no funding for prisoners, who often come from the most poverty-ridden quarters of society, via the State, to re-consider aspects of the case itself, since t

he Direct Appeal looks only at technical aspects of the judicial process. So these people utterly rely on the likes of Emily and Innocence Project to carry out whatever investigation might be possible to secure a reprieve. No wonder that ipno is completely swamped with requests for assistance. And the stats on false convictions in Louisiana alone make you shiver when you consider just how many under-represented people have ended up in jail, facing mind-blowingly long sentences and conditions, often with hard labour, and almost certainly death in jail, since LWOP means precisely that. Not to mention the innocent people who continue to face execution.

http://www.ip-no.org

John Thompson, founder of Resurrection after Exoneration

John Thompson, pictured above with Emily Maw, told possibly the most shocking and inspirational story of the day. Acquitted in 2005 for a murder and aggravated robbery which he did not commit, John left prison with next to nothing and the burden of 18 years of wrongful imprisonment on his back. He subsequently set up Resurrection after Exoneration to provide support and practical assistance to exonerees - of which there are many... and they continue to be released thanks to the work of ip-no and others. John's 18 years in the Louisiana prison system included 14 years on Death Row and 7 execution dates, each one of which was appealed. The closest he came to execution in the electric chair was 30 days, at which time, by a stroke of utter good fortune, evidence was uncovered proving without a shadow of a doubt that John was innocent. John's telling of this abhorration of a miscarriage of justice was flavoured with the rendition of how his teenage son had received the news of his father's 7th (and would-have-been-final) execution date while in class at school, when the teacher had read the news item aloud from the daily newspaper. Thankfully, the boy's flight from the classroom and arrival at home was met with the stunning news that THAT VERY DAY, a new investigator had applied a fresh set of thinking and a fresh pair of eyes, and managed to secure the proof of an incompatible blood-type with that of the perpetrator.

John's account was stirring, emotional, authentic, inspirational and infuriating! Unsurprisingly, John has been unable to forgive the actions of those who put him and a number of others, subsequently found innocent, away. Read here how Jim Williams, the prosecutor in question, once featured on the cover of Esquire magazine posing with a model of an electric chair and 5 toy versions of Louisiana men he had sent to their deaths. One of these was John Thompson.

www.r-a-e.org

All in all, the day was a wonderful one for me, and I had the chance to be in a roomful of people who are genuinely making a difference. I am proud to be a Lifelines member and contribute the small amount that I do to make a few people's lives more worthwhile and the world a more humane place.

www.lifelines-uk.org

Here goes nuthin'

2009-10-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

I should have taken inspiration years ago from my friend Aaron and former colleague, Chris Saul, and the excellence and popularity of their blogs, but I guess I thought I had nothing of interest or wit to say or nothing I wanted to publicly get off my chest. My cousin David, too, as a bit of a creative hero of mine (more of that in a later episode!), has provided much encouragement to me over the years to do more to write and be read; but despite a few tentative contributions to the Arksanctum creative community run by friend David Barltrop, and some tinkering about on Myspace, I've never really felt, well..... worthy of publishing a blog of my own.

So why now? Well, I'm neither n00b nor trendsetter, I have finally climbed aboard with Twitter (@k4thybrown) and in doing so have been working out how to partition my digital diarrhoea into different social media for separate, albeit sometimes overlapping purposes.

LinkedIn is clearly about work, career, and professional networking.

MySpace - though seldom visited these days, is still all about music and the arts - and primarily a place I can go to find out more about bands and musicians that I might stumble across via a friend's recommendation, or in iTunes Genius, Spotify or Last.fm.

Then there's Facebook; tricky ground indeed for there my social and working worlds are inextricably tangled. But given that it's the place where I tend to blurt out my irreverences most frequently, and where my family, friends and colleagues intersect and see 'real Kathy', I try and keep Facebook informal and within boundaries of public decorum. Er....for the most part...

Anyway, in launching a Twitter ID recently, I looked at other people's profiles and realised it was OK to describe yourself in a capsule way that captures your different personae in ways people can relate to... Mum, professional, hobbyist, sportsperson, evangelist etc.... And so what in Kathy's world, encapsulates me in just one sentence? I decided to shrink it back to 3 things: the things that I feel define me and my interests right now. And those things had to be

My working self. Twitter is the primary engine of the self-promotion web. It's been acknowledged as being the equivalent of standing in the street and shouting. So you have to be careful what you tweet.
My born-again-runningness.
My favourite cause: opposition to the death penalty. I am a member of a UK organisation, Lifelines, which provides penpals for condemned prisoners on the USA's Death Row. I've kept this activity quiet for several months, but my interest and passion for the topic is growing daily, and I think it's time to come out and be a voice.

Those are the things I want to shout in the street about, and that I feel I can put Twitter to good use around. But 140 characters is a little limiting when you want to get on your soapbox! And so I have decided to give blogdom another whirl. Somewhere to relate my experiences as a Death Row penpal, to dump some facts and thoughts, to shape up how I think and feel on certain topics and to give additional credit to the people whose work in the area of human rights touches this cause, which in turn touches me. This coincides with my recognition that the subject of my cause is unpopular, emotive, gets relatively little coverage and is little understood. It also coincides with my attendance yesterday at my first ever Lifelines conference. Lifelines is 21 years old this year, and my inaugural visit to conference was a day that left me inspired, enthusiastic, in tune with my instinct and with the feelings of those around me, and determined to do more to support both them as a charitable organisation, and the associated campaigners who are doing such great work to improve the lives of convicts and victims' families. Lifelines is a wonderful UK organisation to belong to and arguably needs a helping hand to launch it into the digisphere. I can help do that a little.

Anynumber:none

Why this title? Well, it occurred to me a few days ago that I cannot think of a single justifiable reason for the Death Penalty, whereas I can think of any number of reasons it makes no sense and ultimately must be abolished - in the United States as well as the other nations where it is still legitimate punishment. Where are those other nations? As mentioned by Lifelines' founder Jan Arriens at the Autumn Conference yesterday, they make strange bedfellows for the self-proclaimed leader of the civilised world. In the map below, spot the likes of China, Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia

Death Penalty World Map Colour scheme:

Blue: Abolished for all crimes

Green: Abolished for crimes not committed in exceptional circumstances (such as crimes committed in time of war)

Orange: Abolished in practice

Red: Legal form of punishment for certain offences

(Source: Wikimedia Commons : Death_Penalty_World_Map.svg)

The timing as well, is really interesting. The USA is again under pressure from the EU to reconsider its stance on Capital punishment - for a wealth of reasons.

"Currently, a total of 139 countries which have abolished the death penalty in law or practice:

94 countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes;
10 countries have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes;
35 countries can be considered abolitionist in practice. They retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions for the past 10 years or more and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions.

Since 2005, 12 countries have abolished the death penalty.While figures of death penalty application around the world still remain high 93 per cent of all known executions took place in five countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the USA and Pakistan."

(Excerpt from TheGovMonitor , ex European Commission statement 9th October 2009)

.... the State of California, currently undergoing a moratorium on the death penalty [DP] (due to doubts about the lethal injection process and whether it contravenes the 8th Amendment), is now under significant financial pressure to abolish the DP and commute all current death sentences to Life Without Parole (LWOP). Governor Schwarzenegger is alleged to be seeking to sell off San Quentin prison and rehouse the prisoners currently residing on Death Row.

.... whereas in the UK, a recent poll is reported to have shown a swing in public favour towards REINSTATING the DP in the light of recent high-profile crimes which have incited the disgust and hatred of the British public.

That we Brits could even contemplate such a thing today, in the face of the many reasons against makes me very sad indeed. And here I am.