Florida Death Row Advocacy Group Working to Maintain and Improve Living Conditions for Death Row in Florida Because Compassion Works! Newsletter April 2004 (Personal opinions of our Guest writers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of FDRAG or its members)

BOOKS TO READ

Draft by Northeastern University Press for its Fall 2004 Catalogue
RELIGION/CRIMINAL JUSTICE
The Biblical Truth about America's Death Penalty

DALE S. RECINELLA

While secular support for capital punishment in America seems to be waning, religious conservatives, particularly in the "Bible belt," remain staunch advocates of the death penalty, citing biblical law and practice to defend government-sanctioned killing.  In this close reading of Hebrew and Christian scriptures, Dale S. Recinella compares biblical teaching about the death penalty, including such passages as "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life," with the nation's current system of capital punishment, and offers persuasive arguments for a faith-based moratorium—and eventual abolition—of executions.

Framing his careful and incisive analysis as a legal brief to those who believe the Bible mandates the ultimate punishment, the author addresses two critical areas of inquiry: what do the scriptures tell us about who is deserving of death and who has the authority to kill, and what do they tell us about the required standards for execution and the plight of victims' families. Recinella's examination of the Hebrew Torah, or Christian Pentateuch, and the Talmud reveals that the biblical death penalty was not a simple system of swift retribution, but a complex and practical set of laws that guided capital courts established under the Sanhedrin. His scrutiny of these texts, the Christian doctrine of atonement, and Romans 13 in the Pauline Epistles, draws parallels.

Between the traditional biblical arguments used in favor of capital punishment and those used as the basis for pro-slavery positions in the nineteenth century. Demonstrating that both approaches are unsubstantiated in biblical terms, Recinella debunks the accepted religious reasoning for support of the death penalty and shows instead that the Bible's strict conditions for sanctioning execution are at odds with the arbitrary ways in which capital punishment is administered in the United States. He provides convincing evidence that a sentence of death in today's criminal justice system in fact fails to meet both the Bible's exacting procedural requirements and its strict limitations upon judicial authority.

By providing actual scriptural language and foundation to counter the position that biblical truth justifies a pro-death penalty stance, this thoughtful, solidly researched, and well-reasoned work will give pause to religious fundamentalists and challenge them to rethink their strongly held views on capital punishment.

DALE S. RECINELLA is an attorney who serves as a state-certified spiritual counselor and Catholic lay chaplain for Florida's prison system, ministering to death row inmates and prisoners in long-term solitary confinement. He is also a columnist, public speaker, and frequent panelist on worldwide Vatican Radio. He lives in Macclenny, Florida.

December 2004  320 pages notes  appendices  bibliography  tables  index

ISBN 1-55553-633-6  cloth $55.00s
ISBN 1-55553-632-8  paper $22.50s

News From The inside

Meeting at UCI, March 15

I have had another pleasant meeting with Region Director Carter, this time joined by Warden Decker and two other staff members. It was more a follow up on the last one we had. Items discussed were again the price of the security pens, and this is still being looked into, apparently it is not as easy to solve, as it seems. We have gotten permission to donate envelopes and are hoping to be able to do so on a regular basis.

Hopefully in a manner so that you all know who needs them the most. Picture taking in the park also seem to have turned into a different kind of problem than originally, so if anything positive will come out of that it will be once or twice a year for holidays. But that would still be a blessing for everyone to be able to do. We did of course talk about the wire mesh and how you are all being moved around until the top part of the mesh is off, and when asking into the dog runs Mister Carter assured me that it was not going to happen, and since Mister Crosby already a few weeks back told the same to “aunt Bea” (see page 7) we will take their word for it. And yes, there is some progress in regards to hobby crafts, I cannot say more at this point except it looks promising.

 On a personal note I must say these meetings to me are proof that new winds are truly blowing, and I am grateful for that. We are fully aware that the DOC does not have to work with us at all, which make the appreciation so much bigger. As most of you know I have a rock solid faith in my Creator, and if I may be so bold, I firmly believe that “We can do all things through Christ” and “it is not us, but He who lives in us”… and so, to end this of, in a nice Easter mannerJ,  “In him I live and move and have my being….” How truly blessed we are to know that fear of death does not have to have any hold on us. Have a blessed Easter.

Hannah

The Newsletter

Winner of the Logo Contest

The Food Situation Continued

OUR NEW COVER FOR THE WEB PAGE

 EXTREME MAKE OVER?

            ATKINS DIET?               

Before	After

Debbie Albert of ARAMARK Public Relations
Phone: 215-238-3614

Message From Aramark:

“May I assure you that we take any allegations about our foodservices anywhere very seriously. If you have specific names and dates of incidents, I would be interested in seeing them. Other than that, I can assure you that we do our very best to provide the best foodservice possible to inmates throughout the US.”

Debbie Albert
Associate Vice President
ARAMARK Corporate Communications

Department of Health Inspector General

Mailing Address: 
4052 Bald Cypress Way
Bin #AO3
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1704

Correctional Medical Authority mailing address:

4052 Bald Cypress Way
Bin – 04
Tallahassee Fl. 32399-1732

The very next day after we changed our website to this current one, the picture you see to the left was changed on the DOC web page, that is why the picture can no longer be found.

It would be interesting to see the difference in your pictures from last year to this, for those of you who do not have the means to supplement your food with canteen. ?

Some of you should by now have received a copy of the contract between Aramark and DOC to help you in filing your grievances. Anyone who wishes a copy please contact us.

 

We also found a snail mail address for Aramark,:

 

The correct address is:

ARAMARK Correctional Services, Inc. 
1801 South Meyers Road, Suite 300
Oakbrook Terrace, IL  60181. 

 

Please make sure if you write to them to send us a copy. We will then send it to Debbie Albert (public relations for Aramark) she kindly provided her snail mail address.

This time we will make sure it is certified mail so that we know that they know that you DID complain and tried to make people aware.

[back to top]

Art, Poetry and opinions from IN-mates

Stand up and act like Men. Saifullah Yhwh

The wound that never heals

Easter Greetings!

IN-mates art continued

Word from Aunt Bea

Our Aunt Bea and the Governor

Follow up on Bank Accounts

Birthdays, Announcements, etc

Greeting cards etc…

In the future if you need greeting cards of any kind please address your letters to;

Tammy…. at FDRAGS address

Miscellaneous Questions

Can be addressed to R. Udeasheck. Also at FDRAGS location, we will then forward the mail to the rude creature.

The Information package

For inside the USA contact:

Karin Elsea1400 East West Highway #710 Silver Spring, MD 20910

For some Christian fellowship contact:

Chris C/O Grace community fellowship

P.O. Box 1072

Starke Fl. 32091

He is looking forward to your letter.

Information package overseas contact:

Jolanda Arends,

Treilerstraat 168,

 NL - 1503 JM Zaandam, 

The Netherlands

If you need help to find a friend

Dianne Abshire,

9673 State Rt 65,

Paws -ing to read the FSC

We tried to move him…  he has CLAWS!!!

This past month the country has been pre-occupied with the controversy over Mel Gibson’s movie ‘Honey, I Crucified the Kids’ ‘The Passion of The Christ’. Meanwhile I’ve been reading the FSC as always, so you don’t have to. In Guzman v State, the court explains that historically, it has misinterpreted the materiality standard required when the prosecutor’s pants spontaneously burst into flame during trial knowingly deceives the jury and defense. In short, the court admits to having screwed up caused a “lack of clarity” and “confusion”, which meant, as a consequence, that it was up to the defendant to show that:

1)       The prosecutor lied

2)       The prosecutor knew he lied and that

 3) If not for the prosecutor wearing asbestos pants, the outcome might have been different. The third prong - the materiality standard - was basically the same as for a Brady claim, and this is what the court now changes its mind about and decides that “the State as beneficiary of the Giglio violation bears the burden to prove that the presentation of false testimony at trial was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt”. The justices then go on at length to discuss the finer points of the materiality prong of Brady as distinct from the materiality prong of Giglio, thus making the only thing you really, really wish they’d explain the finer point of… their understanding of the word ‘confusion’ -- especially as distinct from the word ‘clarity’. Anyway, the court remands the case for a hearing on the Giglio issue, and for the remainder of the opinion relies on its usual vocabulary… Can you say ‘harmless error’? I knew you could!

In other news this month, we had the Oscars; and not to be outdone, I have decided to have my own award ceremony. I call it the Hoover Award inspired by my first winner, Dr. Sidney M. Wallace, who wins, because he sucks. A lot.  Oh, AND he’s full of dirt. In a commentary on the recent hunger-strike at FSP, “Dr.” Wallace bloviates writes:

 “These inmates feel they have earned the right to be considered first and want the Department of Corrections to understand their place in the system.  If these individuals were not in prison, they would definitely be on the front lines of crime in America.  Note that I did not say which side of the line they might be on”. [snip]

 Yes, these inmates have the audacity to hold the prison to its own rules, and request humane treatment. If Sidney wasn’t so busy being a sanctimonious blowhard trying to be funny, he would be on the frontline of journalism. Note that I did not say on which side of the edge of my litter-box his article currently finds itself. But back to Sid, who wants to help with a few suggestions. On exercise:

 ”We should chain them together and let them jog across Everglades during alligator mating season”.

On food:

 “With Florida's humid climate, there should be no reason that the state could not provide an abundant supply of roaches and other insects to supply more than ample food to these poor souls”. [snip]

 Yes, as you can tell, Sid is a compassionate conservative, sharing his insight and his Christian values. If by ‘sharing his insight’ we mean ranting and raving, and by Christian values we mean really twisted hatred of other people. Sid concludes:

 ”The Department of Corrections should know that it is every inmate's "right" to act up until they get their way.  For the State of Florida to think, that these future leaders of the Florida penal system will bow down to some law is as ridiculous as thinking that Bill Clinton will tell the truth under oath”.

 Oh! And Sid should know that research is not to be avoided at all cost – currently his all-too-obvious modus operandi. I suspect that the reason why he doesn’t know that there are no big-screen TVs or cable available to the inmates as he incorrectly infers elsewhere in his screed  (if only in order to make another vapid point), is that he is either unfamiliar with the correct usage of basic journalistic fact checking tools, or that he is too busy rationalizing the Oxycontin usage of his fellow conservative, Rush Limbaugh. If he had his facts straight, he’d know that he needs to go no further than the current President to find an example of lying. And thus we award Sid the prize: One copy of Sean Hannity’s “Deliver Us From Sidney M. Wallace Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism”.

If anyone has comments or questions for Mister R. Udeasheck he can be contacted through FDRAG.

His Motto: Prosecutors will be violated

If you wish to send a message to Dr. Sid Wallace, who unfortunately is very real, mark your envelope “comment to Sid” and we will be happy to forward it.

Winners of the book drawing APRIL 2004

FDRAG Share-a-Book Program

Each month, FDRAG will collect book wishes from the readers of our Newsletter.

In order to submit a book wish, simply fill out the form below, send it to FDRAG and your book may be one of the 10 book titles which will be drawn each month, and purchased via Amazon.com.

Because we want this program to benefit as many as possible on our shoe-string budget we ask that you pass on your book when you're done reading it.

Share-A-Book Name: DOC:                                              Housing: Author: Title:

FDRAG & MEMBERSHIP

This group is created by families and friends of death row inmates in Florida. It is a given that this group is against Capital punishment. It is however, not the purpose for this group to do anti-death penalty work, instead this group concentrates on making the living conditions for death row inmates tolerable. We also commit to work on making changes that will improve the quality of living in that particular environment called Death Row, and to help keeping the standard that already exists. Everyone who is willing to work for basic human rights is welcome. If you are looking for a group who does anti-death penalty work, we suggest you join one of the excellent groups already up and running. For further information please contact a member near you:

USA

Hannah Floyd, (Can be contacted for info on newsletter, membership, visiting, places to stay, transport etc.)
137 N Walnut St, #14
Starke, FL 32091
E-mail: Hannahfloyd@yahoo.com
Tel: 904-964-4303 or 904 964 7303

Janice Figueroa
1120 Wild Oak Terrace
Deland, FL. 32720
E-mail: Tfigu@aol.com
Tel: 386-738-3968

Karin Elsea, (Contact person for the DC/Maryland area)
1400 East West Highway, #710
Silver Spring, MD 20910
E-mail: Karinelsea@hotmail.com
Tel: 301-565-3246

Dianne Abshire
9673 State Rt 65
Ottawa, OH 45875
E-mail: afua@woh.rr.com
Tel: 419-523-5816
(Can also be contacted re: legal matters for the attention of Florida Support Group)

The Netherlands

Jolanda Arends, Treilerstraat 168
NL - 1503 JM Zaandam
E-mail: jolanda-arends@zonnet.nl
Tel: +31-75-616-4862
(FDRAG membership and info pack)