Florida Death Row Advocacy Group

Luis Ramirez, convicted in the death of a 19-year-old San Angelo man, gives the following account of his first day on Death Row:
I'm about [to] share with you a story whose telling is long past due. It's a familiar story to most of you reading this from death row. And now it's one that all of you in 'free world' may benefit from. This is the story of my first day on the row:
I came here in May of 1999. The exact date is something that I can't recall. I do remember arriving in the afternoon. I was placed in a cell on H-20 wing over at the Ellis Unit in Huntsville, TX. A Tsunami of emotions and thoughts were going through my mind at the time. I remember the only things in the cell were a mattress, pillow, a couple of sheets, a pillow case, a roll of toilet paper, and a blanket. I remember sitting there, utterly lost.
The first person I met there was Napoleon Beasley. Back then, Death Row prisoners still worked.
His job at the time was to clean up the wing and help serve during meal times. He was walking around sweeping the pod in these ridiculous looking rubber boots. He came up to the bars on my cell and asked me if I was new. I told him that I had just arrived on death row. He asked what my name is. I told him, not seeing any harm in it. He then stepped back where he could see all three tiers. He hollered at everyone: “There's a new man here. He just drove up. His name is Luis Ramirez.”
When he did that, I didn't know what to make of it at first. I thought I had made some kind of mistake. You see, like most of you, I was of the impression that everyone on death row was evil. I thought I would find hundreds of 'Hannibal Lecters' in here. And now, they all knew my name. I thought, “Oh well, that's strike one.” I was sure that they would soon begin harassing me. This is what happens in the movies after all.
Well, that's not what happened. After supper was served, Napoleon was once again sweeping the floors. As he passed my cell, he swept a brown paper bag into it. I asked him: “What's this?” He said for me to look inside and continued on his way. Man, I didn't know what to expect. I was certain it was something bad.

Luis Ramirez / death row
Polunsky Unit, Texas.

God bless
….Hannah