My first thoughts about prisoners on Death Row came many years ago after watching a documentary on Ricky Ray Rector.
On March 22, 1981, Rector entered Tommy’s Old Fashioned Home-style Restaurant in Conway (Faulkner County), where he had previously been denied entrance to a private party. Rector fired several shots, killing Arthur Criswell and wounding two others. Two days later, Rector entered his mother’s home while the police were there questioning his mother and sister. Rector shot and killed Robert Martin, a Conway police officer, before running outside and shooting himself in the head. The bullet entered his brain, and efforts by surgeons to remove the bullet resulted in a lobotomy. Rector was permanently brain damaged.
Despite this, Rector was tried and sentenced to death, even though he was incapable of understanding the meaning of death. His last meal consisted of fried chicken, steak, and pecan pie. When Rector had finished eating, he set aside a piece of the pie and told the guards that he would like to save it for later. Rector’s obvious inability to comprehend the fact that he was about to be executed unnerved a number of the prison officials.
Rector’s execution was scheduled for 9:15 p.m. on January 24, 1992. However, the execution was delayed by more than fifty minutes because the medical technicians were unable to find a useable vein. Rector attempted to help them find a vein that would work, and witnesses stated that he seemed to be innocently cheerful, as though he believed that the technicians were performing a simple, everyday procedure. Spectators who waited behind a drawn curtain counted eight moans of pain during the process of finding the vein. Several of the prison officials doubted that the execution should proceed, but at 10:09 p.m., Rector was executed by lethal injection. Later, at least one of the officials involved who helped with the execution resigned from his position, citing the upsetting experience of Rector’s execution as the reason.
(Sourced and adapted from the Encyclopedia of Arkansas)
I remember being shocked that this childlike man, who didn't even understand the concept of death was put to death by lethal injection.
For nearly 2 decades I have been against the death penalty, largely due to the effect that this documentary had on me, but I have not done anything about it until now.
I am Roman Catholic, and in church a couple of weeks ago there was an attachment asking parishioners to send Christmas cards to prisoners on the list supplied by Amnesty International. I recognised one of the names, although I’m not sure why. That name was Reggie Clemons. I decided to find out a bit about Reggie’s case and send a Christmas card to Reggie. (For more on Reggie’s campaign see http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/clemonsreport.pdf).
I then posted additional Cards and letters to several other inmates on Death Row in different states, as well as signing several petitions on Amnesty International's website And pledging to “write 4 rights”.
I recently saw a quote which really touched, written by Marietta Jaeger, whose 7 year-old daughter Susie was kidnapped and murdered in the US in 1973. It reads as follows:
“Concerning the claim of justice for the victim’s family, I say there is no amount of retaliatory deaths that would compensate to me the inestimable value of my daughter’s life, nor would they restore her to my arms. To say that the death of any other person would be just retribution is to insult the immeasurable worth of our loved ones who are victims. We cannot put a price on their lives. That kind of justice would only dehumanize and degrade us because it legitimates an animal instinct for gut-level blood thirsty revenge…. In my case, my own daughter was such a gift of joy and sweetness and beauty, that to kill someone in her name would have been to violate and profane the goodness of her life; the idea is offensive and repulsive to me.”
In my view, the death penalty only creates more murders, and in an often more cold and calculating way. The wait from sentencing to execution is often years, even decades, and is essentially torture, as these men (and woman) wait, often in appalling conditions, until they are given a day and a time at which they will die. Don Cabana, a former warden of Mississippi’s Parchman Penitentiary said, “When you execute a man who has been on Death Row for 7, 8, 10 or 12 years, you are not executing the same man who came in.” If we put these men and woman to death, does that make us better people, or does their death make the world a better place? Some of you may answer, “Yes”, but a quote often attributed to Ghandi says “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. “ There is a more elaborate version of this quote from The King James English translation of Exodus 21:12 which states, “An eye-for-eye and tooth-for-tooth would lead to a world of the blind and toothless.” and what sort of world would that be?
So that is where I am now. I have posted my letters and will wait to see what response I get. I am a married woman and certainly not looking for romance, but I am looking to extend the arm of friendship and perhaps offer a tiny bit of comfort to a few of those people who have been disguarded and forgotten by society and labelled as monsters, who now find themselves in unimaginable situations which nobody could have foreseen. Many were tried whilst in their teens, some may be innocent and I hope that justice will be serviced for them, whilst some may have committed horrific crimes. I do not wish to belittle the suffering of victim’s family, and I am not asking that those guilty be set free, but often these men and women have found themselves in a dreadful situation through poor judgment, abuse, alcohol or drugs. Many are very repentant and regretful of a situation that got out of control resulting in a loss of life and alot turn to God. Many are black and poor, with no money for decent legal representation and are judged by bias, all-white juries. Where is the fairness in that? Clinton Duffy, former warden at California's San Quentin Prison once said, ". . . the term capital punishment is ironic because only those without capital get the punishment.”
This is a new journey for me. Who knows where it will lead. I may find I don’t get any response, but if I do, I hope that by sharing my experience I will open the eyes and hearts of others. A monstrous act does not always mean the man behind it is a monster.
On March 22, 1981, Rector entered Tommy’s Old Fashioned Home-style Restaurant in Conway (Faulkner County), where he had previously been denied entrance to a private party. Rector fired several shots, killing Arthur Criswell and wounding two others. Two days later, Rector entered his mother’s home while the police were there questioning his mother and sister. Rector shot and killed Robert Martin, a Conway police officer, before running outside and shooting himself in the head. The bullet entered his brain, and efforts by surgeons to remove the bullet resulted in a lobotomy. Rector was permanently brain damaged.
Despite this, Rector was tried and sentenced to death, even though he was incapable of understanding the meaning of death. His last meal consisted of fried chicken, steak, and pecan pie. When Rector had finished eating, he set aside a piece of the pie and told the guards that he would like to save it for later. Rector’s obvious inability to comprehend the fact that he was about to be executed unnerved a number of the prison officials.
Rector’s execution was scheduled for 9:15 p.m. on January 24, 1992. However, the execution was delayed by more than fifty minutes because the medical technicians were unable to find a useable vein. Rector attempted to help them find a vein that would work, and witnesses stated that he seemed to be innocently cheerful, as though he believed that the technicians were performing a simple, everyday procedure. Spectators who waited behind a drawn curtain counted eight moans of pain during the process of finding the vein. Several of the prison officials doubted that the execution should proceed, but at 10:09 p.m., Rector was executed by lethal injection. Later, at least one of the officials involved who helped with the execution resigned from his position, citing the upsetting experience of Rector’s execution as the reason.
(Sourced and adapted from the Encyclopedia of Arkansas)
I remember being shocked that this childlike man, who didn't even understand the concept of death was put to death by lethal injection.
For nearly 2 decades I have been against the death penalty, largely due to the effect that this documentary had on me, but I have not done anything about it until now.
I am Roman Catholic, and in church a couple of weeks ago there was an attachment asking parishioners to send Christmas cards to prisoners on the list supplied by Amnesty International. I recognised one of the names, although I’m not sure why. That name was Reggie Clemons. I decided to find out a bit about Reggie’s case and send a Christmas card to Reggie. (For more on Reggie’s campaign see http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/clemonsreport.pdf).
I then posted additional Cards and letters to several other inmates on Death Row in different states, as well as signing several petitions on Amnesty International's website And pledging to “write 4 rights”.
I recently saw a quote which really touched, written by Marietta Jaeger, whose 7 year-old daughter Susie was kidnapped and murdered in the US in 1973. It reads as follows:
“Concerning the claim of justice for the victim’s family, I say there is no amount of retaliatory deaths that would compensate to me the inestimable value of my daughter’s life, nor would they restore her to my arms. To say that the death of any other person would be just retribution is to insult the immeasurable worth of our loved ones who are victims. We cannot put a price on their lives. That kind of justice would only dehumanize and degrade us because it legitimates an animal instinct for gut-level blood thirsty revenge…. In my case, my own daughter was such a gift of joy and sweetness and beauty, that to kill someone in her name would have been to violate and profane the goodness of her life; the idea is offensive and repulsive to me.”
In my view, the death penalty only creates more murders, and in an often more cold and calculating way. The wait from sentencing to execution is often years, even decades, and is essentially torture, as these men (and woman) wait, often in appalling conditions, until they are given a day and a time at which they will die. Don Cabana, a former warden of Mississippi’s Parchman Penitentiary said, “When you execute a man who has been on Death Row for 7, 8, 10 or 12 years, you are not executing the same man who came in.” If we put these men and woman to death, does that make us better people, or does their death make the world a better place? Some of you may answer, “Yes”, but a quote often attributed to Ghandi says “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. “ There is a more elaborate version of this quote from The King James English translation of Exodus 21:12 which states, “An eye-for-eye and tooth-for-tooth would lead to a world of the blind and toothless.” and what sort of world would that be?
So that is where I am now. I have posted my letters and will wait to see what response I get. I am a married woman and certainly not looking for romance, but I am looking to extend the arm of friendship and perhaps offer a tiny bit of comfort to a few of those people who have been disguarded and forgotten by society and labelled as monsters, who now find themselves in unimaginable situations which nobody could have foreseen. Many were tried whilst in their teens, some may be innocent and I hope that justice will be serviced for them, whilst some may have committed horrific crimes. I do not wish to belittle the suffering of victim’s family, and I am not asking that those guilty be set free, but often these men and women have found themselves in a dreadful situation through poor judgment, abuse, alcohol or drugs. Many are very repentant and regretful of a situation that got out of control resulting in a loss of life and alot turn to God. Many are black and poor, with no money for decent legal representation and are judged by bias, all-white juries. Where is the fairness in that? Clinton Duffy, former warden at California's San Quentin Prison once said, ". . . the term capital punishment is ironic because only those without capital get the punishment.”
This is a new journey for me. Who knows where it will lead. I may find I don’t get any response, but if I do, I hope that by sharing my experience I will open the eyes and hearts of others. A monstrous act does not always mean the man behind it is a monster.
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