Uncensored, August 02, 2005
Justice
Greetings to all!
Another episode of Clinton Young Uncensored. I am going to step back into the realm of politics for a few moments.
I have touched on the fact that Texas does not have the best mental health service. Well I would like to get into that topic a little more.
There was a case in the news last year, May 2004. Kelsey Patterson, 50 of Palestine, TX, who even though he suffered from documented severe mental illness, was executed by the State of Texas. One of the interesting aspects of his case is the fact that he was granted clemency by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. This is very very rare. As a matter of fact, his case was the only one I know of where the T.B.P.P. granted clemency. Then the great governor of Texas, Rick Perry, exhibited a prime example of the tyranny of political power over justice and mercy, Governor Perry shot down the parole board’s rare vote and ordered Kelsey Patterson to be executed. His reason for doing so was that Texas did not at the time have life without parole. Now the real interesting thing about Perry’s reason is that Texas did not have life without parole “because” the governor himself had strenuously and successfully opposed the introduction of life without parole! Other states and nations back up the mentally ill in order to treat them. Texas kills them. Though we are dealing with a sate that the highest criminal court has ruled that innocence does not matter so long as the defendant got a fair trial.
In 1980 and 1983, Patterson was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial for two previous non fatal shootings. He was not prosecuted in those shootings because he was found to be delusional. Though as soon as he committed capital murder, he was found competent to stand trial and given the death penalty. Kind of a “kill him so we do not have to worry about him no more” type of thing. “Bubba, go out back and shoot that damn dog so he will stop barking!”
At the time of his execution, Kelsey mumbled incoherently. His statement was, “Murders…no kin, no kin.” “I’m not guilty of the charge of capitol murder … acquitted by the court of criminal appeals.” When he was asked his final statement, he replied, “statement to what? statement to what? He rambled for a couple minutes and stated “they are doing this to steal my money. My truth will always be my truth. No kin to you…undertaker……..murder. Go to hell. Get my money. Give me my rights. Give me my life back.” The flow of lethal chemicals stopped his mumbling.
The victim’s daughter said it ended how she “prayed” it would. Those types of people are fucking ill. How can anyone indicate “My God is a loving and forgiving God” and then proclaim that the same loving God has slaughtered the one they “prayed” to be killed? I will get off that topic for now.
Back to the subject at hand. At least 6 people with claims of mental illness have been put to death in Texas since 2002. In 2001 Texas ranked 46th in the nation in mental health case spending. In 2003 the Texas legislature slashed millions of dollars from the states 2004 mental health care programs. Under the 2004 budget Medicaid no longer paid for adults to visit psychologists, licensed counselors, social workers and or marriage and family therapists.
Groups have been trying for years to get the courts and legislature to focus more on the states policy for mentally ill and mentally retarded criminals. The answer to everything is kill, kill, and kill. If we can’t kill, then lock them up for as long as we can. Texas even sends drug abusers to prison. No treatment just idle time in prison.
A lot of state facilities in Texas refuse to hospitalize people unless they are violent.
Kelsey Patterson’s family tried to get him committed to a mental health facility. He was rejected because he had not harmed anyone. He was on death row for the murder of two people. The same thing with Larry Robison whom has been executed as well. The state refused to keep him hospitalized because he was not violent. The first time he displayed violence five people ended up dead. If Texas would have focused on prevention, then 9 people would still be alive in those 2 cases alone.
A mentally ill man cannot provide as much assistance to his lawyers as a mentally stable person. This is just a good example as to one of the many ways that the system is broken. This is why people need to unite and form a voter’s block. This is the only way a change will come about. “Unity” is the key. This is 2005; it is about time for a change. We need to focus on the state government and make changes in our system like education and treatment of the mentally ill. If the mentally ill had appropriate medical treatment, then maybe we wouldn’t have to lock them up and kill them later. The Texas prison system is over crowded. It holds 152,000 people. The doors of the death chamber do not stop spinning. Voters could halt the building of these super segregation prisons that do nothing but increase mental illness, psychosis, suicidal behavior and a plethora of other aberrant behaviors. It has been said that America has the world’s largest penal system. That is interesting considering the most known statue in America is the statue of liberty! In the course of a year 13.5 MILLION people pass through the system. The US prison systems now hold around 2.2 million inmates. Texas is trying to build even more super max prisons. Now people in Washington D.C. are trying to do away with the federal writ of habeas corpus. This is the checks and balance for the state judicial system, which means that without a federal writ of habeas corpus, A LOT of people in Texas will be slaughtered by the murder machine. This tigerish lust to annihilate displayed by the courts and government seems to only be growing. Who knows what it will manifest itself into? Death penalty for robbery! Oh – you didn’t pay your taxes? Get a rope! Just like the old west days. It seems for every step we take forward, we fall two steps back. The government can take your house to build a hotel. The government can tell women what they can and can not do to their bodies. The government even wants to tell people when they can die . “You can’t kill yourselves but we can kill you!” The question is how long will the American citizens let this go on? I believe it was 1884 when the Supreme Court gave itself absolute powers over the final say so of the law. Where is the checks and balance of the three branches? The three branches of government were created so no one branch would have absolute power. The President gets to appoint the Supreme Court Justice. This gives him a chance to have an influence on society, based on his ideology for the next say 25 years.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Power will only take a step back in the face of more power. Citizens have the power. The have the power to vote. If all the citizens of Texas that was against the death penalty got their names together and put all their names on a petition and then a representative for the Anti’s went to the person that was facing the Governor in the next election and said “If you promise to work against the death penalty in Texas, along with better mental health care, education and drug rehabilitation programs, we will all vote for you”. I am wiling to bet my money that it would happen.
Then those people could help fund his campaign. Hey this is America; it will take money to get anything done!! A change can come about. Texas Death Row is the way it is due to legislators in part.
To improve conditions on Death Row more heat needs to be put on the government of Texas. The warden doesn’t care what the voters think. The Director of TDCJ doesn’t care what the voters think about death row. He doesn’t have to get voted into office by the public. Though the public can put pressure on him and help get him out of office, especially if the public was aware of all the wasted money and insanely high salaries. Yet we can not even send out legal mail on a Saturday! We can not even get deodorant, shampoo and or shower shoes unless we have money sent to us from people in the free world. Yeah the system is broken! People like Richard Cartwright, Kenneth Foster, myself and many others are placed on death row to die under the law of parties. Yet if someone has a full scale I.Q. of less than 70 or was under the age of 18 when their crime was committed , they can not be executed. But a person under the law of parties that did not even kill anyone can be slaughtered by the state. A person could kill 100 people, if his I.Q. is 69, he can not be executed. But a guy that was a get away driver to a robbery that goes wrong can be executed! Does something not seem wrong with that? I mean the death penalty is supposed to be for the worst of the worst ( for people that are so irrational and homicidal that they have to be killed)! Kind of like a rabid dog. There is just nothing you can do with it! The truth is people are not like dogs and can change and can be fixed. From medication to tightened security measures, those found insane (I am referring to murderously insane) should be placed in psych wards and treated for mental illness in the hopes of rehabilitation. I am not insane! So why can they not let me go? I didn’t even kill anyone! The guy that shot Reagan was found insane. I believe he gets to leave the psych hospital and visit with his family. Didn’t he kill a man and shoot a couple others? In Texas that is murder in the course of a felony. That is Capital murder. If John Hinckley (sic) would have done that in Texas, he would be a statistic in the number of people executed by the state of Texas! It is just another point in why the death penalty makes no sense.
To say that this person’s life is worth more than that persons life is the foundation of most fascist beliefs. If you make an assumption that a murders life is worth less than that of the victim, then you go and kill the murderer, that would make your life worth less than the murderers. You yourself murdered. If a person indicates that they are able to judge the value of another person’s life then they are concluding that they are superior to that person’s life. The scales of justice are supposed to symbolize equality.
Though history teaches us that symbol is a false representation of our current judicial system. We all need to stand up and fight the injustice of the system. From the inside, we need to resist against the murder machine and oppressive system. From the outside a political group needs to be formed. One not bound by age, race or gender, one that includes people of all religions, lawyers, ministers, teachers, students, taxi cab drivers, all united for one cause .. JUSTICE!
Martin Luther King Jr. stated “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. This is true! Unity is the key to success! Most people just do not know the truth about the death penalty or death row. Most believe that we have tv’s, cd players, and all kinds of crazy stuff. This is why educating the masses is very important. The T.C.A.D.P. (Texas coalition against the death penalty) has a good set up on their website.
A lot of people bash on George W. Bush. I do not waste my time writing about him that much. Plenty of others say enough. I like to use his own words against him though. When the case of Terri Schiavo was going on down in Florida about pulling her feeding tube or not, President George W. Bush expressed his belief that “we should stand on the side of defending and protecting life.” That is a good statement. Yet he does not practice what he preaches. He does nothing to insure that an innocent man or woman does not get executed. If he wants to protect and defend life, then he needs to enact laws and guide lines that help insure that NO innocent person gets slaughtered by the state. I was at visitation on July 28th, 2005 when David Martinez was escorted out of visit to go to the walls unit to be executed. He seemed in high spirits and the warden and other ranks acted like they were escorting him to the barber! As he walked out of visit I said, “Another sheep lead to slaughter!” You see, I do not agree with just walking to the execution. I have had a gun to my head before; I know what it is like to face death. At that time I thought, I can die by getting shot in the back of the head or I can die from running away or I can die by getting shot in the front of the head by fighting. I am alive today because I fought. I fight the system in all ways that I can! I maintain my sanity by resistance of the oppressive tactics of the system. I fight the courts. I fight the guards. I fight the stereotypes. I fight to live! I am alive!! I am alive mentally and physically. I suffer in some areas due to my resistance, but I would lose the substance of my existence were I to submit. I will die before I ever bow down. When people walk to their death, it eases the pain because people feel that a person is ready to die. That pain should never be eased! Use the pain to fuel the fire!! If I lay my head beneath the guillotine, then I have committed suicide. If they “place” my head beneath the guillotine against my will, then they have murdered me!! I never feel more at peace than when I am on level 3 with fellow comrades. Commissary does not control me, property does not control me and recreation does not control me. If I lose all of those as a cost for standing up for what I believe in, then it is a debt well paid.
People are under a false illusion that our behavior has an impact on our pending execution. There have been numerous people executed that have went 8, 9 to 10 years with not one disciplinary case. However I can as well name people that have gotten off of death row who fought the system, stayed on level 3 and had some major disciplinary cases! So being a passive prisoner on death row does not mean that the person’s execution will be halted. How can we sit idle while people on the outside fight for us? We have to fight hand in hand. I am not saying we need to be violent and hurt people, of course not! To do that would only support the accusations of those that wish to punish. I am very thankful that those I write and have developed bonds with do not criticize my choice of existence here on the row. At first it was hard for them to understand, though once educated I believe most people can appreciate my resistance.
Anyway I have gone on and on and on. Hopefully at least one person will gain something from this Uncensored article. I seek to motivate more people to join the struggle. To Unite and fight against the injustice. “The true measure of a man or woman is not where he or she stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he or she stands at times of challenge and controversy”. Martin Luther King Jr.
Where will you stand?
Stand tall. Fade all. Never fall.
Clinton Young
#999447
Polunsky Unit
3872 FM 350 S.
Livingston, TX 77351
Veni, Vidi, Vici.