Imagine. Imagine living, eating, sleeping, relieving oneself, daydreaming, weeping, but mostly waiting in the room the size of your bathroom. Now imagine doing all those things, but mostly waiting for the rest of your life. Imagine waiting, waiting, waiting to die. I don’t have to imagine. I live in one of those rooms, like about 3,000 other men and women in 38 states across the United States. It’s called death row. I call it hell. Welcome to hell.
Each of the states which have death rows have a different system for their execution cases, varying from the relatively open to the severely restrictive. Some states, like California and Texas, allow their execution cases, work, education, and or religious service opportunities for out-of-cell time up to eight hours a day. Pennsylvania locks its execution cases down 23 hours a day, five days a week, 24 hours the other two days. At the risk of quoting Mephistopheles, I repeat, ‘Welcome to hell.’
A hell erected and maintained by human governments and blessed by black-robed judges. A hell which allows you to see your loved ones, but not to touch them. A hell situated in America’s boondocks, hundreds of miles away from most families. A white rural hell where most of the caged captives are Black and urban. It is the American way of death. Contrary to what one might suppose, this hell is the easiest one to enter in a generally hellish criminal justice system. Why? Because, unlike any other case, those deemed potential capital cases are severely restricted during the jury selection phase, as any juror who admits opposition to the death penalty is immediately and automatically removed, leaving only those who are fervent death penalty supporters in the pool of eligible jurors.
When it is argued that to exclude those who oppose death and to include only those who supported death was fundamentally unfair, as the latter were more conviction-prone, the United States Supreme Court, in a case titled Lockhart v. McCree, said such a claim was of no constitutional significance. Once upon a time, politicians promised jobs and benefits to constituents, like a chicken in every pot, to get elected. It was a surefire vote-getter. No longer.
Today, the lowest-level politico up to the president use another surefire gimmick to guarantee victory. Death. Promise death, and the election is yours. Guaranteed. [unclear]. A vote for hell in the land of liberty, with its over one million prisoners, is the ticket to victory. From death row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
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