For the 5000 prisoners serving life without the possibility of parole sentences in California, defeating Proposition 62 must be our top priority. If it passes, we’re all as good as dead. It’s important to read the plain language of the initiative, which states, “Violent murderers who are sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole in California are never eligible for parole. They spend the rest of their lives in prison and they die in prison.” Now, if you ask me, if you die in prison, then it’s a death penalty by another name. The execution is just done by a different method, that’s all.
The language in the initiative goes on to require that all of us be housed in high-security prisons, that we be required to work, that we be taxed at the effective rate of 66% on our wages, and that the initiative is retroactive. All of this comes out of the feeble mind of Mike Farrell, who has arrogated to himself the task of ending the death penalty in California. He tried and failed with a slightly less hostile initiative four years ago, and now he’s back with something so cruelly punitive and mean-spirited many of his former allies have deserted him. Human Rights Watch and the ACLU, both longtime opponents of the death penalty, have declined to support Proposition 62. The truth of it is, this initiative does not end the death penalty. Proposition 62 must be defeated, because if it passes, thousands of men and women will be condemned to a certain death in prison. Don’t be fooled. Vote no on Proposition 62.
This is Kenneth E. Hartman, Executive Director of the Other Death Penalty Project, from inside California’s prison system.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
