the random musings not worthy of new thread thread

[Sgt PSN]

That must be the CTE challenge.

[PhillyPhreak54]

http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/michelle-lyons-witness-to-278-executions-in-texas

Fantastic article. Texas Monthly is a good magazine much like Philly Mag for their longform reads.

A couple of highlights from the piece that I can relate to...I had interactions with both of these people and they illustrate my indecisive thoughts on the death penalty. Some of truly deserving while others aren't.

He liked to tell the story of Lawrence Brewer, convicted in the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr., in Jasper, and how Brewer had balked when he learned that he would have to receive some vaccinations after arriving on death row. ("I was standing there in the infirmary when Brewer exclaimed, 'I hate needles!' " Larry would say. "And one of the officers replied, 'Well, partner, you've come to the wrong place.' ")

I was there for that. I was a "hall boss" that day and pulled off to be part of the escort team. Because of the high profile case we had to clear the halls more than we'd normally do for a DR escort. We also used a six man escort and we had to wear shank vests. The extra people and the vests were because there was intelligence that someone was going to take a swipe at him.

After the infirmary we took him to the lieutenant's office for more in-processing and then escorted him down to ad-seg.

One inmate who Michelle believed fell in the latter group was Napoleon Beazley, a once promising high school athlete from the East Texas town of Grapeland who had shot and killed a Tyler oilman during a botched 1994 carjacking. His case had garnered tremendous media attention because he was seventeen at the time of the crime and because his personal narrative did not square with the notion that he should be counted among the worst of the worst. The son of Grapeland's first black city councilman, Beazley was the president of his senior class and had no prior arrests. His death sentence was opposed by the Smith County judge who had presided over his trial, the district attorney in his native Houston County, and seven members of the notoriously unmerciful Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Michelle had interviewed him as a reporter at the Item, and she had been struck by his willingness to own up to his crime, which set him apart from most of the men around him. He was a regular presence on Wednesdays at Polunsky because of the intense media interest in his case, and he and Michelle, who was only a year older than him, soon developed an easy rapport. One afternoon he asked her if it was true that she witnessed executions. "You watch that?" Beazley asked her in disbelief. "That's sick."

By the time his own date came up, on May 28, 2002, Michelle had observed 69 executions with the same cool objectivity, but that day, she struggled not to lose hold of her emotions. "I felt very conflicted, because he was one of the few inmates who I think could have redeemed himself if he had been given the chance," she told me. Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal that afternoon, she and Larry went to the holding cell inside the Death House, where Beazley would remain until he was summoned to the death chamber at six o'clock. Michelle noted that he looked as if he had not slept in a long time. He was shorter than she remembered, and he seemed diminished, his usual composure undone by apprehension and fear. Larry asked whether he planned to make a final statement, and Beazley said he wished to do so in writing. When Larry remarked that he appeared calm, the 25-year-old replied in a strained voice, "Look again." Before turning to go, Larry broke protocol to reach through the bars of the cell to shake his hand. Michelle's eyes watered as she nodded goodbye. Hours later, having dutifully taken notes as Beazley exhaled for the last time, she stood outside the Walls and announced to a large crowd of reporters, "He was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m." 

Beazley was one of our wing janitors. After the escape mentioned in the article they stopped allowing DR inmates to have jobs. They used to work in the garment factory but after Gurule and his crew took off they stopped that. So the only job allowed for a DR inmate was to be the wing janitor. In addition to cleaning the wing they helped us serve chow.

Beazley and his cellmate, Willie Trottie (scheduled for his date in Sept), were our workers on one of the wings. I had many conversations with those guys and the Beazley case still sits with me. He wasn't much older than I was so we related on a lot of things. And like the article says he was upfront about his crime. He lamented it many times to me and would use it as an example as to how one wrong decision can farg your life up.

He was well spoken, well educated and he should not have been executed. The law that bans executing people who were 17 at the time of their crimes passed not too long after his execution. If he'd been commuted to life or even allowed to walk out of that prison he would have been a good citizen.

I remember when his date was announced me and my friends who worked The Row talked about it a lot. We were working at another prison by then but it carried a lot of weight when he got his date and then on the day of his execution. It farged us up to be honest.

Here is his last statement: http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/death_row/dr_info/beazleynapoleonlast.html

And here is an article on him that details the crime and other info: http://www.texasmonthly.com/content/does-napoleon-beazley-deserve-die

[Rome]

Thank ___ you managed to get yourself out of that horrific line of work, Phreak.

[Sgt PSN]

A couple of highlights from the piece that I can relate to...I had interactions with both of these people and they illustrate my indecisive thoughts on the death penalty. Some of truly deserving while others aren't.

I have mixed feelings about the death penalty for several reasons, but none more so than this - What qualifies ANYONE to determine whether a person lives or dies?  A law degree? 

That's not to say that I wouldn't like to see the scum of the Earth eradicated. Hell, I'd love to extend the death penalty to rapists, child abusers, pedophiles, corporate fat cats, and most politicians. But I am not qualified to order someone to die. No one is. The death penalty is the only resemblance of an eye for an eye remaining in our legal system. The fact that it exists at all keeps us too closely connected to lesser systems of justice.

I also echo Rome's sentiment. Good on you for getting out of that line of work.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Yeah I knew I wasn't long for that line of work for a couple reasons. The main one was I was tired of fighting people. Tired of being exposed to having bodily fluids throw on or around us when interacting with inmates. Tired of seeing the worst people imaginable. Even after I transferred to the state jail level and the county level it was bad. I fought more there than working in a penitentiary. All for less than $30k a year! I think when I quit TDJC I was bringing home like $25k.

I saw guys having to work two jobs to make good money. That wasn't something I wanted.

As for the death penalty and deciding who dies? The heinous of the heinous are the ones I don't have an issue with. The Jasper boys (Brewer and JW King) deserved it. If you chain a guy to a pick up and drag him? That's enough for me.

But until the system is reformed they have to stop them. There have been innocent people executed and when that happens even once it's time to stop and reevaluate. The system is broken.

[ice grillin you]

theres no worst of the worst....where is the guide that ranks crimes in order of heinousness...as much of a supporter of equal rights as I am I still cant say that killing a black guy because hes black warrants the death penalty but murdering a child doesn't

just get rid of it and move on.....there many reasons to get rid of the death penalty while I cant think of one to keep it

[PhillyPhreak54]

The James Byrd Jr killers deserve the death penalty.

[ice grillin you]

nope

[Rome]

They deserve to be tortured to death.  No one is disputing that.  My issue is the State has no business being in the vengeance business.  The moment you afford a government the power to kill its citizens is the moment you've lost civility in a society.  For all the moralizing this country does about democracy and freedom, its hypocrisy when it comes to terminating the lives of its citizens is nauseating. 

[Seabiscuit36]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yy0xj5sOro

[hbionic]

That's awesome. I'd watch it simply to see the chick's eyes come out  again. That was a mean back slap. 

[rjs246]

I'm actually legit excited to watch that.

[MDS]

what language was that in? there were some fargs but the rest was some african thing.

[Rome]

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/27/zara-removes-striped-pyjamas-with-yellow-star-following-online-outrage?CMP=fb_gu

Good god.  Ha!

[PhillyPhreak54]

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/27/zara-removes-striped-pyjamas-with-yellow-star-following-online-outrage?CMP=fb_gu

Good god.  Ha!

overreacting like hell