Meg rants about the Death Penalty

For my younger readers:

When I get asked about where I get my ideas from, one of the things I mention is that the books that seem to work have to be important to me – I have to be saying something that I care about. I don’t mean that I’m writing a sermon or giving a lecture – but that there’s something in the mix that I’m passionate about. With many of my books I’m writing about forgiveness and reconciliation, with others there’s a socio-political edge. And I write a lot about God! The book that I’ve just sent to my agent is a gripping thriller (I think!) but it’s also about mental illness and Internet deception and relationships – all things I could rant about at length! But today I shall be ranting about something else that I’ve long been concerned about – the death penalty which is still in use in many countries, much to my disgust. There may be a book emerging from this eventually – I don’t know! Today, you may find it interesting to read my blog for wrinklies – but it is quite distressing so be warned!

For my more wrinkly readers:

Several of my friends have asked me this week if I listened to ‘Saturday Live’ on Radio 4 on Saturday. This is because it featured a man who had been on Death Row in America for (I think) 23 years before being declared innocent – and my friends know that I write to Eric, a man convicted of murder, and currently awaiting execution in a unit in Texas.

Why do I do this?

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t think that capital punishment was appalling. I remember being very concerned about innocent victims and about convicts being given a second chance. Very early on I got the idea that God wants to forgive us when we repent – and that he wants us to forgive each other – so the idea of something as irreversible as capital punishment seemed utterly wrong. I was concerned about the effect on the hangman; I still am – but I also now worry about the more general de-humanising effect on a society which is happy to go along with such barbarism.

Don’t expect me to pontificate on alternatives, other deterrents, prison over-crowding and the like – here I am ranting and my rant is pure! It is single-issue and single-minded. Killing people is wrong, whatever they have done. What you do to murderers instead is a different issue.

What is equally wrong is what happens to people like Eric once sentence has been passed and they are banged up on Death Row. I think the assumption is that their end is swift. Far from it. Eric was convicted when he was 25. That is now over ten years ago. He has spent that time in a cell that measures 6 feet by 10 feet. The walls are painted white and the bunk has a blue mattress pad and pillow. There are three small cubicles under the bed for storage and a metal shelf and writing table are bolted to the concrete wall. A stainless steel sink and toilet are attached to one of the walls and there is a fluorescent light (controlled by the officers) mounted inside one wall. The only window is a slit about 3 inches high by 3 feet wide and this is located high in the wall above the bunk. The door is solid steel with two vertical slits that serve as windows. An additional hinged horizontal slit in the door serves as a means of passing food trays in and out. If you behave well you get puddings and the occasional visitor. If you don’t behave yourself, you don’t.

So not only is Eric condemned to die for one murder (which he claims he didn’t commit), he has also suffered ten years of confinement in conditions where he gets barely a glimpse of the outside world and where his opportunities to converse with other people are very minimal. He exercises alone in areas enclosed with steel bars. There is no in-cell TV. Some inmates have access to books and reading materials but only those with the best disciplinary records are permitted to have radios. They can spend up to 23 hours per day locked in their cells. There is space for 504 inmates in Eric’s unit – and that’s only one of the units in Texas. So this is a deterrent that works?!

I don’t care whether Eric committed a murder or not. No human being should be kept in those conditions for that long in the expectation of his/her death. I am astonished that Eric is still sane. The reason he is not dead yet is that the appeal system is slow and lengthy. That sounds good – until you think about what it must be like to be waiting – and when you learn that very few people’s appeals succeed. Eric has lost his final appeal. When that happens, inmates are usually dead within a year. Eric isn’t because there is currently a stay of execution in Texas because the legality of the method (lethal injection) has been questioned. And thank God that it has! You may have assumed (as I did) that at least the method of execution would be humane. Not so – the three-drug cocktail used is thought to cause excruciating pain. It sedates the patient (not anaesthetises), collapses the lungs and stops the heart. The administration takes 2-3 minutes and death usually takes place 8-10 minutes after the process begins. Think about it.

Until the Court of Criminal Appeals addresses the issues raised, there will be no executions in Texas – so Eric has a reprieve. I pray that it is not temporary. Meanwhile, I continue to write to him and he writes to me. He has eight correspondents, though some are more regular than others, and he values them highly. Wouldn’t you? The other chances to communicate with anyone are absolutely minimal.

I do it because it’s something very small I can do in the cause of something big that is wrong – and because I’m a writer. If writers can’t write to people in such desperate need of letters, then it’s a poor show. And, of course, like so many things you do because you’re trying to be good, the rewards are great. Eric writes affirming, sensitive, thoughtful letters back. Whether he killed someone or not, if he is executed another light will go out in the world and in my life. A person of skill, intelligence and artistry will be destroyed. Makes sense? Someone was killed – so let’s kill another one – that’ll help!

If you too would like to write to a prisoner on Death Row and are over 18, then please visit www.humanwrites.org and find out how to do it! I haven’t regretted it yet!