I was just talking to another inmate here. He just got an execution date. This is the third execution date he has gotten so far this year. This September is going to be really busy. 4 of us will be executed in a matter of 8 days. He will be there in September for his third time around. I, for my first. I started asking him to tell me what he'd gone through previously. I was wondering what it was like, getting to the Walls Unit, being so close to death.
This inmate was telling me about what stuck with him the most was how fast the time went. I was trying to get as much information from him as I could, to sort of prepare myself. I'm pretty sure it's impossible to be prepared. Just hearing about it, I could feel panic coursing through me.
Here's what I learned:
At 1:30pm or so, you will be delivered to the Walls Unit. Upon arrival, they take you out of the van and take all of your chains and handcuffs off, but only after you tell them that you're not going to cause them any problems. So after all these years you'll finally be able to walk without your hands cuffed behind your back. Imagine that. The warden over there gives a rundown about how the remaining 4.5 hours of your life will look like.
You will go to a cell about 10 feet from the execution chamber. The door is like one of those bulkhead doors on a ship. There is a chaplain over there, Chaplain Collier, who is supposed to cater to your needs. You will get access to a telephone until around 3.
At 3, if you have a spiritual adviser, they'll go in an adjacent cell and they'll talk to you. If you choose to opt out of the spiritual adviser ordeal, you can stay on the phone instead. I imagine I'll probably want to stay on the phone.
At 4, they bring your final meal. It's nothing special, just what's in the kitchen commissary. I'll probably forgo the last meal. You can stay on the phone until 5pm and then it's prep time.
At 5, you sit in a room and prepare to die. You sit, you wait, you try not to hope, and you finally come to terms with what is about to happen to you- you're going to die and there's nothing you can do about it. Once they find out that your last minute appeals have been denied, they ask if you're going to walk. If not, what they'll do is pick you up, strap you to a board and carry you to the gurney. You will be secured by straps and will have a shunt in your vein hooked up to a saline solution IV.
At 6, Warden Jones will ask you about your last words. He says that if you become vulgar or spew profanities, he will push the button, this will signal to the executioner that he should start the execution. The first drug, he says, will paralyze me. He says he'll give the drug about 5 minutes to take hold. Then, the other drugs flow. The two others? They'll cause your lungs to collapse and your heart to explode. It will take about 9 minutes to die.
Please excuse me for a second while I vomit.
Once you're dead, your family will have a chance after 10 or so years, to finally hold you. You will never be able to feel it. I am not ready for this, but it will be happening in 78 days. It's maddening to be this powerless, unable to say anything or do anything about it. The utter feeling of helplessness we must cope with, silently... This is probably the worst part about these past 10 years spent in Polunsky.
Showing posts with label the colony. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the colony. Show all posts
Friday, July 8, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Steven Woods is Scheduled to Die September 13 2011.
I was wrongfully convicted by the state of Texas for capital murder in 2002. Three months after I was convicted, the real murderer, Marcus Rhodes stood up in court and testified that he was the one who knowingly and intentionally killed both victims. He never once mentioned me. There is no physical evidence connecting me to the crime scene. Marcus' fingerprints were all over the murder weapons. Mine were not. The victims' backpacks were in Marcus' car, which was littered with bullet casings. Most, if not ALL of what the prosecution said about me was false. My family will be happy to confirm this. It makes no difference though. I am here to take blame for this crime, so that a rich, well-connected family would not have to deal with negative media and the burdens that come with death row. How convenient. Well, not really. Not for my family. The next time my mom will get to hug me or even hold my hand will be this September, after I'm dead. Funny how at some point I believed I was going to have a future. I somehow convinced myself that everyone would know that something just isn't right, and they'd act on it. So much for that.
I'm not sure when I lost all hope. Not that it matters. Either way, all I can ever do is sit around in confinement 23 hours a day, waiting to die, expecting it. Imagine waking up every day in a hot humid cell, knowing that you didn't do anything to find yourself there. Knowing that so many people know that they got the wrong person, but no one can be bothered to waste their time fighting for you. Knowing that you will be executed on September 13 2011, at the age of 31. It will be a Tuesday. At around 5:45 a man in a suit will come to get me. He'll have 6-8 large men with him in case I'm not willing to cooperate. We'll go about fifteen feet to another room. This one's centerpiece will be a kind of table, it will be the same table all my friends lied down on before they died. Each side of the table will have boards and heavy duty straps. They'll get me on this table and strap me in, and a man who isn't a doctor, but will be wearing a doctor's smock, will put a shunt in my vein. I'll be completely restrained, barely able to even move my head. Facing the table, there will be windows. The curtains will be pushed aside, so that some spectators can look at me die. On one side people are hoping for my painful death, the other completely devastated by what's about to happen. I will have a moment to make a kind of statement, never to talk again.
Time's up. Someone behind a window will push a button and poison will flow from a hose into the shunt in my vein; First an anesthetic, second something to shut my lungs down and third a sedative and enough barbiturates to explode my heart. I will suffer both cardiac arrest and suffocation. It just does not seem right. I've seen my friends go through it and it terrifies me. Even writing about it gives me a panic attack. Can you imagine it? What it would be like? The build up sitting in a cage for a decade, completely removed from the world without having any human contact what-so-ever? Living with the knowledge that whenever they decide it's your time they can simply shut you off? I hope you don't ever have to experience it. I'll take some kind of terminal illness over this hell anytime. Then at least there would be a reason or explanation for it...I just don't get it.
PLEASE REPOST!!!
To write Steven personally:
Steven Woods #999427
Polunsky Unit
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston, TX 77351
USA
[Thanks to our friends www.abolitionuk.org for spreading the word about Steven Woods!]
I'm not sure when I lost all hope. Not that it matters. Either way, all I can ever do is sit around in confinement 23 hours a day, waiting to die, expecting it. Imagine waking up every day in a hot humid cell, knowing that you didn't do anything to find yourself there. Knowing that so many people know that they got the wrong person, but no one can be bothered to waste their time fighting for you. Knowing that you will be executed on September 13 2011, at the age of 31. It will be a Tuesday. At around 5:45 a man in a suit will come to get me. He'll have 6-8 large men with him in case I'm not willing to cooperate. We'll go about fifteen feet to another room. This one's centerpiece will be a kind of table, it will be the same table all my friends lied down on before they died. Each side of the table will have boards and heavy duty straps. They'll get me on this table and strap me in, and a man who isn't a doctor, but will be wearing a doctor's smock, will put a shunt in my vein. I'll be completely restrained, barely able to even move my head. Facing the table, there will be windows. The curtains will be pushed aside, so that some spectators can look at me die. On one side people are hoping for my painful death, the other completely devastated by what's about to happen. I will have a moment to make a kind of statement, never to talk again.
Time's up. Someone behind a window will push a button and poison will flow from a hose into the shunt in my vein; First an anesthetic, second something to shut my lungs down and third a sedative and enough barbiturates to explode my heart. I will suffer both cardiac arrest and suffocation. It just does not seem right. I've seen my friends go through it and it terrifies me. Even writing about it gives me a panic attack. Can you imagine it? What it would be like? The build up sitting in a cage for a decade, completely removed from the world without having any human contact what-so-ever? Living with the knowledge that whenever they decide it's your time they can simply shut you off? I hope you don't ever have to experience it. I'll take some kind of terminal illness over this hell anytime. Then at least there would be a reason or explanation for it...I just don't get it.
 |
| Steven Woods on Death Row |
PLEASE REPOST!!!
To write Steven personally:
Steven Woods #999427
Polunsky Unit
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston, TX 77351
USA
[Thanks to our friends www.abolitionuk.org for spreading the word about Steven Woods!]
Saturday, June 18, 2011
85 Days to Live: Challenging the Protocol
I was sitting here the other night, thinking about my situation, and my line of thinking lead me to ask myself a question: How is each dose of the execution drug properly determined and distributed to each inmate that is up for execution?
Do they just guess the correct dosage?
After a bit of thought, I spoke to my neighbor about it. He told me that it is a doctor who prescribes the dosage, which makes a lot more sense. After all, pentobarbital is a USA schedule 2 controlled substance. This means that it is not available over the counter and TDCJ must have a medical license to acquire it, and a state controlled substance prescription to distribute it. This got me wondering: is there there actually a medical doctor here that fills out a prescription for each condemned inmate in order to fulfill a death warrant? If so, something really needs to be done about that. I am no legal expert and I have no idea if this has ever been challenged in court, but it's my understanding that a medical doctor cannot actually prescribe a drug, knowing that the drug will be used to take a human life.
Remember Dr. Jack Kevorkian? He did time in jail for assisting in his patients deaths. At the very least, I'd say that my MD prescribing a lethal dosage of pentobarbital with the intent of killing a perfectly healthy human, should have his license suspended or revoked.
I may be completely off base with this, seeing as I don't have a clear idea as to how this system works. You see, Texas has taken great pains to shroud it all in secrecy.. But I just don't see how TDCJ can administer a controlled substance without a prescription from a care provider. If a death row inmate feels anxious and needs to take just one benziodiazepine pill (another controlled substance) a prescription is ALWAYS needed. So someone's signature is on a prescription pad for lethal drugs and I think we should find out who it is. We should also see if this is being done with their knowledge and recommendation or not. If a medical professional is knowingly using their DEA number to hand out lethal drugs, they are acting against the basic oaths & ethics of the medical profession and this individual should be reported. (more info here) If not, something very illegal is going on and legal action must be taken.
If there is a doctor that does in fact prescribe inmates these drug dosages and he has written out a prescription for pentobarbital under MY name, it is my American right to see my own medical records and see whose name is on that prescription.
Now, If I am wrong (and I very well could be) I would like to know how the state has the power to prescribe a fatal dose of a controlled substance without a prescription?
If I had a computer, or even a phone, I would be researching this. Unfortunately, I cannot access either of these devices and have to ask you, the readers, to PLEASE look into the matter at hand.
I know, I know, you probably think I keep grasping at the straws here and you might just think it's hopeless.. but in the next 90 days, Texas will be killing 8 more men with the help of a physician's signature on a pad of paper. It's a matter of life and death. So before you click on the little "x" on the top of this window, please take these 8 healthy beating hearts into consideration. Take 8 mothers into consideration and take the families who have witnessed their loved ones die in front of them into consideration and please, please help us all find some answers.
Something's got to give here. There has got to be something we can do here, this just doesn't add up and it's beyond disturbing.
After 10 years alone in a tiny cement cage, all I can do about this now is write you these letters, hoping someone on the reading end will not overlook them. Hoping that you can fathom how hard it is knowing that even though I've never killed a soul, no one cares enough about my innocence to prevent me from being put down like a rabid dog.
I'm still heartsick. I try and try to have hope that somehow, some way, I will survive this.... But with every passing day, hope wanes. Being on deathwatch & witnessing other men go die has really shown me how serious my situation is. I don't think I ever really believed that this would happen to me. I mean, I knew I was on death row, sure, but in the back of my mind I was always convincing myself that there is NO WAY that the state of Texas would just kill me for a crime everyone knows I didn't commit. I always assumed that this is all some sort of mistake and that they'll finally realize it and let me out of here alive.
Ha. Joke's on me.
It's difficult to come to terms with the fact that barring a last minute miracle, I am really about to die. I honestly don't even understand why I'm about to die; I never killed anyone, and I never knew that Marcus was going to. I still wonder if Marcus had intended on killing me too that night. I was so grateful to have gotten out of the situation alive after he killed my friend and pointed the gun at me. Little did I know, there wasn't a whole lot to be grateful for.. Ten years later and it looks like despite letting me live that night, Marcus is just going to end up killing me anyway.
Do they just guess the correct dosage?
After a bit of thought, I spoke to my neighbor about it. He told me that it is a doctor who prescribes the dosage, which makes a lot more sense. After all, pentobarbital is a USA schedule 2 controlled substance. This means that it is not available over the counter and TDCJ must have a medical license to acquire it, and a state controlled substance prescription to distribute it. This got me wondering: is there there actually a medical doctor here that fills out a prescription for each condemned inmate in order to fulfill a death warrant? If so, something really needs to be done about that. I am no legal expert and I have no idea if this has ever been challenged in court, but it's my understanding that a medical doctor cannot actually prescribe a drug, knowing that the drug will be used to take a human life.
Remember Dr. Jack Kevorkian? He did time in jail for assisting in his patients deaths. At the very least, I'd say that my MD prescribing a lethal dosage of pentobarbital with the intent of killing a perfectly healthy human, should have his license suspended or revoked.
I may be completely off base with this, seeing as I don't have a clear idea as to how this system works. You see, Texas has taken great pains to shroud it all in secrecy.. But I just don't see how TDCJ can administer a controlled substance without a prescription from a care provider. If a death row inmate feels anxious and needs to take just one benziodiazepine pill (another controlled substance) a prescription is ALWAYS needed. So someone's signature is on a prescription pad for lethal drugs and I think we should find out who it is. We should also see if this is being done with their knowledge and recommendation or not. If a medical professional is knowingly using their DEA number to hand out lethal drugs, they are acting against the basic oaths & ethics of the medical profession and this individual should be reported. (more info here) If not, something very illegal is going on and legal action must be taken.
If there is a doctor that does in fact prescribe inmates these drug dosages and he has written out a prescription for pentobarbital under MY name, it is my American right to see my own medical records and see whose name is on that prescription.
Now, If I am wrong (and I very well could be) I would like to know how the state has the power to prescribe a fatal dose of a controlled substance without a prescription?
If I had a computer, or even a phone, I would be researching this. Unfortunately, I cannot access either of these devices and have to ask you, the readers, to PLEASE look into the matter at hand.
I know, I know, you probably think I keep grasping at the straws here and you might just think it's hopeless.. but in the next 90 days, Texas will be killing 8 more men with the help of a physician's signature on a pad of paper. It's a matter of life and death. So before you click on the little "x" on the top of this window, please take these 8 healthy beating hearts into consideration. Take 8 mothers into consideration and take the families who have witnessed their loved ones die in front of them into consideration and please, please help us all find some answers.
Something's got to give here. There has got to be something we can do here, this just doesn't add up and it's beyond disturbing.
After 10 years alone in a tiny cement cage, all I can do about this now is write you these letters, hoping someone on the reading end will not overlook them. Hoping that you can fathom how hard it is knowing that even though I've never killed a soul, no one cares enough about my innocence to prevent me from being put down like a rabid dog.
I'm still heartsick. I try and try to have hope that somehow, some way, I will survive this.... But with every passing day, hope wanes. Being on deathwatch & witnessing other men go die has really shown me how serious my situation is. I don't think I ever really believed that this would happen to me. I mean, I knew I was on death row, sure, but in the back of my mind I was always convincing myself that there is NO WAY that the state of Texas would just kill me for a crime everyone knows I didn't commit. I always assumed that this is all some sort of mistake and that they'll finally realize it and let me out of here alive.
Ha. Joke's on me.
It's difficult to come to terms with the fact that barring a last minute miracle, I am really about to die. I honestly don't even understand why I'm about to die; I never killed anyone, and I never knew that Marcus was going to. I still wonder if Marcus had intended on killing me too that night. I was so grateful to have gotten out of the situation alive after he killed my friend and pointed the gun at me. Little did I know, there wasn't a whole lot to be grateful for.. Ten years later and it looks like despite letting me live that night, Marcus is just going to end up killing me anyway.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)