A Slice of Prison Life
Message From Death Row
Life on death row is no Tupac and Suge Knight rap video. Can you imagine the gravity of knowing the exact date on which you are going to die? Can you imagine people sitting you down and filling out forms, planning your last day on earth to the last detail? What will you eat, who can see you, when it will happen, and where will you send your only possessions? Here, you learn to savor and appreciate everything and person. Your days move slowly, grinding on the cosmic time path. Your only contact with the outside is all digital or delayed responses. Letters, monitored emails, phone calls, and TV. Nothing seems quite real because nothing is ever face to face. Then you watch the American sheep on the news and television, caring about the best commercial that advertisers use to tell you the things you need to care about. They stand in the line for days, not to help their fellow man or change someone’ s life, but to get a new phone that has already been made by four other companies and will be obsolete in a year. Then they’ ll do the dance all over again. Wake up America. They are killing your citizens! Yes, we are U. S. citizens. They are strapping us to white cushioned white crosses!( Hallelujah!) and telling you it is in the name of Justice and that they are doing it for your protection. Trust us, they say … evidence overwhelmingly supports their guilt. We wouldn’ t have spent all this money if this wasn’ t the guy. But do they talk about the innocent people DNA results force them to let go, sometimes within days of being executed? Do they tell you that to the last moment they claimed that they had overwhelming evidence against them? Do you not think they have killed innocent people? The prosecutors are never punished for their lies … the judge is never punished for allowing( and sometime facilitating and encouraging) those deceptions to occur in their court. They don’ t tell you how they used the case to get promoted, run for a higher public office, or increase their salaries. But if they did tell you, would you even care? They put exonerated people on the evening news for forty-five seconds … talk about their 20 year ordeal on death row, and how their lives were literally stolen by the system – then they offer an apology. How can someone tell you how fu #@ ed up the system is … in a
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short sound bite? How can someone tell you about the nights they cried in their bed, or the times they felt abandoned by all those they knew? How can someone tell you about the shame of being a villain when you did nothing wrong? Then the reporter interrupts off because it is time to cut to scenes from the next Kardashians promo.
I look at the world and say – where are the heroes? Where are the people fighting for those that can’ t fight for themselves? It is like we can’ t see a house unless it’ s engulfed in flames. A person can’ t even have compassion or do the right thing without worrying about being attacked and vilified on social media for being a murderer lover or soft on crime. And when a person is freed, the people who believe in the death penalty wave flags and banners, proclaiming how well the system works.“ Justice was finally served,” they say with smiles.“ We got it right!” From my prison cell, that’ s bullshit! Almost all exonerated prisoners from death row were found innocent despite the system – the prosecutors and judges, not because of them. The prosecutors and judges didn’ t want these people to be let out. The States fight against DNA testing, refuse to pay for it and, even when confronted with DNA proof, some prosecutors still reject DNA evidence. They were willing to let innocent people die to protect careers and professional status. The American Justice System boils down to this … money, hard work and more money. If you want to write please feel free. I appreciate you giving my words your precious time. They have no power without an ear to hear and soul to inspire.
Brandon Bernard # 91908-080 Terre Haute USP POB 33 Terre Haute, IN 47808