Most of you can probably figure out why I chose Polunsky Unit this week, but for the rest of you, it's because Cameron Todd Willingham spent the last years of his life there. It is the home of Texas' Death Row. The Polunsky Unit is situated in Livingston, Texas and was established in 1993. It holds 2,900 offenders in General Population, Ad-Seg and death row. It became home to Texas' death row in 1999. Previously it had been located at the Hunstville Unit in Hunstville Texas.
The State of Texas executed Cameron Todd Willingham on February 17th, 2004 for setting a fire that killed his children. Recently, in a re-examination of the evidence, it has become apparent that the fire was not arson and that no crime had been committed. Texas executed an innocent man... an innocent, grieving father.
A poem written by Cameron Todd Willingham while he was at the Polunsky Unit:
Who knew that justice could be soHere's where I leave courtesy and manners behind and give death penalty supporters a proverbial slap upside the head. What, on God's green Earth, has ever given you the impression that the criminal justice system, run by mortal human beings just like you and I, is a fail-safe system, free of error, so much so that you would trust it to take life? I read sentences like, "The fear that an innocent person might be executed has long haunted jurors and lawyers and judges." (The New Yorker), and I think to myself, am I really more intelligent than these "jurors and lawyers and judges"? Is it possible that so many people can be so naive as to think that an innocent man has never been executed and never will? Here's how to end the haunting, jurors and lawyers and judges: abolish the death penalty. Done and done.
blind
The scales to rust with the passage
of timestripped of love, my life, all but
pride
Everyday my Hands are tied...
Defenseless to push away the tide
Head held under waves of lies
Drown in blood of thier Genocide
It's all gone wrong and the Innocent
diewhile the Guilty laugh on the
mountainside
How about this awesome quote, "super due process to make sure that no innocent defendants are executed" said by a gubernatorial Bush advisor. "Super due process" (I like this explanation). Right. Is that like the Axis of Evil? Or the Evil-doers? I'm sorry, are we waiting for a Bat signal? Is the Green Lantern going to come and save us all? Care Bear Stare, everyone!!
Death Penalty supporters are, I am sorry, a group of childish adults (if they are even the same species as us) who believe the criminal justice system is somehow immune to human error and that the world will one day be rid of all evil if we just kill enough bad guys, and eventually we can all live in a land of lollipops, gummi bears and and the %$@*^%$ Backyardigans.
All the happy little political-correctness keeners would love to tell me right now to respect other people's opinions and that they are entitled to them. No. I am sorry, you are not entitled to the opinion that killing innocent people is ok. It is not ok, ever. In war, in justice, in any situation. The killing of an innocent person is under no circumstances, justified. It is murder.
There. Are. No. More. Arguments. Left. You cannot support the death penalty and be a decent human being.
Wake up, you cold-blooded killers. An innocent man has been murdered by the Glorious State of Texas. An innocent, grieving father. What do you have to say now about "super due process"?
Polunsky Unit - TDCJ
Polunsky Unit - Welcome to hell
Polunsky Unit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
YouTube - Dead Man Walking
YouTube - A Saint on Death Row by Thomas Cahill
YouTube - Death Row Kids - USA
Cameron Willingham - Wikipedia
Cameron Todd Willingham, Texas, and the death penalty : The New Yorker
Capital punishment in Texas - Wikipedia
To submit a little known fact about this or any other prison, or to suggest a prison for next week's featured prison, please email me at vlu777@gmail.com
Archive of all Featured Prisons on Genpop.org
Technorati Tags: prison, crime, law, murder, arson, fire, cameron todd willingham, execution, wrongful conviction, wrongfully convicted, death row, death sentence, death penalty, capital punishment, texas, polunsky unit
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