Arizona News

This article by Lindesay Mace is taken from The Wing of Friendship, the Lifelines newsletter and is reproduced by the kind permission of the editor.

Warm greetings to everyone on both sides of the pond – I hope this finds you all in good spirits and that your friendships, both new and old, are going well. Thank you to everyone for your letters and emails; it is always good to hear from you.

There are two big pieces of news this quarter. The first is that the much anticipated move has now happened with nearly 70% of the men on the row having moved to ASPC Florence - Central Unit. It seems the move has been largely dependent on whether or not people have been reclassified from Maximum Custody to Close Custody. I do hope the outcome has been a positive one for you all whether you have moved or not and I would be very pleased to hear from you how things may have changed in terms of rules and regs so I can piece this together for my Arizona guidelines.

The other big new relates to one of the lawsuits that has been ongoing since 2014. In my last Statelines I reported that the legal case filed on behalf of seven men on the row was due to go to trial in September; this will not happen now as a settlement was reached in June. The case claimed the state's execution procedures violated the men’s constitutional rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment and to have due process. The settlement yields to most of their demands and means the new protocol does the following:

1) Strips Corrections Director Ryan's ability to make last-minute drug changes or discretionary decisions, such as closing curtains into the execution chamber if things go wrong, and allows a prisoner time to challenge any drug changes. 2) Eliminates a three-drug combination that defense attorneys believe merely masks any sign of pain or distress. A new single-drug protocol, using 1 of 2 barbiturates - pentobarbital or sodium pentothal, takes its place. 3) Requires drugs be tested before use and bars the state from using expired drugs. 4) Removes a clause saying defense attorneys may obtain their own drugs for their clients' executions if they pass quality standards. 5) Removes a clause in the previous protocol that said it "does not create any legally enforceable rights or obligations”. 6) Allows greater transparency by letting witnesses view more of the execution process, including the moment the executioner administers the drugs intravenously.

While we might wish that Arizona would just get rid of the death penalty completely, this is the first time any state has agreed to major changes in death penalty procedures due to prisoners' complaints and for this alone the men who brought this challenge should be applauded. Midazolam, the drug that was used to such awful effect to execute Joseph Wood in 2014, cannot be used again. Decisions like the ones Ryan took in relation to his execution, where he changed the drugs used and, when they didn’t work, ordered that Wood be injected 15 times until he finally died, cannot happen again. Wood was originally among the men bringing the suit so it feels all the more important that it has been successful.

However, I know the resolution of the suit brings mixed feelings for some, including those who brought it, as it also means Judge Wake has lifted his injunction on executions. That said, Wake asked Assistant Attorney General Jeff Sparks if the state had the drugs to restart executions rapidly: "It won't come to a head quickly," Sparks said. "The state doesn't have drugs right now and has no intention of seeking a warrant." Here’s hoping that continues.

It is also reported that the men plan to appeal a First Amendment claim dismissed last year. The goal of the appeal, according to public defender Baich, is to get the state to be more transparent about drugs used in lethal injections. The other ongoing legal case, brought by a coalition of news organisations and in court before Judge Snow as I write, also challenges transparency and seeks to force the state to reveal the qualifications of the medical team and the quality and origins of the drugs. The state says releasing these details would jeopardize the confidentiality of executioners and lead suppliers to stop providing the drugs if their names were made public. For exactly that reason, I hope it is successful.

Sources: Arizona Republic, Associated Press, Reuters & KJZZ Radio

I wish you all good health and strength of spirit in the coming months, Lindesay

Bonjour

Bonjour

Merci d’avoir visité le blog de Shawna Forde. Nous espérons que nous pouvons vous donner plus d'informations sur la peine de mort afin que vous ne soyez pas tellement influencé par les médias. Si vous avez des questions supplémentaires vous pouvez les adresser à ShawnaForde101@yahoo.com ou Freeshawnaforde@Facebook, de préférence en anglais, ou en français.

Nous voulons vous montrer la vraie Shawna, une personne passionée et amoureuse, et son voyage personnel de vérité et d'injustice. Vous trouverez ici beaucoup d'informations, d'art, d'écriture et un bulletin sur la peine de mort.

Vous comprendrez pourquoi nous luttons pour sauver la vie de Shawna et d'autres innocents menacés de mort. Depuis 1973, plus de 155 personnes ont été libérées du couloir de la mort avec la preuve de leur innocence.

Nous vous encourageons à lire l'appel de Shawna dans la barre latérale.

Merci. God bless France.

Hoffnung

Meine Hoffnung auf ein besseres Leben

Ich möchte Euch ein Geschenk machen, ein sehr einfaches Geschenk, doch

es wird Euer Leben verändern und es wird Euch helfen, zu erkennen, dass

jeder Moment eines jeden Tages voller Hoffnung ist.

So nehmt also zwei Wörter – „müssen“ und „bekommen.“ Entfernt nun „müssen“ und ersetzt es durch „bekommen.“

Wenn Dinge auf Euch zukommen, die Euch traurig machen, die in Euch

Beklemmung auslösen, dann solltet Ihr anstatt zu denken oder zu sagen

„ich muss“ lieber denken oder sagen „ich bekomme.“

„Ich gehe zur Arbeit, ich mache mein Bett, ich tue das, was für heute ansteht.“ Wenn Ihr wirklich bemerkt, wie viel Ihr im Leben bekommt, so werdet Ihr jetzt Veränderungen spüren, und Ihr werdet das Licht der Hoffnung in Allem erkennen, für das Ihr Euch entscheidet.

Ich weiß aus eigener Erfahrung, wie schlimm es sein kann, im Gefängnis in

einer sehr üblen Situation zu leben oder im Leben nicht gerade mit Glück

überschüttet zu werden, einsam und abseits positiver Dinge. Doch durch den Austausch dieser zwei Worte entsteht das Vitamin der neuen täglichen Hoffnung. Alles, was wir in einem positiven Licht tun, führt uns näher zu Gott und verleiht uns die Fähigkeit, die Welt und die Menschen zu lieben.

Das nun, Ihr Lieben, ist mein Geschenk an Euch. Unsere Lebensreise geht immer weiter. Ob auf dieser oder der anderen Seite – egal,

denn „wir bekommen!“

Von Shawna Forde                                              übersetzt aus dem  Amerikanischen

aus der Todeszelle in Arizona/USA                     von Henry Toedt, Hammelburg                                                                                                   

                                                                       Shawna Forde

                                                                       # 260 830 Unit Lumly

                                                                       ASPC Perryville P.O. Box 3300

                                                                       Goodyear, AZ 85395

                                                                       Arizona/USA

Yard Report by Shawna Forde!

This outlines the ridiculous policy inmates cannot defend themselves...

Urgent: Shawna Forde has been physically assaulted!!

Friday May 26 2017: Shawna was eating in the mess hall when an inmate with a violent history and mental illness (Kelly) came up behind Shawna, grabbed her by the hair and started punching her in the head.  Because of the DOC policy would punish her by issuing an assault ticket on her record for defending herself, Shawna could only go into a defensive position while Kelly continued to punch and kick her with her boots along Shawna’s back.  Shawna could only cover her head while the inmate continued to beat her until an officer could arrive.  No other inmate could intervene because they also would be punished if they did.  Eventually an officer arrived at the scene and stopped the assault.  Kelly was cuffed, and then Shawna herself was also handcuffed. Shawna was taken to the Captain’s office and questioned like a suspect instead of a victim.  She was interrogated by “Captain C”, a new arrival from a men’s prison.  He asked her what Shawna did to get assaulted by Kelly, assuming that Shawna must have deserved to be beaten.  Shawna was tested for drugs, and she refused medical treatment due to not knowing if she could afford the payments they would extract from her account. 

After she was returned to her cell, within an hour, Shawna was again called to the Captain’s office where he demanded to know what Shawna had done, because “no one gets assaulted for no reason”.  Shawna told him she had done nothing to Kelly, and that she had seen lots of people assaulted for no reason.  The Captain told her that if she didn’t like her mail being inspected before, it was going to be scrutinized more than ever now. 

Shawna had previously helped Kelly financially time to time, as well as many others, with fund-raisers to help indigent women who needed basic hygiene and essential clothing items which are not provided by the prison.  The Captain had not been present during those fund-raisers, and asserted his opinion that no acts out of kindness are ever done by people without a hidden selfish motive.  (Shawna asks that people pray for this man, who cannot comprehend basic human compassion on any level.)  After this, they removed her from her own cell and located her in an empty cell with nothing whatsoever in it, and seized all her possessions “pending an investigation”.  All the other officers acknowledged that Shawna had done nothing to provoke the attack. Shawna noted that if her attacker had possessed an improvised weapon of some kind, she would probably have been killed.

 Her attacker had been fired from kitchen duty for stealing supplies and food, and then lied repeatedly to Shawna and others. Shawna had not approved of her behavior.  This may have motivated the attack. In addition, it is believed that the doctors had recently cut Kelly off from her lithium medication, leaving her more unstable than before.

As a death row inmate, Shawna is forced to live in a disciplinary unit with limited privileges and rights compared to other inmates even though her record is exemplary and her behavior has always been respectful.

Shawna has not been checked up on by anyone regarding her mental or physical condition in the three days she has been isolated in the new holding cell.  She is being cut off from legal mail, regular mail and her possessions including access to paper and pens so she is unable to write.  She is in shock and her post traumatic stress disorder has been fully triggered leaving her unable to eat for the first couple days.  To make matters even worse, her attacker was placed in a cell right next to Shawna’s cell!

She was able to get out two short phone calls on Sunday night thanks to a helpful guard, which is why any of this is even known.  Shawna has martial arts experience, and was fully capable of defeating her attacker if she had chosen to. She explained that her expectations of visitation by her daughter and her chance to meet her young grandson, were the reason she refused to defend herself against the brutal attack. Any self-defense would have been met by retaliation by the prison system, and may have made visitation impossible.  Despite the bruising along her back and head, she maintains that she did the right thing, because her relationship to her family is more important than anything else to her.  She said she would “take a hundred beatings” before losing her chance to meet her grandson and see her children again.  Evidently, if she ever did defend herself, even after the hundredth time, she would be branded as a “dangerous” and “insubordinate” inmate and the Department of Corruptions would eagerly cut her off from all human contact. 

Shawna hopes to be returned to her own cell, but for now she is cut off completely and it will be at least a week before she can attempt another phone call.  Her victory is her innocence and her right actions.  She has maintained her soul and her humanity throughout her ordeal of many years.  As for her keepers, one must wonder if anything remains of them that will escape the cold grave that awaits the corpse of the soulless human.

'You" by Shawna Forde & state's response to clothing shortage

Yard report for 4/18/17 by Shawna Forde