CATHOLIC CONFERENCE APPEALS TO
BUSH AND DOC
FOR RELIEF IN DEATH ROW CONDITIONS
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Our concerns go beyond the expanded metal screening. Over the past year, health concerns have been raised due to the high temperatures which exacerbate tensions. Writing pens were confiscated and replaced with poorly functioning ‘security pens.’ Hobby crafts were confiscated. Specialized radios have been removed and replaced at inmate’s expense with models that have poor reception. The threat of non-contact visits has been held over inmates since the fall of 1999. Prisons should not be places of vengeance. Deliberately provoking inmates has no place in our corrections facilities.
Death row inmates are the outcast of society, but they are still human beings and have not lost their dignity as persons. How we treat them reflects who we truly are as a society. Prisons must offer protection and safety, but they must also be places where mercy and compassion can be seen and felt, for without these, hatred and violence only intensify.
We call on the Governor and Secretary Moore to halt the installation and conduct hearings on the expanded metal screening and other policies mentioned here."
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September 18, 2000
Mr. Michael W. Moore, Secretary
Florida Department of Corrections
2601 Blairstone Road
Tallahassee, FL 32399-2500
RE: Expanded Metal Screening on Death Row Cells
Dear Secretary Moore:
We thank you for your letter of September 15, 2000, which shares the mission
statement of the Department of Corrections and your response to concerns raised about
effects of the installation of expanded metal screening on the men in death row cells at
Union Correctional Institution. The Florida Catholic Conference offers you sincere praise
and appreciation for the protection and safety enjoyed by all Floridians because of the
sacrifice and faithful service of all those who work in the field of corrections. We have
as our utmost concern the safety and security of correctional officers and employees and
we fully support efforts to ensure the safety of prison staff against assaults and attacks
by inmates.
For over fifteen years, the expanded metal mesh has been used only on the
cells of death row inmates awaiting hearings for infractions or those serving disciplinary
time after being found guilty of an infraction. Time served for disciplinary reports in
metal mesh-covered cells has always been limited. We have never opposed this appropriate
and limited discipline procedure. Security must be maintained. But we do see as unjust and
overly punitive, the installation of expanded metal screening on the cells of all death
row inmates, when this policy is applied indiscriminately and arbitrarily to the death row
population as a whole.
In light of the commitment of the mission statement to protect the public by
operating a safe, secure, humane, and efficient corrections system, we write to
urge you to halt the installation of the expanded metal mesh until it can be viewed
against a reputable and independent assessment of the psychological effects this isolation
will cause; and, until an open hearing can be conducted to allow the public to bring forth
their concerns. Prisoners and family members who have a loved one on death row have
communicated to this office with their concerns about the increased isolation and harmful
effects of being caged since the installation of the screening. The placement of this
metal screening and its caged effect is inhumane, cruel and unnecessary when applied to
the death row population across the board.
Our concerns go beyond the expanded metal screening. We share the
apprehension of others who have raised the health concern due to the high temperatures
which exacerbate tensions, and potentially further endanger inmates and correctional
officers. Moreover, since the alleged killing by corrections officers of death row inmate
Frank Valdes last July, several policies have been implemented on death row, all advanced
for the reason of increased security. Writing pens were confiscated and replaced with
"security pens" which are not useful in art work. Hobby crafts were removed. The
availability of the pens and crafts were of great assistance to the mental and spiritual
health of many of the inmates, yet now they are taken from all, whether guilty of
infraction or not. Radios, which were originally sold to the death row inmates by the
Department of Corrections, were models selected by the Department because of the ability
to obtain reception in the heavily steeled structure of death row. Now these have been
removed and replaced at inmate's expense with walkman radios that have very poor reception
under conditions there. The threat of non contact visits has been held over inmates since
the fall of 1999, and remains under consideration.
Taken together, these changes and the expanded metal screening cannot help
but give the impression of a systematic crack down on death row inmates. It is our fear
that these policies collectively, and others that may follow them, are unduly jeopardizing
corrections officers and inmates. The officers working the corridors on death row are
endangered because these policies have greatly increased tensions and are putting them at
risk. We have also received reports that these policies are leading to despair among the
inmates.
Whether or not intended, the policies implemented this year may be having the
effect of encouraging death row inmates to volunteer for execution because of the
unbearable conditions. These measures to crack down could result in a quagmire of
litigation stemming from the increase in inhumane treatment being cited as the root of
decisions to waive rights.
The Department contends that the expanded metal is in response to recently
increased staff assaults and that it is needed to assure the safety of both staff and
inmates. We do not question discipline against any inmate who has committed an infraction
or one for whom there are indications of the need for greater security. But to apply these
measures against all, even to those with no history of behavior problems while on death
row, seems dangerous in itself and counter to the Department's own mission statement. Some
may deserve and need these sanctions. To apply them to all runs a risk of creating a
systemic problem where none has existed. The disciplinary reports on death row, because
the inmates want to preserve their privileges of visitation, are lower than other
corrections populations. What correlation may be found in the recent increase in assaults
and implementation of policies on the entire population? What correlation may be found
between new policies and increased tension? What correlation with increased infractions?
With more unrest? How do the latest incidents compare with the time before these policies
were imposed?
Mr. Secretary, we implore you to rethink this approach to death row policies.
Prisons should not be places of vengeance. Deliberately provoking inmates has no place in
our corrections facilities. The changes in policy on death row during the past year harken
back to conditions existing a century ago. In Florida's "peonage" era in the
early 1900's, conditions became so bad that the state terminated the practice as a result
of public outcry. The public deserves to be aware of these conditions on death row today.
Death row prisoners are the outcasts of society, but they are still human
beings and have not lost their dignity as persons. How we treat them reflects who we truly
are as a society. Scripture reminds us of LORD’s words, "I assure you, as often
as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me." (Matthew 25:40)
Prisons must offer protection and safety, but they must also be places where mercy and
compassion can be seen and felt, for without these, hatred and violence only intensify.
We urge you to halt the installation of expanded metal screening on the front
of all death row cells at Union Correctional Institution, and ask that the rash of
recently adopted policies impacting all death row inmates be reexamined and limited to
inmates guilty of infractions. We ask for a public hearing on recently imposed policies
and an independent review of the psychological effect of the expanded metal. Failing this,
we have no recourse but to publicly appeal to Governor Bush for the same.
May God bless and guide you and your staff in dealing with this critical
matter.
Respectfully yours,
D. Michael McCarron
Executive Director
cc: Governor Jeb Bush
Deputy Secretary Michael D. Wolfe
Chaplain Alex Taylor
Mr. Richard Dugger
Bishops of Florida
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