I have decided to make the trip to the Polunsky protest this Saturday May 18, 2002. The trip is aprox. an hour from where I live so it isn't a real long stretch, but I realize that there is a large group of us here at PrisonTalk Online that would like to go if you could.
So, what I am proposing is to take everyone’s greetings, wishes & prayers along with me to Polunsky to let everyone there know just how many of us are truly with them, if not in body, in spirit.

Please use this thread to add your comments, greetings and anything else you would like to share with those at the protest. If you would like to upload a picture of yourself along with your comments, you may do so.

Before I leave on Saturday I will make a number of printouts of this thread to hand out to everyone.

Let’s show them just how much we care!

David

Hello to whomever is reading this. I know that you may have someone inside of that grey mountain or in a different one and you are there to support your loved ones. I am all the way on the east coast and could not come out but my thoughts and prayers are with you all. I have a group called Hearts & Hands. I try to bring together family and friends of the loved ones we have behind that wall to comfort to help and just to have someone to talk with if needed. I also write letters and send email posts to prisons and gov. when applicable. We are a close knit group and are here for you if you need us. If you want to join our group email me or write and I will reply. We have to stick together. Always remember the saying One arrow alone breaks easily but if a whole hand full of arrows are together then they are unbreakable.
I am Sandi MorningSky and you can reach me at
morningsky_ndn@hotmail.com or
HC 78 Box 41
Pipestem, West Virginia
25979

304-466-6469

Be strong and never give up hope.
Sandi :wave: Hearts & Hands

:) Hi,
my name is Jo. My friend is in Florida, but through communication with him and personal research, I have learned a lot about the abuses going on in some institutons over there (I am in Australia).
My thoughts are with all you who are treated so inhumanely, not as punishment, but as a sadistic outlet for cowardly wardens.
Please know that to many, many people, you are NOT just a number.
My thoughts are with you.
Sunny smiles,

Jo

I live in Kansas and am unable to attend these protests. Because I cannot attend does not mean that I don't care about these guys here at Polunsky. I care very much. I do what I can from this distance from writing letters to officials, signing petitions and writing to some here on Death Row. The government has gone to far in letting the prison system treat these men as they have, to include unjust beatings, barely enough food to sustain life, excessive use of Pepper Spray when a man is already handcuffed and subdued. Keeping these men in their cells for 23 hours a day with no type of stimulants to their mind or bodies is only creating the situation worse. These men should be allowed to continue education, be allowed to raise their hands in praise and worship with others in a church setting. These men should be allowed to be baptised when they request and not the Sunday before their execution. These men should be allowed to hug their mothers, fathers, wives and children and not be deprived of physical contact. No human being has a right to take a human life, to include these men in prison who are accepting the consequences of their actions, AND that also includes the government who ARE NOT accepting the consequences of THEIR actions. Infact, I feel that what the government is doing by taking a life in retaliation of a mans actions is worse than any crime that any of these men on Death Row have done. Even though my physical being cannot be here today, my spirit is here everyday with these men.

Joy

Hi. I wish I could go on this protest but I will be there in spirit. I think the prison system in this country is a laughing stock!!! Sure most people believe that who ever is behind bars desreves what they get and I unfortunately use to think that until a year ago. I was arrested and jailed for 1 week. I know not long but long enough that it was very easy for me to imagine what it would of been like if I had to do my 5 years. My best friend has a daughter who incarcerated and will be for along time yet. Some of the things she writes to me are horrible. Locking prisoners up in solitary confinement cause they talked back, I mean come on these are adults here. They are in there repaying there debt to society and some of them are in there that really shouldn't be. My foster mom's grandson is in prison and was put in solitary confinement to protect him or ao they said. I feel that the jail system really needs to be taken a good look at. They are there to help prisoners get back on the right track, but how can they when there isn't the help there they need. I feel so sorry for everyone who has a loved one behind bars. They will alway be in my prayers. I can be reached at rsantmyer@yahoo.com please feel free to email at anytime. I will reply to any and all. May God Bless you and Keep You till then.

Hello ya'll,first I would like to give you all a sincere,I am sorry for not being there in person.Things have happened here that make it impossible for me to leave. Nancy,I have not forgotten about our talk,and will be taking care of those matters as soon as I get everything settled down here.Mary Curtis,you and Paul are always in my prayers.You are all on my mind ,and in my heart.Give Um Hell Ya'll.....and God bless.....................Spencer

Being from New Jersey makes it impossible to be there with all of you, but please know that my prayers are with you and your love ones. We do care about the unjust treatment that prisoners are receiving at Polunsky. I will do whatever I can to make it known what it going on and how unfairly death row imates are being treated.

May God Bless you and your love ones.

Greetings to everyone at the Polunsky protest!! My name is Shawna, and I am another member of Prison Talk Online. To be honest, until joining this group, I hadn't even heard of Polunsky and was completely ignorant to the cruelty that existed within our prisons until the last year. For a brief time I worked within the walls of a state prison here in Illinois. I am now invested in prison reform on a much more personal level as I have since become involved with an incarcerated man. I know the pain of feeling powerless and helpless to protect those you love from a corrupt system... but I do believe that through persistence and insisting on being heard, change can occur!! I wish that I could be there with you, to show you and the guys of Polunsky my support.... but in leiu of my physical presence, please know that you all have my love, support and prayers!
God Bless you all!!
--Shawna

I am deeply concerned about the abuse and conditions at this prison and others. I write to over 100 Buddhist Inmates in
several states and prisons, including at least one in Polunsky.
There many of us out here involved not only in prison spiritual support but also prison reform. Please know many of us although unseen are one with you inspirit and our hearts and prayers go out to you and join with yours.

May All beings be Truly happy, at Peace and free from Suffering.
Namu Myo Ho Renge Kyo
http://BuddhistInmateS.net

To all of you there...
6 timeszones away from you..divided by lots of land and ocean...but still with you in my heart and thoughts!
Thanx you for beeing there, you are my voice too!

Tamara, Holland
Alleraller@hotmail.com

An ocean seperates us, fysically, but never mentally. The abuse has to stop. Although these men are locked behind ars, there is no rule of treating them inhuman. All of the people who are doing this to prisoners, should be locked up, for just one week, to see the world from the other side of bars.

You can try to hide the abuse and believe it stays within the prison walls, but you can never know the network of people who know about what you are doing and who are spreading the word, all around the world.

What comes around, goes around...hard. Your day will come and you will regret what you did to these people

penpalsinprison@yahoo.com

http://prison.netfirms.com

HELLO, MY NAME IS DONNA AND I LIVE IN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA.... I BECAME INVOLVED WITH POLUNSKI THROUGH PTO AND HAVE READ AND SEEN THE VIOLENCE THAT GOES ON WITH THESE INMATES.... NO HUMAN BEING SHOULD BE SUBJECTED TO THIS TORTURE.... GASES, BEATINGS, CHAINS TO GURNEYS, THIS IS CRAP.... I AM A 59 YEAR OLD WHO HAS A SON IN THE PRISON SYSTEM.... I REALLY DO NOT KNOW WHAT I WOULD DO IF I KNEW HE WAS BEING TREATED LIKE THIS.... MAY GOD BLESS AND KEEP EACH OF THE FAMILY MEMBERS... ALSO, MY PRAYERS ARE WITH THE INMATES OF POLUNSKI..... PEOPLE MUST INTERVENE IN THIS SITUATION... IF IT WERE AT ALL POSSIBLE, I WOULD BE WITH YOU. TEXAS REALLY HAS SOME BLACK MARKS ON IT'S RECORD AND THANK GOD I DO NOT LIVE THERE. MY PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU THIS WEEKEND AND ALL THE OTHERS THAT YOU DO THIS PROTEST.... PLEASE, LET ALL POSSIBLE KNOW THIS IS WRONG AND THAT WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DO NOT WANT THIS INJUSTICE TO CONTINUE....


SINCERELY
DONNA F. DAY

I wanted to say Thank You to all you good folks who are going to the protest. I am up here in Canada and am with you in spirit!!
I write to a couple of guys at Polunsky, one being Johnny Martinez who has a date May 22
I Thank you again for standing up for those of us who can not make it!!!
Rae-Ann

I am copying this post from my email. Some people are emailing in their wishes & comments to take with me.

QUOTE:

Could not seem to get this one the right list so i am sending it to you
.Thank You.


Dear everyone,
Really wish more
Canadians could join you but the drive is a little long and expencive.
Most of us will be with all of you in spirit anyway, I guess you will feel
better knowing that at least.
I perosnaly am married to an inmate in one of our Federal Institutions and
have been very happy for the last 8 years. (NO PROBLEMS) I am so thankful
that they do not have the death penalty here, or I would not be married to
the wonderful man I have now.
I will be praying that your protest accomplishes everything you hope it will
and stop the senseless killing of the death row inmates.
An eye for an eye only makes two people blind.
Lets rehab some of these good people and make them into law abiding people
one more time, even God knows everyone deserves a second chance.
My prayers are with all of you on your journey.
Sincerely,
Heather Ennis


The Wabbit aka: Heather
wascal_wabbit@hotmail.com

Here is another email I received:

QUOTE:

I read and I read and I read........WHEN........is something going to change......
my husband is in Wynne unit Huntsville for 8 years now .......I am living now in Reno Nevada with family and can only get there about every 2 months......one phone call for 5 minutes every 3 months with a guard on with us is not right.......
Millions of things in the Texas prison system are not right......but .....WHEN......is someone going to do something about it......WHEN WHEN WHEN.......
SIGNED BY AN OUTRAGED WIFE......kiwi/nanci
GoKiwi68@aol.com <GoKiwi68@aol.com>

When you meet our "Maker", ask him to forgive those who have passed this sentence on you. If you need forgiveness, ask and "He" will embrace you.

Then "you" must to forgive those who pass judgement and sentence upon you. Then open your arms to receive the Heaven we still hope to find.

It makes me wonder....are you condemed or blessed? Maybe it doesn't matter once you know where you are going!

Go with God!

My prayers are with you, I am there in spirit and you are my brothers.

Love JR
Jailhousecrock.com:confused:

I dont know much about anything, I will be the first to tell you. I do know that as Americans we have rights and even if some one is in prison they should be treated as so. Most everyone in prison has families that love and care for them, no matter what they have been accused of,family love is forever.Steve

Even though I am unable to attend and be a part of the protest going on in front of the Polusnky Unit, I am always there in spirit and I back up all the protestors 100%.

It really makes me very sick to hear the way that the prisoners are being treated like animals and not like humans. It breaks my heart to see the way these men are being treated and also seeing that the government is teaching the young people that is alright to muder. No person has the right to take another person's life.

Hello. My name is Michelle, and I am also a member of the PTO family. Before my fiance was incarcerated I really knew nothing about the system. I was indifferent as to wether or not sentences and conditions were harsh. I now have first hand knowledge of how harsh the situation really is. We are supposed to live in the best country in the world...yet it seems our country strives to break families apart. As you are doing time and a prisoner behind the bars, we are also doing time and prisoners on the outside. Being limited as to our contact and relations, constant worrying about your saftey and well being. I strongly believe that with a persistant fight together we can prove what really goes on behind the walls, and the true effect it has on the families on the outside.
What is happening at Polunsky is a true OUTRAGE. It is inhumame and unjust. A total violation of our constitution, the very document that is supposed to protect us as Americans. We must continue this battle. We must prove that we are stronger than them. The truth will prevail!
Although I cannot be at Polunsky to show my support for both the inmates and their families; you are all in my heart and prayers.
Stay strong, this battle is yet to be won.
Always,
Michelle

Hello all !

I wish you a big, a very big, the biggest protest ever this Saturday. I am with you in my mind the whole day.

Yours

Sabine

Greetings from Mississippi from another member of the PTO family:

There is no work more precious or valuable than that of saving human lives. Thank you for doing in person what I can only do with you in spirit. At times, I am sure it can be challenging and even frustrating - but know people are listening and changes will be made. God Bless.

Monica Danielle

HI,
I just wanted to let you know that my prayers are with you as you make your trip.
I have a hard time dealing with the way inmates are treated, it is not only in prisons but in county jails also. The guards like to play mind games, it is cruel and inhuman. And I wish there was some way that these people could be in the other persons shoes for some time.
My heart goes out to the ones on death row, their family and love ones. I wonder how they are dealing with knowing that their love one will die on a certain date, that is only something that God should know. I feel like the ones that the judge and the jurors that past sentencing on these people should have to carry out the execution them self, maybe then there would be less people on death row.
Again I tell you my heart and my prayers are with you as you go.

Martha
MJDavenp51@aol.com <MJDavenp51@aol.com>

I cant be there to support you cause there is an ocean between us. But for prayes, hopes, smiles and love there is no ocean big enough to keep it away from you
My heart goes out to you and so will my prayes.
All I can say is that you are not alone - some day we will meet.

Kristin,
From Denmark

To all of you who have taken time out of your lives to stand up or what is right and humane-I would like to offer my prayers and thoughts to you. I so wanted to be there but there have been some outstanding circumstances that have prevented me from coming. Mary and Theresa in the short time I have known you I have come to care about you very much and PAul as well..Let's get some light shed on these horrible happenings and get things changed--Never give up! GOd is with you every step of the way! God Bless all of you who are there and all who sent their thoughts and prayers! I wish I could be there with you! EXPECT a MIRACLE!!

Hi, My name is Sandy. I currently reside in the state of Illinois, but once lived in Texas. I recently found out that someone, who was once a very close friend of mine, is incarcerated in Polunsky. I have to say I was shocked and apalled at the living conditions and the inhumane treatment that goes on there. Considering my distance unfortunatly I cannot attend the protests but wanted to send this note to say I'm there with you all in spirit! :)

I am less than one week old at this site but I am an old women at the sight of prison life I can only send my deepest sorrow in your time of need. This poem was sent to me by an inmate at Pelican Bay State Prison in California. I feel anger, I feel sorrow and I know I am not alone in these feeling. I can not be with you in body but I will always be with you in spirit

Disturbing Odors”

As I stand in the silence of my own acoustic shadow, my stoic calm
envelops me like the blue black plumage of the ancient Raven.
Here in this defecating world of constant spit and spew where the unchecked
sound of lamenting and the song of the oblivious wafts on the air from cell to
cell, not unlike the stench of battlefield carrion.

I have learned to climb in disciplined silence putting forth my will
as tangibly as our Forefathers forged their iron. But yet by doing no more than
staring down from this precipice and knowing that I must preserve this faith
that I call will.
Here in the thin cold air of the mountain Raven’s lair, it is written
upon a timeless old rock, “Let them rot, they are but charcoal in societies
failure-fire and their ignorance of this is a great comfort to their weakness
and lowly stock”.
Many are the multitudes who are sturdy enough to live in the
perpetual glow of the cool, late night stars. But few are they who are mighty
enough to exist in the heat of the high noon sun of awareness.
It is awareness of failure that has forged with a heavy hammer
my hardness and my indomitable will. Awareness has laid bare the corpse of
my soul as if awareness itself were a strongly swung Norse ax and has
been the deathnail of my childhood god.
Fairness….it to has passed. Life is not naïve and I
stand all the more straighter for burning it from my being. For in grounding
myself now in reality and embracing the cessation of all need, I now can smile
and look at the pitiful around me as simply the young and youth of
ignorance indeed.
Their cutting jokes, their not so wise cracks, their putrefying rotted
smiles and dirty hyenas laugh, are all danced out on a slick surface
of underlying stress that at any moment can betray and spew their true
natures all about.
Never let the hum of their fit and folly perturb as they dance
in their jester’s court and sing their songs of oblivion. For I shall pay no
notice as I continue my climb onward and upward to fresher air, new
heights, inaccessible to all but the most tried and true. May the fires
of mediocrity fatten upon their bones…….4-12-02

M’s B

I AM NOT SURE IF I WILL BEABLE TO MAKE IT PHYSICALLY TO THE PROTEST. I WOULD LOVE TO GO AND SHOW MY SUPPORT AND TO TEACH MY CHILDREN ABOUT THE DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF PRISON LIFE. MAYBE DETER THEM AT A YOUNG AGE.. I ALSO WANT TO SHOW THEM THAT PRISON IS NOT FUN AND THAT PEOPLE GET HURT AND DIE IN THERE. ALL TO OFTEN INMATES ARE MISTREATED AND ABUSED BY THE GUARDS AND BY OTHER INMATES THIS NEEDS TO STOP.. I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE PERSON WHO DECIDES WHO LIVES AND DIES AND THAT PERSON IS NOT ME NOR IS IT ANY LAW MAKER, POLITICIAN, WARDEN, JUROR, JUDGE OR MAN WOMAN OR CHILD WHO WALKS TODAY. THAT PERSON IS THE ALMIGHTY GOD!! THE SYSTEM HAS TAKE THE POSITION OF GOD AND HAS DECECIDED TO LIVES AND DIES, THIS IS SO WRONG. YES THE INMATES (OR THE MAJORITY OF THEM) HAVE COMMITED A SERIOUS CRIME LET THEM GO TO JAIL WHY MUST THE KILLING CONTINUE???

I COMMEND ALL OF YOU WHO ARE DOING WORK WITH DEATH ROW.. IT IS VERY ADMIRABLE AND IS SUCH A REWARD TO KNOW THAT YOU VALUE LIFE AND FIGHT FOR LIFE.. GOD BLESS YOU ALL AND GOD BLESS ALL THE DEATH ROW INMATES..

From Washington state a member of the PTO

I would attend but ufortunately i live quite a distance. I will have all of you in my prayers. I also think that the brutality and the way they are treating the inmates and their families is complete injustice. I pray something will change. I will keep all of you in my prayers those who are satanding there and also to all those who take the time out of there day to try and make a differance.

Vencincia

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that signed the list. I will be leaving shortly to go to Polunsky and will be printing these out in a second. I wish I had posted the announcement about this earlier but I think we did well for 2 days notice. I am sure everyone will appreciate the kind words all of you have sent.

David
david@prisontalk.com

P.S.
This note is for the families & protestors:
Some of you may not have email or net access so I want to include a mailing address for PTO that you can use to reach anyone that has posted here, if you would like to. I will be happy to convert letters to email, etc.

PrisonTalk Online
P.O. Box 10616
College Station, Texas 77842-0616

www.prisontalk.com

thank you fed x for helping us all be apart of the protest.. it means a lot to me..

i wanted to say the same as Shortie just said....

me too. this really means a lot, since now we can all be there, although we can't be there fysically

I'll be posting the details about the protest in this forum. It went well and I met a lot of wonderful people!

David

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