danielle
05-27-2002, 07:01 AM
WAITING FOR DEATH
Death row is home for nine Northeast Mississippi residents.
BY SANDI P. BEASON
Tupelo Daily Journal
For the nine death row inmates sentenced from Northeast Mississippi, life is all about waiting.
"If they're not out on appeal, they are housed at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at unit 32," said Ken Jones, public information officer for the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
When someone is sentenced to death, that person has the right to appeal, and almost always does. Marvin White, assistant attorney general, said such cases normally spend many years in the courts.
"Once a conviction is obtained in circuit court, it gets appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court, and that's when I take it over," he said. "All (death row inmates) are in litigation at any given time, so we're working on all 66 of them at some point or another through the year."
The last execution performed in Mississippi was on June 21, 1989. The inmate, Leo Edwards, was sentenced from Hinds County.
White said Mississippi had a problem with a state statute "that had to be straightened out." According to a supreme court ruling, the terms "heinous and cruel," as read in jury instructions, were not properly defined.
"Some sentences got reversed and we had to start over in 1992," he said.
A second chance
The appeals process begins with a direct appeal to the state's supreme court, White said.
"Then it could go to the U.S. Supreme Court for discretionary review," he said.
After that, he said, the case could go back to the state supreme court, where the inmate can file motions that can be granted or denied.
"Then, if it's denied, it can go back to the U.S. Supreme Court," he said. "Then it could jump into the federal district court on a federal writ of habeus corpus. Then it goes to the fifth circuit court of appeals on appeal."
None of Mississippi's death row inmates' cases are far enough along in the system to have an execution date set, he said.
"We've got cases that are just starting out and some that have been pending in the system for 20-something years now," he said.
According to state law, only two charges are punishable by death in Mississippi: Capital murder and aircraft piracy, he said.
At the penitentiary
Unit 32, where death row inmates are housed, is a 1,000 bed, single-cell maximum security facility, and all the male offenders are housed in the "C" building.
"They're normally in their cell 23 hours," Jones said. "They're allowed out one hour for exercise, and they're in for the remainder of the time."
Inmates are allowed no-contact visitations from family, he said, and are allowed certain privileges, including showers, exercise, visitation and unlimited access to legal counsel.
"They're provided proper medical care and just treated like other inmates, but in a guarded posture," Jones said.
The only exception to this, he said, is Michelle Byrom, 45, the only female death row inmate. She is housed at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in the women's maximum security unit, Jones said.
Mississippi administers executions by lethal injection at the state penitentiary at Parchman. The state's aging gas chamber, also at Parchman, was put into mothballs in 1998.
Death row is home for nine Northeast Mississippi residents.
BY SANDI P. BEASON
Tupelo Daily Journal
For the nine death row inmates sentenced from Northeast Mississippi, life is all about waiting.
"If they're not out on appeal, they are housed at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at unit 32," said Ken Jones, public information officer for the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
When someone is sentenced to death, that person has the right to appeal, and almost always does. Marvin White, assistant attorney general, said such cases normally spend many years in the courts.
"Once a conviction is obtained in circuit court, it gets appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court, and that's when I take it over," he said. "All (death row inmates) are in litigation at any given time, so we're working on all 66 of them at some point or another through the year."
The last execution performed in Mississippi was on June 21, 1989. The inmate, Leo Edwards, was sentenced from Hinds County.
White said Mississippi had a problem with a state statute "that had to be straightened out." According to a supreme court ruling, the terms "heinous and cruel," as read in jury instructions, were not properly defined.
"Some sentences got reversed and we had to start over in 1992," he said.
A second chance
The appeals process begins with a direct appeal to the state's supreme court, White said.
"Then it could go to the U.S. Supreme Court for discretionary review," he said.
After that, he said, the case could go back to the state supreme court, where the inmate can file motions that can be granted or denied.
"Then, if it's denied, it can go back to the U.S. Supreme Court," he said. "Then it could jump into the federal district court on a federal writ of habeus corpus. Then it goes to the fifth circuit court of appeals on appeal."
None of Mississippi's death row inmates' cases are far enough along in the system to have an execution date set, he said.
"We've got cases that are just starting out and some that have been pending in the system for 20-something years now," he said.
According to state law, only two charges are punishable by death in Mississippi: Capital murder and aircraft piracy, he said.
At the penitentiary
Unit 32, where death row inmates are housed, is a 1,000 bed, single-cell maximum security facility, and all the male offenders are housed in the "C" building.
"They're normally in their cell 23 hours," Jones said. "They're allowed out one hour for exercise, and they're in for the remainder of the time."
Inmates are allowed no-contact visitations from family, he said, and are allowed certain privileges, including showers, exercise, visitation and unlimited access to legal counsel.
"They're provided proper medical care and just treated like other inmates, but in a guarded posture," Jones said.
The only exception to this, he said, is Michelle Byrom, 45, the only female death row inmate. She is housed at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in the women's maximum security unit, Jones said.
Mississippi administers executions by lethal injection at the state penitentiary at Parchman. The state's aging gas chamber, also at Parchman, was put into mothballs in 1998.