Allow me to first
send a warm hello to those that I am truly blessed to have as friends, who I
too often neglect to express my gratitude and appreciation towards but wouldn’t
want any of them to think that I take their friendship for granted. As most who
read my irrelevant blog already know, things in my life have been especially
difficult this summer as the courts denied my appeals and then last month the
prison system tried to push through a new rule that if passed, would had
effectively silenced me and all other Florida prisoners by prohibiting any and
all forms of expression by way of the internet – more on that in just a minute.
It has been a long
and hot summer – but what Florida summer isn’t? This time of year I am reminded just how much it means
not only to me, but to all of us here on Florida’s death row to have these small electric
fans. Most of you already know how unbearable a Florida summer can be – especially when you’re kept
in a six foot concrete cage indefinitely, which becomes an oven during the long
days of relentless summer heat and humidity.
But what some of you
may not know is that for many years any form of fan was prohibited under
the pretense of “security”, even a simple piece of cardboard used as a handheld
fan could get you thrown into the hole. It really has nothing to do with any
legitimate security concerns – it was simply yet another manifestation of the
extreme malice prison officials held towards death row and their intent to have
us suffer as much as they could.
From 1984 to 2006 I
never had any form of fan and the only reprieve from the oppressive heat would
be to sit naked on my toilet and pour water over my body to momentarily cool
off. Then Randall Berg of the Florida Legal Institute agreed to represent the
death row population in the Federal lawsuit arguing that the refusal to allow
even so much as a small fan was “cruel and unusual”.
Only when under
threat of legal action did the prison officials finally agree to allow a small
electric fan, but that window of opportunity would be only open for a limited
time, and at that moment of greatest urgency the completely volunteer group
FDRAG (Florida Death Row Advocacy Group http://fdrag.kk5.org/#) quickly raised enough money to donate a small fan to each Florida death row
prisoner, and so in 2005 Florida death row prisoners finally were allowed an
electric fan.
But donating fans to
death row is only a small part of what FDRAG has so generously done to advocate
humane conditions on Florida’s death row. Years ago when prison officials proposed to eliminate
“contact” visits for Florida’s death row prisoners, FDRAG organized protests
and the FDOC backed off, allowing us to keep our visits.
Recently, the few
people who work to keep FDRAG going have struggled as support for the group has
declined. So I wanted to take this moment to say how much it means to all of us
here on death row to have FDRAG around, and for those of you who are not yet aware
of the difference FDRAG on the quality of life for all of us here, I would ask
that you check out FDRAG’s website http://fdrag.kk5.org/# and consider to offer
your support in any way you can or become a member as there is really strength
in numbers and if only the membership in FDRAG would increase collectively we
can all make a real difference.
Moving on, as I
previously wrote in a blog in July, the pro-death penalty republican
conservatives that control the Florida legislative pushed through new laws
entitled The Timely Justice Act designed to significantly expedite more
executions by now statutorily mandating that the Florida governor sign “death
warrants” on every death sentenced prisoner who has completed his/her
first round of state and federal appeals within 30 days. Under this new law at
least 125 Florida death row prisoners (including myself)
become immediately “death warrant eligible” as of July 1, 2013, with all 125+ executions to be scheduled
within 6 months.
Numerous lawyers
quickly filed a comprehensive legal challenge to this “Timely Justice Act” in
the Florida Supreme court focusing primarily on the argument that the state
legislature is constitutionally prohibited from passing laws mandating that
another branch of government (i.e., the Governor) perform their duties in a
certain manner. This legal challenge remains pending at this time with no
action taken as the Florida Supreme Court has been out on their summer vacation
until the last week of August.
Now that the Florida
Supreme Court is back in session, we expect that the court will soon address
this legal challenge. The state has responded to this challenge by claiming
that the Florida Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction to entertain review
of this challenge. This novel argument was specifically encouraged by Florida
Supreme Court (current) chief Justice Rick Polston and Justice Charles Canady as
an obvious attempt to circumvent review. Both chief Justice Polston and Justice
Canady were politically appointed to the Florida Supreme Court after previously
working with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush when he tried to push through the
“Death Penalty Reform Act of 2000” , which attempted to adopt the Texas appeal
system to Florida, but was declared unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme
Court in 2000.
Now the pro-death
penalty politicians have politically appointed their hand-picked death
merchants to the Florida Supreme Court and chief Justice Polston and Justice
Canady will use their power to push to have this new law upheld. But it will
take 4 of the 7 Florida Supreme Court justices to reach any legal binding
decision. There’s reason to believe that at least 4 of the current FSC justices
will find that this newly passed Timely Justice Act does violate Florida’s “definition of power” laws and strike it
down as unconstitutional. All we can do is wait and see..
In other news, the
Florida Department of Corrections recently lost a significant federal lawsuit
that had argued that the Florida DOC was violating prisoner’s constitutional
right by refusing to provide an adequate “religious” diet for Jewish and Muslim
prisoners who are prohibited from consuming “unclean” foods. As a result, the
Florida DOC has been forced to immediately provide a “religious” diet to any Florida prisoner who declares that due to religious
beliefs they cannot consume unclean foods. Not surprisingly, already many Florida prisoners (including those on death row) suddenly
found “religion” and have signed up for this new “religious” diet.
To understand why
such a substantial number have jumped on board, you must first understand that
for many years now the Florida prison system has systematically “modified” our
regular diet with the goal of cutting costs by almost completely eliminating
any form of real meat, fruit or milk products. Most meats have become some form
of soy protein based “meat substitute” that is virtually tasteless, and the
quality of the food has become progressively worse and is generally considered
to be inedible by most prisoners.
So, while the rest
of us continue being fed food that not even a desperate dog would eat, those on
this diet are now getting real food, prepared by an outside food vendor that is
restaurant quality and includes real eggs and fruit at each breakfast and real
meat (turkey cutlet, fish, chicken filets, Salisbury steak etc ) at all meals.
Although I’m tempted
to get on this new diet myself, I would have to first declare myself either
Muslim or Jewish, and as a matter of personal choice of religious affiliation,
I cannot do that. So, I’m stuck with the garbage they feed us on the regular
diet.
Last, for those of
you who are not aware yet, the Florida DOC recently contracted all money
deposits services to the private company JPay, so money orders cannot be
sent to FDOC Tallahassee Inmate Bank anymore, but now must be sent to the Jpay
address in Miami. You can find all the information you need
at jpay.com, and this service also allows the convenience of electronic money
deposits.
That concludes this
update on news affecting Florida death row. Again I thank all of you for your interest and continued
support!
Michael Lambrix
Florida Death RowPlease check out my site
www.southerninjustice.net
