NEW HELL HOLE NEWS
MARCH 15, 2010
NEW HELL HOLE NEWS #22 March 15, 2010 Hey y'all, I received a letter from a student in Florida that I wanted to share you with as well as my reply to him. Hank 999143 Polunsky Unit H W Hank Skinner 3872 FM 350 South Livingston TX 77351-8580 http://www.hankskinner.org hwskinner@yahoo.com h.w.skinner@gmail.com February 17th, 2010 Inmate Henry Skinner (TDCJ 999143) C/O TDCJ Polunsky Unit 3872 FM 350 South Livingston TX 77351 Dear Mr. Skinner, My name is Kevin S. I am a student at the University of West Florida. This semester I am taking a course on capital punishment. Our class project is to write letters to persons on death row in order to understand what life on death row is like for them. I sent you an earlier version of this letter but in the event you did not receive it, I am resending. I hope you will help me understand what life on death row is like. Before I proceed, I would like to reassure you that I am not a journalist nor am I affiliated with the media in any way. I also want you to know that I am not involved with the state’s prosecution and that I do not work for the Texas criminal justice system. I am merely a college student who is trying to learn more about life on death row than what is written in a textbook. As you can see, your insights are invaluable to my research for this project, so I would really appreciate it if you would take the time to share some aspects of your life with me. I want you to know that we only have from January through March to collect the information we need for our projects. As a result, I would like to correspond with you on a regular basis so that I can learn as much from you as possible during this time. That being said, I hope you will respond to the following list of questions. I have included a selfaddressed envelope so that you may send your answers back to me. If you don’t mind, I will write to you again once I have received the letter. Initially we were told we could send stamped self-addressed 1
envelopes. We now know that the policy has changed so our self-addressed envelope is not stamped. I hope that will not deter you from writing me. -
What should we, as a class, know and understand about the death penalty from your point of view? What kind of sentence would you propose for those convicted of major crimes like homicide? Does the waiting and the lengthy appeal process bother you or do you see it to your advantage? Some people have said that the appeal process itself constitutes “cruel and unusual” punishment. Would you agree? What changes have you seen on death row since you’ve been there? How do you feel right now – what is it like to live on death row status?
I look forward to hearing from you soon. Sincerely, Kevin. Here is my reply: March 11, 2010 Kevin, I had an execution date February 24th, which is why I didn’t answer your first letter. After a lot of diligent and tedious work, we got that date modified to March 24th. So I’ve got a little breathing room, but not much. So I’ve got little time and less patience, but I’ll make time to tell you a few things. First of all, prisoners do not like to be addressed as “inmate”. In bucolic/colloquialism terms of prison parlance, “inmate” ranks just one click above “snitch” or “chester”. Snitches tell it to the man, chesters rape kids. An inmate is one who was rescued from under a bridge and glad to have 3 hot meals and a cot. Most of ‘em got some form of Stockholm syndrome. A convict is someone who has a little honor, integrity and backbone, knows how to do is time, minds his own biz, will help another convict if asked, won’t snitch and is stand-up i.e. peckerwood. That term denotes a hard dick. That’s a good thing to be, in here. I call myself Sthanakvas! In short, my address should be written exactly as I have it, above. Thanks in advance for the respect you’ll show by doing it that way. It would take me many months, if not years, to explain what the public as a class, much less a student class, should know about the death penalty. In Texas, it is fraught with bias, prejudice, coerced confessions, coerced witnesses, all manner of prosecutorial misconduct, police misconduct and all kinds of other cheating, subterfuge and other corrupt bullshit. In Texas, D.A.’s are elected and they get re-elected by promising the public to get tough on crime and keep the streets safe for Grandmas and children. When some big murder case breaks, the D.A. sees it as a perfect opportunity to cement his legend and make it appear to the public that he is making good on his promises, etc. Once he decides to go for the death penalty against a defendant, the landscape 2
change. Lie, cheat, steal or sell his mama to the Arabs. He’ll do anything to win a conviction and secure a death sentence. Fabricating evidence, threatening or enticing witnesses to lie, offering leniency to jailhouse snitches if they give them the testimony the state needs to convict – usually they just make it up or, the D.A. will give them a prepared script as was done in my case. My case has been all over the news of late. Don’t you watch the news or check it out on the Internet? www.texastribune.org - “Case Open” www.hankskinner.org - Read my Hell Hole News, in the death row news section, particularly #13, #15 & #20. I am innocent. I was framed. Channel 10 News website out of Amarillo, TX. Reporter Ben Briscoe just interviewed me. www.medillinnocenceproject.org - they have an extensive presentation about my case. My website www.hankskinner.org has all the documentation about my innocence and briefs, evidence, DNA reports, affidavits, etc, etc. I am a writ writer. In the world, I worked as a paralegal for the pre-eminent criminal defense attorney in the Texas Panhandle, James Marion “Rowdy” Bowers. He was hung in his garage by the D.A. who prosecuted me. That D.A’s successor was arrested in the courtroom at docket call two years ago with an ounce each of coke, meth and ecstasy plus two automatic illegal weapons. Then, subsequent searches of his home and office by the D.E.A. turned up 36 more illegal weapons, child porn, snuff films, all manner of drug paraphernalia, marijuana and other stuff. The D.E.A. had a hidden camera in the bedroom of an apartment he’d originally rented for an assistant D.A. but when that assistant quit and the D.A.’s wife threw him out for continually using meth, he moved into this apartment and used it for assignations with his secretary and her daughter. He was caught on camera sitting up nude in the middle of the bed injecting his penis with a combo of meth and levitra. When it stood up he said “look at that! I’m gonna patent this shit!”. I could go on and on. Enclosed is a Huffington post article by retired Federal Judge H. Lee Sarokin about my case. CNN & 48 Hours maybe doing exposés about my case soon. I’m on YouTube, on Al Jazeera English News in an hour long exposé. To answer your second question, I propose no sentence for homicides. That’s not my job. It is up to the public, the legislature and the courts to determine penalty ranges for capital crimes. Waiting is part of the process. I think it’s a damn shame I’ve lost 15 years in the prime of my life for a crime I didn’t commit, but them’s the breaks. Sometimes shit happens. Sometimes it happens to you. No, the appeals process itself does not constitute cruel or unusual punishment but the conditions one is forced to endure during that time can easily violate the 8th amendment. As for myself, I’ve actually been tortured – “sweated” in a “hot box” cell until I lost consciousness and was so dehydrated I had salt crusted all over my body and it took a medical team 45 minutes to revive me after I had a heatstroke – were it not for the intervention of a revolutionary prisoner who was a Black Panther, I’d have died for sure. I’ve been beaten bloody by a rogue Sgt and his goons, had my neck crushed, cheekbone broken, 3
etc. in “cell extractions”. “Excessive use of force”, EUOF, is the legal term for it. The Sergeant was fired. My attorneys are about to file an 8th amendment suit/claim on these very issues and much more. The changes I’ve seen since I got here. It’s just gotten worse and worse, overly restrictive. We have no privileges anymore, can’t have our crafts to pass the time, etc, etc. Incessant and destructive shakedowns – it’s like a Gestapo POW camp, it thrives on terrorizing prisoners. Mostly due to a bunch of punitive minded anal retentive asshole Republicans and their constituency, who think it is their duty to mistreat and abuse any lesser class: prisoners, poor, Blacks, Hispanics, anyone who’s disadvantaged and fair game. How do you feel right now? Got my B.P. checked this morning, it’s 169/97. Let someone tell you, “you’ll die on this date” and see what it does for you. The stress is off the charts. It’s really impossible to explain to someone like you because you simply have no life experiences by which to compare it with. So, having no references for it, you really cannot even begin to truly comprehend it. I’ve watched as men I knew to be innocent were summarily slaughtered by the State without a thought or care. In the 15 years I’ve been here, Texas has killed over 350 men and three women. With every one they kill, they’re one more closer to me. Virtually every friend I had here has been killed. Regardless of what they did or didn’t do out there, in here, they’re just people. All the crap you hear about “super predators”, “sociopaths”, “psychopaths” is mostly hype. Life happens. Sometimes it goes horribly wrong. I’ve known one or two who was seriously mentally deranged but for the most part it’s just ordinary Joes caught up in extraordinary circumstances, sometimes of their own making, sometimes not. Since I’ve come to death row in 1995 conditions have gone to hell in a hand basket. Ever more restrictive and constitutionally violative. The courts’ attitude toward prisoners in general and death row in particular is purely hate filled, retributive, antagonistic. As to how I feel right now, Jackyl’s “I stand alone today” and “when will it rain” about sums it up. Today they are killing one of my last few friends here. Joshua Maxwell. I just said goodbye to him. I have a date in 13 days. 03.24.10. Best regards Hank
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