FEATURED POST

Photographing the Community on Tennessee’s Death Row

Published
Image
From 2010 to 2015 I was incarcerated in Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, the Tennessee prison that houses death row for the men’s system. On one side of a gate, 250 of us lived in a “support staff” unit working maintenance, landscaping, kitchen service or whatever else kept the facility operational. On the other side of the gate were maximum-security prisoners and those in protective custody, and a unit just for the condemned.

‘Timely justice’ death-penalty law upheld

Published
TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the constitutionality of a 2013 law that legislative supporters said would reduce delays in carrying out the death penalty.

Justices, in a unanimous decision, rejected arguments that the so-called “Timely Justice Act” would be an unconstitutional infringement on the court system’s authority and separation of powers, and violate due-process and equal-protection rights.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Barbara Pariente emphasized that the law would not affect the Supreme Court’s “solemn responsibility” to block executions if necessary to ensure that defendants’ rights are protected.

“[This] court is still constitutionally entrusted with the duty to issue a stay of execution if there is a meritorious post-conviction claim pending or, if at the time the warrant is signed, the defendant brings a successive post-conviction challenge that casts doubt on his or her guilt, the integrity of the judicial process, or the validity of the death sentence imposed. . . . In my view, that remains the essential fail-safe mechanism this court may utilize when necessary to ensure that the ultimate punishment of the death penalty is inflicted in a manner that fully comports with the constitution,” wrote Pariente, who was joined in the concurring opinion by justices Jorge Labarga and James E.C. Perry.

With some convicted murderers on Death Row for 30 years or longer, lawmakers in 2013 said the changes would help carry out justice more quickly. After Gov. Rick Scott signed the bill, for example, House Criminal Justice Chairman Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, posted a Twitter message that said, “Several on death row need to start picking out their last meals.”

Click here to read the full article

Source: Miami Herald, June 12, 2014
Related content:

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

U.S. Presidential Election 2024: Death penalty absent from campaign, but not from minds

Published
Image
Kamala Harris, once openly opposed to the death penalty despite political costs, now avoids the topic as a candidate. Meanwhile, Donald Trump advocates tougher criminal policies, though presidential authority in this area is limited. A few blocks from downtown Richmond, Virginia, the intersection of Spring Street and Belvidere Street now presents a completely different view. Where once stood a grim, old brick building, there is now a modern building with a glass facade reflecting the sun shining on Virginia’s capital. Trees along the wide Belvidere Street give the neighborhood a promenade-like feel, with the James River flowing nearby along the memorial for American war dead.
Read more

Singapore | Inside the prison that executes people for supplying cannabis

Published
Image
Singapore CNN  — Though he is provided with a straw mat, Matthew says he prefers to sleep on the concrete floor of his cell in the maximum-security wing of Singapore’s Changi Prison. “It’s more cooling that way,” says the 41-year-old former schoolteacher, who was sentenced to more than seven years in prison and seven strokes of the cane for selling methamphetamine. CNN met Matthew, who spoke on condition that his last name be withheld, during an exclusive tour of Changi Prison provided by Singapore authorities as they defended the city-state’s uncompromising position on drugs.
Read more

China | Woman who trafficked 17 children sentenced to death

Published
Image
Yu Huaying, a woman who abducted and trafficked 17 children for financial gains between 1993 and 2003, was sentenced to death by a court in Guizhou province on Friday after a retrial. "Considering the circumstance of her offense was extremely serious, bringing great damage to the victims and their families, we impose the death penalty on her," said the Guiyang Intermediate People's Court.
Read more

Editorial: Robert Roberson death penalty case in Texas has turned into a horrific circus

Published
Image
Robert Roberson’s death sentence has become a circus, with gruesome acts playing simultaneously in three distinctly American rings. In the center are Texas politicians battling one another for power to end or preserve Roberson’s life. In a side ring, celebrities weigh in on whether the condemned man might be telling the truth about his young daughter’s death, and in another, medical experts debate the credibility of shaken baby syndrome and the meaning of the autism spectrum.
Read more

Kenya strikes deal with Saudi Arabia over Kenyan man facing execution in Riyadh

Published
Image
The Kenyan government has been actively involved in seeking a resolution to Munyakho's case, where he is set for execution after he accidentally killed a Saudi colleague in an altercation The government has successfully negotiated the postponement of the execution of Stephen Munyakho, a Kenyan national who has been incarcerated in Saudi Arabia for over a decade. Munyakho, who was set to face the death penalty on November 26, 2024, has been granted an additional year as both parties work towards a resolution.
Read more

Saudi Arabia Executes Seven Over Drug Trafficking

Published
Image
Saudi Arabia executed seven individuals on Wednesday, including five for drug trafficking, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The executions bring the total number carried out this year in the Gulf kingdom to 236 , based on an AFP tally using official statements. Yahya Lutfullah, Ali Azib, Ahmed Ali, and Salem Nahari were executed in the southern province of Asir for “smuggling hashish” into the country, the interior ministry stated in a report published by SPA.
Read more

Singapore | A puff on a joint - then six months of forced rehab in a concrete cell

Published
Image
Kim* is a young professional who started using cannabis when family life became messy. Things improved, but her drug habit stuck - and by then, her social circle was primarily made up of people who also used. With a reliable local supplier of weed, Kim’s friends asked her if she would get some for them. “That’s what I did,” Kim says. “I never marked up the price in any way, because this was friendship... It’s like, I’m helping you to purchase something we both use anyway.”
Read more

California | What’s next for the Menendez brothers as DA recommends their resentencing decades after their parents’ killing

Published
Image
More than three decades after Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of the murders of their parents and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the brothers now see a path to their potential release. Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón on Friday will recommend that a judge resentence the siblings – a decision that was the culmination of a review that came after defense attorneys said in 2023 they had new evidence pointing to abuse by their father.
Read more

Photographing the Community on Tennessee’s Death Row

Published
Image
From 2010 to 2015 I was incarcerated in Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, the Tennessee prison that houses death row for the men’s system. On one side of a gate, 250 of us lived in a “support staff” unit working maintenance, landscaping, kitchen service or whatever else kept the facility operational. On the other side of the gate were maximum-security prisoners and those in protective custody, and a unit just for the condemned.
Read more