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Activists Call on President Biden to End the Federal Death Penalty Before Leaving Office

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A conversation with Death Penalty Action Co-founder and Executive Director Abe Bonowitz. Now that Joe Biden is a lame duck president, activists are holding him accountable to make good on his promise to end the federal death penalty during his remaining six months as president. Biden’s election campaign in 2020 had pledged to end the federal death penalty and incentivize the remaining 27 states that still allow executions to do the same. While he made history as the first president in the United States to openly oppose the death penalty, there has been no movement to actually end federal executions during his nearly four years in office.

Polunsky Lockdown

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Polunsky Unit, Texas
"The inmates are to receive a hot meal every three days as well as a shower. It seems that at the Livingston Unit they are not following the procedures.

Since the Statewide lockdown was put into effect October 20, the sack meals have been coming up short. The inmates are suppose to get one meat sandwich and one peanut butter sandwich for lunch and dinner, plus on additional item like raisins, prunes, or cereal in one of those sacks.

For breakfast they are supposed to get 2 peanut butter sandwiches or pancakes and a peanut butter sandwich, or 2 eggs with bread or biscuit. THEY, Livingston, are not giving them what they are supposed to get. For breakfast they are giving them one box of cereal, NO milk (most days) and one egg with biscuit or one box of cereal with milk and a small piece of cake or pancakes and cereal with NO milk. They are lucky to get milk twice a week.

For lunch and dinner some days they only get one sandwich and a small potato and nothing else. Most days the meat sandwich consist of something they've thrown together and it does not come close to covering the bread. The peanut butter almost never covers the bread. They are locked down s0 they cannot even purchase there own food and yet they are purposely not feeding them the proper amount of food.

I spoke to an official of TDCJ today and they informed me to let Anyone you know on Death Row or any other prisoner in TDCJ that if they have had property taken from them and destroyed due to this Statewide lockdown they can file a Confiscation Report for all of their items that were taken, but should not have been.

If we call come together on this situation and flood them with calls and letters this may be the only way this situation can get changed.

Can we join together to look into this as well as call the unit and let them know we will go to the press with this if the condition does not change ?"

If you want to give a call to the unit and let your voice heard, call 936 9670 8082. From international calls add (001).

Source: Patricia Davis, Abolition Movement
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