Skip to main content

NEW HELL HOLE NEWS #6 - December 22, 2008


Hey folks!

Back again. Before I start telling you this other stuff let me briefly revisit the squirrel issue from New Hell Hole News # 5. One of my friends told me that if he hadn’t known all the intimate particulars of that situation I’d have lost him in my recounting of it, so maybe I lost some of you out there, too. Y’all are probably a lil’ smarter, “But in an abundance of caution”, as judges say, “we’ll revisit the issue”.

Simply stated my point was, what are the astronomical chances that I’d read this Court of Criminals opinion on this insane crime and fellow, Thomas, then Fiero’s door won’t close, he gets moved, Squirrel (Thomas) moves in. I discover he’s very interested in the subjects of the fallen angels, templaric and religious history, Satan, etc. and it just happens to be the motivation for his crime. Then he decides to pull out his left eye and eat it on the very day I’d told him the story of Odin and Freyre? (Use this link to read the newspaper story: http://www.kxii.com/home/headlines/37299199.html.) Exactly six (6) says after Mr. Wood checked out of existence on this mortal coil? As I say often enough, I live a charmed existence.

This place is starting to look like some macabre ongoing sculpture from hell So many bubbas have come and gone and each one wants to leave his welded mark on death row. I wish they’d let me conduct the tours thru here. I’d play the gothic music on an intercom system while I recount all the horrors I’ve witnessed here over the years and all the welded responses along with little interesting factoids like how much all this additional steel weighs en toto, what it cost. What the ridiculous intent or objective was when they put it up there versus what it actually ends up being. Now we got Tiny Tim talking about sealing up solid all the doors. That would make it a punitive cell configuration (i.e. solitary confinement) which violates U. S. Supreme Court precedents, TDCJ Policy, etc. in more ways that I have room to recount here. My cell is now sealed. I’m entombed alive here. But I’m level III so it’s permissible, for a short time………Tiny Tim is also the one who has welded these stupid skirts on the bottom of door and the skirts riveted on the crossover doors. The gap is there for a reason – to facilitate air flow equalization amongst the sections, even cooling and heat distribution and, to prevent rapid de-equalization resulting in sudden vacuum which causes the doors to suddenly slam with violent force. You cannot put dampeners on the doors because those arms on the hydraulic unit and the rods make lovely shanks. Now because of Tiny Tim, two ssi (support service inmates) have lost their fingers when these doors suddenly slammed shut on them and cut them off. The air flow in these buildings is now so out of whack and unequal that there are cold spots all over the sections, (or hot spots in summer) which lead to excessive humidification and rushing / flaking of metal in that area for example, the FD1 shower is so rusted it’s falling apart. It’s in a dead zone created by Tim’s skirts which burned up the exhaust fan in that shower (and many other exhaust fans and blowers all over the building.)

The other bad results of this are things like, when your neighbor takes a dump the awful smell comes right in your cell and lingers for an hour or so. The air pressure is so unequal, when you open a door to a pod, all the other doors in that pod automatically slam shut and the wind is so strong it’ll almost knock you down. So all of this fetid air, ripe from bad breath of some of the 84 fetid souls living I those cages, defecation, passing gas, germs, etc. just lingers here while we all endlessly re-breathe it as do the officers working in it 12 hours at a lick. The result of all this is that, every time it rains outside or gets humid the whole building’s floors and walls get so wet it looks like it’s crying into a pond……… I mean besides the ceiling leaking like a sieve when it rains. We have all sorts of interesting molds, fungi and bacterium culturing here and there. Health wise, it’s a death trap. Nearly all of us have serious respiratory issues because of this. I suspect many of us and particularly the officers, have some form of chronic malady or permanent damage to their respiratory, pulmonary and or nervous systems resulting from this. I’m kind of wondering why some enterprising young attorney hasn’t sued on behalf of the officers.

Click here to read this article in full on Hank Skinner's blog...

Source: Hank Skinner, January 10, 2009

Comments

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

Former Florida officer who raped, murdered 11-year-old set to be executed

An execution date has been set for a former Mascotte police officer who, in May 1987, assaulted and murdered an 11-year-old girl.  Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for James Aren Duckett on Friday. He’s scheduled to be executed on March 31. It’ll be the state’s 5th execution this year, following a record 19 executions in 2025.  Duckett was convicted in the murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee about a year after her death. According to officials, Duckett took the 11-year-old to a lake, where he sexually battered, strangled and drowned her. 

Florida executes Billy Kearse

Florida executes man who killed Fort Pierce police officer during 1991 traffic stop Moments before receiving a lethal injection, Billy Kearse asked for forgiveness from the family of Danny Parrish, whose widow said she found peace after a "long, long 35 years.” A man convicted of fatally shooting a police officer with his own service weapon during a traffic stop was executed Tuesday evening, becoming the third person put to death by Florida this year after a record 19 executions in 2025.

Chinese courts conclude trials of 2 criminal gangs from northern Myanmar, 16 sentenced to death

Chinese courts have concluded the trials of 2 major criminal groups based in northern Myanmar involved in telecom and online fraud, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said Thursday.  At a press conference held by the SPC, it was revealed that by the end of 2025, courts across the country had concluded first-instance trials of over 27,000 cases related to telecom fraud operations in northern Myanmar, with more than 41,000 returned suspects sentenced.  Notably, among the trials of the so-called "4 major families" criminal gangs -- which had drawn widespread domestic and international attention -- those of the Ming and Bai groups have completed all judicial proceedings.

Florida | Governor DeSantis signs death warrant in 2008 murder case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Michael L. King, setting an execution date of March 17, 2026, at 6 p.m. King was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2008 kidnapping, sexual battery and murder of Denise Amber Lee, a 21-year-old North Port mother. On January 17, 2008, Michael Lee King abducted 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee from her North Port home by forcing her into his green Chevrolet Camaro. He drove her around while she was bound, including to his cousin's house to borrow tools like a shovel.  King took her to his home, where he sexually battered her, then placed her in the backseat of his car. Later that evening, he drove to a remote area, shot her in the face, and buried her nude body in a shallow grave. Her remains were discovered two days later. During the crime, multiple 9-1-1 calls were made, but communication breakdowns between emergency dispatch centers delayed the response.  The case drew national attention and prompted w...

Oklahoma Ends Indefinite Death Row Solitary Confinement

Every year, thousands of prisoners in the U.S. are placed in solitary confinement, where they endure isolation, abuse, and mental suffering . This practice might soon become rarer for some inmates in Oklahoma, thanks to the efforts of activists in the state. Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oklahoma announced that the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester had ended the practice of indefinite solitary confinement for "the vast majority" of death row prisoners.

‘Come on with it’: Arkansas inmate asks to hasten execution

A Faulkner County judge has scheduled an August hearing to determine whether a death row inmate can bypass his attorney’s advice, drop his remaining appeals, and hasten his execution.  Scotty Ray Gardner, 65, is facing the death penalty for the 2016 killing of his girlfriend, Susan Heather Stubbs, in Conway.  In letters sent to Circuit Judge Chuck Clawson and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Gardner said he wants to end his legal battles, writing that he is tired of prison life and skeptical he will receive a fair hearing.  “It’s simple,” Gardner wrote in a September letter. “Come on with it.” 

Florida Cop-killer Billy Kearse set to be executed today

A man who confessed to fatally shooting Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish with his own service weapon during a 1991 traffic stop is scheduled to be executed starting at 6 p.m. March 3, barring a last-minute stay. Billy L. Kearse, 53, will be the third person put to death by the state this year, just one week after the execution of Melvin Trotter, who was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for strangling and stabbing Virgie Langford in Palmetto in 1986. The Florida Supreme Court on Feb. 12 denied a motion for a stay of execution and a motion for an extension due to the fading health and death of the father of Kearse's attorney. Attorneys for Kearse have filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution, citing violations of the Sixth, Eighth and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution.

Man convicted in 1986 murder set to become Florida's second execution of 2026

STARKE, Fla. (DPN) — A man convicted of stabbing and strangling a grocery store owner during a robbery nearly 40 years ago is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday evening, becoming the second person executed in Florida this year. Melvin Trotter, 65, is set to receive a three-drug lethal injection beginning at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Trotter was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1986 killing of Virgie Langford, 70, who owned Langford’s Grocery Store in Palmetto, in southwest Florida's Manatee County.

Florida executes Melvin Trotter

The execution of Melvin Trotter for the murder of 70-year-old Virgie Langford in 1986 comes as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor questions Florida's 'deeply troubling' lethal injection record. Florida has executed its second inmate of the year even as a Supreme Court justice questioned the state's “deeply troubling" record on lethal injections and how it "shrouds its executions in secrecy."  Melvin Trotter, 65, was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday, Feb. 24, for the 1986 murder of 70-year-old Virgie Langford, a mother of 4 who was on the verge of retirement when she was stabbed to death in the corner grocery store that she owned for five decades. Trotter was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. ET. 

Texas Plans Second Execution of the Year

Cedric Ricks is set to be killed on March 11 Cedric Ricks spoke in his own defense at his 2013 murder trial, something most defendants accused of a terrible crime do not do. Ricks confessed that he had killed his girlfriend, Roxann Sanchez, and her 8-year-old son. He admitted he was aggressive and had trouble controlling his anger, stating that he was “sorry about everything.” The Tarrant County jury was unmoved. Ricks has spent the last 13 years on death row and is scheduled to be executed on March 11.