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Typical Polunsky Death Row Cell |
The backlash: At Polunsky, the "emotional torture" of awaiting death in total isolation is "driving men out of their minds," former prisoner Anthony Graves told senators last year at the first-ever Judiciary Committee hearing on solitary confinement. "I would watch guys come to prison totally sane and in three years they don't live in the real world anymore," recalled Graves, who was exonerated in 2010, after spending more than 18 years on death row.
Graves detailed for the senators some of the profoundly erratic behavior of his fellow prisoners. "I know a guy who would sit in the middle of the floor, rip his sheet up, wrap it around himself, and light it on fire. Another guy…would take his feces and smear it all over his face as though he was in military combat."
Source: Mother Jones, May 2, 2013
Texas' death row is a disgrace to the State of Texas. Click here to view 50 recent annotated pictures of the 'living' conditions on Texas' death row. These photos were provided by the State of Texas in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by attorney Yolanda Torres. These photos were then posted on Thomas Whitaker's blog, "Minutes Before Six". Thomas Whitaker is currently on death row in the State of Texas.