Prison officials confirmed that of the more than 670 cell phones seized this year, 19 have been found on death row at the Polunsky Unit outside Livingston, east of Huntsville in deep East Texas. There are about 350 inmates on death row.

[So, that whole life without parole comes with unlimited minutes?]


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I wonder what charging a death row inmate with possession of a phone really means to him?

JAS

I wonder what charging the guards that provide this service will do. Will it stop other guards from making a profit? What else would you expect from a convict but more rule breaking and law breaking, but we should not expect that from the guards. My father worked as a prison guard for 28 years, and the pay scale was even worse then. But, he did not see the need to profit from prisoners. Instead, my disabled mother worked to help provide for us. But there are always "bad apples" that spoil the profession for all the ones who want to do their job professionally.

It is too bad that TDCJ decided not to add phones to death row like they did with all the other units. Adding pay phones to the units will cut down on this kind of thing and I see no reason why death row shouldn't have phones, too.

I'll bet Whitmire can think of a reason !

"No citizen should have to receive a phone call from a prisoner on death row," Whitmire said.


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Let's see, a jury has already decided they should forfeit their life, I would bet that includes their "right" to phone calls too.

He is obviously scared and overreacting.

Comments like:

quote:

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Whitmire grew impatient with Bell's response. "Why don't you do it and see what the consequences are?" he demanded.

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show just how over the edge he is.

I do not see what the big deal is. It's just a phone call. That is all. If they put pay phones on death row then they would not be having this contraband problem. It is perfectly natural for those people to want to have contact with their familiy and friends, especially under the conditions that they are housed in.

Easy to say from your anonymous cave. Public servants don't have that luxury and have every right to ask that simple security precautions be imposed to protect from retaliation by proven killers.

quote:

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Originally posted by R_Smith:
It's just a phone call.

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Really? I think if a convicted murderer with a prior history of escape called me up out of the blue and started telling me all the things he knows about my personal life, I'd get a little exercised about it, too.

quote:

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The caller also knew their ages and where they lived in Houston, among other personal details the convict said he had gleaned from the Internet.

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Do convicts have internet access?

Mom probably does. She provided the minutes; why not the information?

Isn't it interesting what happens when people in the big pink building get the same treatment that people in our profession get everyday.

I saw on the news this morning where Tabler has evidently been transferred to a psych unit. Apparently he had some stuff in his cell that would indicate he's suicidal. At any rate, I bet he's not too popular on Death Row or with other GP inmates either. Evidently this whole deal wasn't a big security issue until this idiot starts making menacing calls to the head of the Senate Criminal Justice committee and gets the whole system put on lockdown. Bright,...really bright.

Last year, an inmate was discovered to have both a cell phone and charger in his rectum.


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quote:

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Originally posted by LH:
Evidently this whole deal wasn't a big security issue until this idiot starts making menacing calls to the head of the Senate Criminal Justice committee and gets the whole system put on lockdown.

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Unforntunately, it was not even a big deal several months ago when it was reported that several of our State's units were partially closed because of lack of staffing.

If we will not even pay enough to hire staff to gaurd existing beds, when the system is bulging at the seams; can it come as surprise when we find out that we are not very strict on the gaurds who are willing to accept the employment for the evidently, wanting pay?

Just wait until some of these people that think death row inmates should have phones start getting those calls.

Having been threatened and stalked numerous times, having had voodoo curses put on me, having kept unlisted numbers, I think the last thing I would want is a phone call from a convicted killer. I guess it's no big deal for some, especially when your family is threatened.

JC on a crutch - PRISON IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE FUN! DEATH ROW IS WHERE YOU GO TO WAIT TO DIE. These guys get "three hots and a cot", medical care, education, etc., etc., etc. Enough is enough.

If Tabler (a very scary guy - from my home county)needs to communicate - he can get paper, envelopes and stamps. Period. And who is screening his mail, if he doesn't have internet access?

The voodoo curse? That was funny. A cap murder (non-death) defendant's mom paid $10K for a priestess to burn a chicken on thelawn of my main witness, but just put a curse on me because she didn't know where I lived. The man was convicted in 6 minutes. I suggested mom get her money back.

The seizure count of prohibited phones and phone components topped 120 items Monday as the first full week of the close inspection was ending, including 63 phones, 56 chargers and five SIM cards that swap information among phones.


But officers reported that they also have turned up 61 weapons, 52 instances of tobacco products and 14 discoveries of money - all prohibited for the estimated 155,000 inmates in the state's 111 prisons.


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Verizon could make some money if they had a cell phone in the shape of a shank.

I guess Tabler took my comment about writing letters to heart - he sent Wentworth a death threat.

I just got off the phone with a reporter who broke a large part of the story. He talked to Tabler several times, and he will agree that Tabler is crazy and lashing out.

So why is no one screening his outgoing mail?

why doesn't he just write to some sympathetic ears who use this forum?

Prison staff conducting a shakedown of the row today found a cell phone in the rectum of convicted murderer Henry Skinner, said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons.


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