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Arizona ends automatic solitary confinement of death-row inmates

January 5, 2018 by Dennis Seavers

From the Death Penalty Information Center:

Several months after Arizona settled a lawsuit over the conditions of confinement on the state’s death row, the state has ended the practice of automatically housing condemned prisoners in solitary confinement, and prisoners and prison officials alike are praising the changes.

Carson McWilliams

Carson McWilliams

Carson McWilliams (pictured right), Division Director for Offender Operations in the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC), told the Arizona Republic that the new incarceration conditions provide an “atmosphere where [prisoners] can socialize,” resulting in “reduce[d] anxiety” that, in turn, “adds to safety control” of the prison. And, prison officials say, it has reduced institutional costs.

Prior to the lawsuit, death row had meant 23-hour-per-day confinement in a concrete cell the size of a parking space, shuttered by a steel door with a perforated slot through which the prisoners would receive their meals, and with a bench bed and a sink attached to an uncovered toilet. Prisoners had no contact visits with families or lawyers, were handcuffed behind the back and subjected to body-cavity searches whenever they left their cells, and were restricted to showering or exercising three times a week. They also were denied prison jobs and educational opportunities. About the solitary conditions, McWilliams remarked, “The more you’re restricted inside a cell, the more likely you are to have depression, to have anxiety, to have other types of mental problems that could lead to some type of problem inside the system, whether its self harm, or suicide, or aggression towards a staff member or towards another inmate.”

One death-row prisoner who was interviewed by the paper said, “It’s hard to explain the deprivation. . . . It weighs on your mind.” McWilliams said it now requires fewer officers to manage death row because officers no longer have to deliver individual meals or individually escort each of the 120 prisoners. Kevin Curran, who has been a prison warden at various facilities run by the ADC, said that he “feels safer among the death-row men than among the career criminals and gangsters in the general population.” Under the new conditions, prisoners are able to socialize with each other in activities such as playing basketball, volleyball, or board games, and can eat meals together. One ADC corrections officer told the Arizona Republic that he was “apprehensive” at first about the changes, but the transition has been “very good” with only a “few minor incidents,” which were “a lot less” than he expected.

(M. Kiefer, Arizona death row comes out of solitary, giving convicts more human contact, socialization, Arizona Republic, Dec. 19, 2017.)

Filed Under: Media, News and Events, Updates Tagged With: media, news, updates

Why does Arizona have one of the largest death row inmate populations?

August 22, 2016 by Dennis Seavers

ABC 15 offered a comparison of Arizona to other states with the death penalty and asks why Arizona has one of the largest death-row populations?  The article also offers statistical information on the death penalty.

For more information, click here to see the full story. (The link will take you off the Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona website.)

Filed Under: Media, Updates Tagged With: media, news, updates

Giving Tuesday

November 30, 2015 by Dennis Seavers

Hopefully you saw the CBS 60 Minutes program Sunday November 29th which featured the July 23rd 2014 botched execution of Joseph Wood. It clearly illustrated the work that must be done in Arizona. When he was questioned about Arizona’s illegal purchase of drugs to kill Jeffery Ladrigan in 2010, Attorney General Mark Brnovich stated he wasn’t the AG at that time and assured us that during his tenure as AG Arizona would adhere to all state and federal laws relating to the procurement of drugs to be used in executions. After the interview was conducted it was learned that illegal drugs purchased in India were seized at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix.

#GivingTuesday, now in its fourth year, is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration. Observed on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving. Since its inaugural year in 2012, #GivingTuesday has become a movement that celebrates and supports giving and philanthropy with events throughout the year. We hope our affiliation will launch a drive permitting us to hire staff and move forward with an ambitious plan to end capital punishment.

#GivingTuesday harnesses the potential of social media and the generosity of people around the world to bring about real change in their communities; it provides a platform for them to encourage the donation of time, resources and talents to address local challenges. It also brings together the collective power of a unique blend of partners— nonprofits, civic organizations, businesses and corporations, as well as families and individuals—to encourage and amplify small acts of kindness.

As a global movement, #GivingTuesday unites countries around the world by sharing our capacity to care for and empower one another.

Filed Under: Media, News and Events, Updates Tagged With: donate, media, news, updates

“60 Minutes” to Air Segment on Arizona’s Botched Execution of Joseph Wood

November 28, 2015 by Dennis Seavers

Lethal injectionOn Sunday, November 29, CBS’s 60 Minutes will air a segment on Arizona’s 2-hour botched execution of Joseph Wood. As described by 60 Minutes, Wood’s “execution with a new cocktail of drugs was supposed to take 10 minutes. It took almost two hours, the longest execution in U.S. history.”

On July 23, 2014, Arizona gave Wood 15 consecutive doses of midazolam and hydromorphone, the same drug combination that had been used in the botched execution of Dennis McGuire in Ohio six months earlier. Witnesses to Wood’s execution reported that he gasped and snorted more than 600 times during the 2-hour procedure. Prison officials had estimated that the drugs would take about 10 minutes to kill Wood. Prior to the execution, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit had ordered the state to release information about the source of the drugs and the training of those who would carry it out, but the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision and allowed the execution to proceed under a veil of secrecy. Dale Baich, one of Wood’s attorneys, said, “I’ve witnessed a number of executions before and I’ve never seen anything like this. Nor has an execution that I observed taken this long.”

60 Minutes airs at 7:30 pm Eastern, 6:00 pm MST, 7:00 pm Pacific on CBS.

Filed Under: Media, News and Events, Updates Tagged With: media, news, updates

Krone and Hedgecock speak against the death penalty

March 19, 2015 by Dennis Seavers

Joe Hedgecock

Joe Hedgecock

12 News in Phoenix covered the presentation recent presentation by Ray Krone, who was exonerated after being sentenced to death, and Joe Hedgecock, who was on Krone’s jury.

You can see the coverage at the link below:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/12-news/2015/03/06/12news-ray-krone-exonerated-murder-death-penalty/24546997/

For more information about this and other Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona events, please contact us at info@azdeathpenalty.org.

Filed Under: Media, News and Events, Updates Tagged With: hedgecock, krone, media, news, updates

‘Capital Punishment’ in Reality is Murder

December 28, 2014 by Dennis Seavers Leave a Comment

A recent letter to the editor in the Arizona Daily Star raises the question of what capital punishment really is:

It’s called capital punishment, and it meets all of the criteria for first-degree murder: “intentionally causing the death of another human being with special intent to kill, premeditation and deliberation,” except that it is, sadly, not unlawful. How can we call ourselves a “civilized” nation? I once had a bumper sticker that said it all: Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?

You can read the letter to the editor by following this link.

Filed Under: Editorials, Media Tagged With: media, opinion

Krone and Hedgecock “Exonerated” event online

December 4, 2014 by Dennis Seavers Leave a Comment

i-didnt-do-it-investigation-discoveryOur recent event, Exonerated: Ray Krone, from Death Row to Free Man, was a great success.  There was an overflow audience with more than 100 people, with more watching online.

Ray Krone told a compelling story of police nabbing him for a murder he didn’t commit and two juries convicting him, primarily on bite mark science. DNA evidence led to his exoneration. Former juror Joe Hedgecock talked about the guilt of sending an innocent man to death row.

You can watch the link online at any time by clicking here.

This event was cosponsored by Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona, the Arizona State University School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law, and the Justice Project.

Filed Under: Media, News and Events, Updates Tagged With: hedgecock, krone, media, news, presentations, ray krone, updates

Arizona’s Barbaric Death Penalty Has Got to Go

June 10, 2014 by Dennis Seavers

Dan Peitzmeyer, President of Death Penalty Alternatives for Arizona, recently wrote an editorial in response to an exchange between Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted and County Attorney Bill Montgomery on the question of repealing Arizona’s death penalty.  Dan wrote:

“Arizonans will be proud of our leadership for displaying courage to the nation and the world as we join the other 32 states and most of the first-world nations who have outlawed this barbaric, ineffective and costly practice. It is time to change the culture of death in Arizona.”

You can read the entire editorial by clicking here.

Filed Under: Editorials, Media, News and Events, Updates Tagged With: media, news, updates

Bishop Olmsted criticizes death penalty

June 10, 2014 by Dennis Seavers

The Arizona Republic recently ran editorials with opposing viewpoints on the death penalty. The newspaper asked, “What if Arizona repealed the death penalty”? Speaking against the death penalty was the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, Thomas J. Olmsted, who wrote:

“If Arizona were to repeal the death penalty, it would be a positive step forward in promoting a culture of life and it would benefit us by strengthening the moral tone and texture of our society.”

Speaking for the death penalty was Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery.  You can read the exchange by clicking here.

Filed Under: Editorials, Media, News and Events, Updates Tagged With: media, news, updates

Time for Moratorium on Arizona Executions

April 21, 2013 by Dennis Seavers

The following letter to the editor ran in the Arizona Daily Star.  It’s by DPAA’s vice president.

Time for moratorium on Arizona executions

By Punch Woods

It’s time Arizona declare a moratorium on executions and spend a few years taking a good long look at the death penalty.

With seven Arizona death-row inmates being exonerated since 1989 I wonder how many more should be? And worse, how many have been executed who were innocent?

With currently 124 men and women on death row and seven who have been exonerated, the odds are about 1 to 20 that there are innocent men and women awaiting execution.

It’s time.

Filed Under: Editorials, Media, Updates Tagged With: media, updates

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