WAITING TO NOT EXHALE

[Mark Joel Lane]

Inmates on death row here at the Peekskill Correction Institute in NY have some very valid complaints about the way they are mistreated.  Aside from being served less expensive coffee from Dunkin Donuts instead of premium blends from Starbucks due to prison expenditure cuts, their fast food meals have been Un-supersized.   Some of these inmates had better make it a fast food meal as they are due to be executed in a day or two.  McDonald's ,Burger King, Wendy's and Arbys have now limited convicts' meals to smaller value meals. Chipotle and Taco Bell have been eliminated totally .

 

Some of these murderers, cop killers, and other dismembering rapists are demanding new reading material in the death row waiting room.  Sadly, their only literature while awaiting lethal injection, the gas chamber, the electric chair, or the gallows, consists of magazines that include Skiing, Good Housekeeping, Popular Mechanics, The Mosquito News, Highlights for Children, Gourmet Chef, and Humpty Dumpty.

 

Convicts are demanding to read Sports Illustrated, especially current Swimsuit  issues, or some Christmas catalogues as many on death row still have the spirit of Christmas in them. Is this too much to ask for the few available hours left for them? I think not.

 

Governor Cuomo  has arranged for some junior high school classes to visit the Peekskill prison and meet the death row inmates.  The governor feels  these students will lift the spirits of these convicts who have exhausted all their appeals on death row.   It's a wonderful learning experience for the students and the inmates enjoy the interaction before they are taken away to either  meet Jesus, go to their nirvana, Hades, or other afterlife they believe in. I believe the few improvements in death row will make capital punishment more enjoyable for everyone.