Terri Been Speaks Out About Texas Visitation On Death Row

Subject: Polunsky visitation with Jeff

Yesterday’s visit to my brother was bitter sweet to say the least. Overall the visit went well, but it was very emotional and degrading!!! The lockdown has taken its toll not only on the overall policy at Polunsky, but on the spirit of the inmates as well.I have visited the Polunsky unit MANY times over the course of my brother’s incarceration, but never have I experienced the overwhelming sense of complete and absolute dread that I felt there last night. Now don’t get me wrong, I have experienced dread there before…as my brother came within hours of his execution, and we said what we thought would be our final goodbyes to him, which has crippled and destroyed me emotionally; BUT the dread that I am talking about now reaches further than just those who have an execution date. The dread that I am talking about is a thick blanket that wraps around you and suffocates you when you walk into the visitation room…which you literally feel!The tone for the evening was set when you pulled up into the facility. In the past we have always had to jump through hoops just to get into the place, but things are far worse now! Guards are now required to do “complete car checks” instead of the normal “pop the hood and trunk” checks. Visitors had their purses gone through, their glove compartments torn apart, bags/luggage in the car were rummaged through…you name it…it was searched. Did it stop there? Hell no; round two started at check in!!Now, I’m going to flashback to the summer to give you a full picture of the nightmare we call check-in @ Polunsky, so please bare with me here: Imagine, if you will, having to make a run to the local Wal-Mart 3 different times to purchase clothing and shoes just to be allowed into Polunsky. This has happened on numerous occasions and to various visitors…and this literally is no joke! (My sister-in-law, Kristin, and I have experienced this for ourselves.) This past summer we were scheduled for a normal 2 hour visit to see my brother; Kristin had quite literally just gotten off of the plane from overseas two hours before the visit was to take place, and come to find out that the airlines had lost all of her luggage (which she did not get back for almost a full week) so all she had was the clothing on her back. She was not happy because she wasn’t going to be able to “dress up” for him, and due to time restrictions…she decided to make do with what she had on. Havingmade the trip to the US on several occasions, she learned a few valuable lessons; one being when you’re on a plane for 17 hours you wear “comfortable clothing”. The comfortable clothing that she was wearing was indeed appropriate, but the guard on duty felt that it was a little too form fitting; so we were sent to Wal-Mart…and mind you we are already late because of plane delays. Kristin grabs a baggy Mickey Mouse T-shirt, because there should be NOTHING wrong with a cartoon character T- shirt…or so you’d think. So we get back to Polunsky, where we are turned away again because of the Mickey Mouse Logo…which has been adopted by the Mexican Mafia (one of the most powerful prison gangs in the US). On our second trip to Wal-Mart she purchases a plain black T-shirt; and with her new T-shirt on we walk back into the unit, but were turned away…yet again, this time for her shoes!!! After purchasing a new pair of tennis shoes, we were finally allowed in, but with allof the trips back and forth to Wal-Mart, we had less than an hour visit. Check in…sounds extreme doesn’t it? Well it can be and has been for MANY people!!! But…it has gotten worse, so in addition to the metal detectors and the wardrobe scrutiny we have always had to go through lets add the following: pat-downs/body searches, and counting your money down to the quarter. Waiting in line to be searched sucks…so if you know somebody who is going to visit, you may want to tell them to get there a little earlier than normal…because you will be searched. Think I’m kidding, ask the black lady a few people ahead of us in line that had to take off her “weave” and have it searched! You may also want to tell them that they will be patted down! Okay, let me rephrase that…you will be rubbed down and felt-up. I have gone through several pat searches in order to get into federal buildings before, but I have never experienced one quite like I got @ Polunsky this night! When you walk in the door…you are now required to take off you shoes and socks so they can be searched. The metal detectors have new settings, and are picking up what seems to be everything; so ladies if you have jewelry…you might be better off leaving it in the car, because you will pass through the damn thing for every ring, necklace, or earring…not to mention belts. Some ladies even had to cover their breasts with their arms/hands to get through because the underwire in their bra kept setting off the alarm. “Pat-downs” now consist of the following for women: a lady using her two hands to rub the entire length of your leg. Each leg will be rubbed twice: one sweep covers the front/back and includes your ass-cheek, the second sweep of the leg covers the inside/outside, which includes a backhanded rubdown of your “downstairs privates”. The search also includes having each breast examined by hand…starting on the inside of each breast, and cupping around to theoutside. It is an absolutely humiliating experience, and is absolutely NOT necessary in my opinion!I risked not being able to see my brother because I gave them hell about the new procedure. I told them I understood such procedures for those who were allowed contact visits, but Death row families NEVER get to touch or come in contact with the inmates, and that it was the corrupt guards who were causing this nightmare, and we should not be subject to sexual harassment just to get to see our loved ones because they are self-serving and money hungry. I actually said several other things to the guards that were not exactly polite or worth repeating, but at least I said my peace.You are allowed to take $20 dollars into the unit, however we did not get to take in the full amount of $ because both change machines were down. Luckily, I knew somebody coming out of the early visit that had some change left over; which gave us an additional $7 dollars, but we were not even close to $20. MANY people did not get to take in any money because there was no change…and I tell you that was cruel and was done on purpose! These men had gone months with Johnny bags! Remember the lockdown was not the only time they were getting these…just weeks before they were restricted to these bags because of the hurricane that hit…so we are talking almost two months on Johnny bags. My brother had lost at least 25 – 30 pounds since I had seen him at the end of August. I spent EVERY bit of change I had with the exception of 1 nickel on food for my brother. 2 hamburgers, three bags of chips, 2 snicker bars, a salad, 3 dr peppers, 5 beef jerky sticks, and a piece of pie were all gone in less than 3 minutes of receiving them. Seriously…no joking; he was quite literally starving and inhaled the food! I am thankful that I was able to provide him with that, but there were many others there that were hungry that got nothing…and I feel so bad for them. So my second piece of advice is to make sure that you have change before you get to the unit…Do NOT count on the machines to be working! Also…if youfeed your inmate like we do…you may also want to take the early session because they only have 1 machine now that serves “food” (sandwiches, salads, juice, pie, etc.) and nearly all of the food in that machine was gone from the 1st visit.I’ll not even get into the property that was taken away or destroyed from these inmates.Needless to say, the visit was absolute chaos! New Policies, new procedures, and new hours to call and make reservations to visit...the list goes on, but the important thing here is that nobody is handling it well…including the staff! The only good thing that happened that night was in addition to getting to see my brother, my kids and I had the privilege of talking to several other inmates during our visit. (which is strictly forbidden, but we did it anyway.) We spoke with two of this week’s condemned inmates: Robert Hudson and Rogelio Cannaday. We told them that we had signed their petitions, and that we had written letters to the governor on their behalf. We also told them that there were a great many people who were fighting for them, and that we all would be calling the governor’s office this week in a continued effort to fight for their lives. They were very grateful and sent their thanks.I could go on, but I have written a book here already! If you are pen-pals, or friends with any of these guys…they need our help in more than one way. Yes we want to fight to save their lives, but we need to fight for their rights inside as well. They also need financial contributions if you can afford it, as most of these guys have nothing left from all of the property raids and shake-downs. Their fans, hot-plates, radios, typewriters, and other various properties were taken and destroyed. Some people may be thinking that these inmates don’t need a radio, but I say different; that is their only link to the outside world other than any visit they may get. Complete Isolation leads to insanity…and being without this contact to the world will only cause more pain and suffering. Please keep these guys and their families in your prayers!--------------------

Reggie Blanton Speaks Out On Texas Death Row

BANDWAGONEERS I'M TALKING TO YOU Out of all my writings, how many of you can recite the title of one piece I've written without looking it up either on my myspace page or the Drive site? And I'm not talking about my super-personal piece dedicated to my Wife, "Whats' love got to do with it?" I mean and I'm seriously asking y'all, how many can refer to anything I,ve ever said that has left an impression on you? Am I that superficial? Are my thoughts that inconsequential? I ask these things because anybody who has taken the time out of their mundane lives to give my words a glance will sense one thing about me, at the very least I'm a Man, imperfect, striving for perfection, what does this mean? That men are a dying species amongst boys? I'll tell you what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean I'm a prison number, It doesn't mean I'm a Death Row prisoner. It means I'm a Man not constricted to these damn bars, concrete and steel that the system preaches is necessary to encage the beast I never was and never can be—because I'm a man. "Imperfect striving for perfection, a Man does not exist lest he is conscious of the principles that dictate his life, allowing the universe to flow through him, as opposed to him blindly resisting its flow, reinforcing the dictum:. "A hard head makes a sore ass" Yes, I'm not talking about donkeys. I'm talking about men with principles which means a disciplined man. I'm as disciplined as the samurai, blade slicing through the fabric of time, while engaged in battle. And I bleed like you do, and will bleed for whatever I believe in as my physical scars, from years of protest while here on Death row, demonstrates I'm a man with a mind, no longer a puppet blindly reacting to the viciss, cudes of life. A man that won't "mind" if my manhood is not respected. Not a primitive bet-not-step on-my kicks manhood. No, That's boyhood masquerading as manhood. By manhood I mean my essence everything that makes me who I AM I AM!So what does all this mean? Well….What do I mean? What is MY damn value? What da hell do I matter? I know the answers to these questions, but do you have answers to these questions? No, don't say "oh, but you're Gods creation "or"The bible says…." If you're saying this, then shouldn't you be convincing Christians to embrace our campaign with something more than lip service? Besides these type of responses are too general, maybe you'll say "well, the Death penalty is wrong."To that I will ask why? And if you can't recite specific injustices in my case then why are you my "friend"? You don't know me! Because if you did then you would know I would have a problem with a person who says they support someone or is fighting for a cause they don't understand or know anything about.If this is you, what kind of person are you? I'll answer that for you: The kind of person that will decide whether you will either keep being the reason why a small handful of people will continue to carry on their shoulders your part of the load, or get some more principles.And I, Omari Huduma, aka Reginald Blanton approve this message!

Reggie Blanton Speaks Out From Texas Death Row

THE PITCH:(The breakdown of an example pitch)

Organizations act like they don't want to take a position until the 11th hour, the last minute, while everyone is left scrambling to do something, anything to save a mans life; and not just a man in every sense of the word, but an activist, an intellectual, convicted for a crime he did not commit, and it's disturbing—no, sickening, that this man sits on Texas Death Row; silenced by the media; silenced by the myriad (or abundance of) organizations that were suppose to have been erected for men like Reginald W Blanton; silenced by a broken Criminal Justice system; even silenced by his own court appointed attorney that refused to represent his legal interests.Over the course of the year Reginald Blanton was represented by State Habeas attorney Scott Sullivan, Our Brother Reginald wrote his attorney letter after letter after letter diligently seeking to have what amounted to, innocence claims filed in, not his attorney's appeal (his attorneys life isn't in danger) But filed in Reginald's appeal. Yet his attorney refused to file his claims, and not because they had no merit, since most of his claims were supported by overlooked evidence in his actual trial; and never mind his federal attorney saw enough merit in these claims to attempt to resuscitate them, to no avail, since as a result of his previous attorney neglecting his legal responsibilities to Reginald, not exhausting these claims at the appropriate stage of appeal, ALL Reginald's innocence claims were procedurally barred, and this is only half of it.Reginald Blanton's appeal now sits in the Supreme Court and if something is not done soon another innocent man will be murdered by the state of Texas.Please contact [insert name] with the campaign to Free Reggie B, at [insert site] This is the type of message that was left on the answering machine of the NAACP branch in San Antonio, TX, that evoked them to return our phone call. It's not just about facts, it's about overall presentation, presentation is everything. What I want to do is point out a few things about what you just read above. First, you can't just read the words; you have to imagine how they're said in your mind. Notice the general style. Its short, it's urgent. It's to be said with energy, not like the way that professor taught his class on that TV show, the wonder years. The first paragraph is called a "hook" designed to grab the listener's attention by the collar, saying "You have to listen to me! The first paragraph brings about a sense of conviction in the listener, "These organizations y'all contacted should be ashamed, "should be the listeners thought, They should feel like they can't cower from the task at hand, instead , choosing to stand up, being the leader their organization most likely claims to be. The first Paragraph, also individualizes me in that, it gives me somewhat a face: "and not just a man in every sense of the word, but an activist, a poet an intellectual, convicted for a crime he not commit" Though there are many injustices to reference in my case, the second paragraph probably highlights the most drastic of them and it reveals the utter failure of the criminal justice system in all its elements: Trial, prosecution, defense and appeal. It contrasts the system's incompetence, indifference, even insidiousness, with the, so called, criminal's innocence and helplessness. It paints a picture of me, caught in the web of the adversarial process, struggling for my life against a plasma thirsty spider; that was supposed to help me?!! "Only with the power of the people are we able to achieve justice or receive justice---It is not because of the justice of the court"—Huey P Newton. In addition, it should disturb anybody to hear what sounds like a defense attorney working with the system against his own client! Furthermore, the statement acts in, then gets cut. Its closing places back into the center of the listener's attention the fact that time is of the essence and a life is in Jeopardy. The closing being so short only intensifies the point. "And this is only half of it." This line not only lets the listener know there's more but you just said there was more corruption to what the listener had probably already deemed enough corruption. It rightly intensifies the sense of injustice. Then you have "please contact [insert name] with the campaign to Free ReggieB "besides the necessity of leaving contact info by saying "…with the campaign to Free reggieb " you are bringing a sense of legitimacy and organization to the table. Sad to say, People only seem to want to get involved when they know others are. Finally there is No "Thank you for your time or any other happy closing because there is nothing to be happy about. It punctuates the overall message—that this is a serious matter that can't be slept on. This is only a pitch, not the pitch. And it's of the kind that is suitable for answering machines of various organizations we are trying to contact. It's a different story when you are actually talking to a person for the first time. However, the same poetic and energetic style (don't be dull, be creative) can be utilized. And remember there's a thin line between evoking a sense of urgency and repelling people out of your own sound of panic, Presentation is everything, ; which includes word usage, delivery (voice pitch and flow) etc. You don't have to be Malcolm-x or Cynthia Mckinney to speak on the manner above. It's valuable to listen with an analytical ear to how activist, poets or politicians give speeches, using descriptive words and voice fluctuates depending on the nature of their point, such as speaking slowly and softly when addressing something sad or about love or speaking faster with passion, intensity to punctuate points that should evoke anger, disgust or emergency. Nevertheless, you may find all the inspiration you need to speak in a persuasive fashion reaching deep inside yourself to those motions you feel as a result of knowing what the system is doing to me. Speak from there and people will feel the energy you radiate. Anybody who understands the general points about as well as my case through the following pieces. (My case profile/or Interview with Dee (an overview of my case)Justice Denied/contradicting Justice (Ruling in which Federal judge agrees the D.A racially discriminated against an African American potential juror in my case)The Care Package (story of what took place between the attorneys that failed to represent my legal interest)State Bar Grievance against Scott SullivanSo please read up on all these, they are all in my Myspace Blogs so you will be equipped with what they need to speak on my situation in a persuasive manner. How many of you have read either an article or book and walked away with enough understanding about what you just read to speak on it to a friend? Well that's the same way the above articles, or any of my pieces for that matter, should be approached. Keep in mind my case Profile (The Ongoing Investigation into …) this you will have to View all blogs and scroll down in my blogs to see that one) has subtitles constructed" which covers everything leading up to my trial, Next there's During Reginald's trial" which of course covers my trial and finally there's "On my appeals" which covers critical points in my appeal, These subtitles should make easy reference to any part of my case should you find yourself asked certain questions about my case you cant answer from memory. As for the contact Info if you can't put your own because of scheduling, it is always safe to put "Reginald's Wife Sandie, then put her email address (reggieblanton@hotmail.com).Please notify Sandie of any organizations you've contacted and what, if any their response was so she can keep everybody in our campaign on point and updated.This was a general breakdown of why the message was spoken in that fashion to give each one of you, as individual leaders in our cause the tools you need to win more people to our cause. In closing I leave you with the powerful words Of Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr: "Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Every step toward the goal of Justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle, the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals without persistent effort; time itself becomes primitive forces of irrational emotionalism and social destruction. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action"Everything I amOmari Huduma(The Highest Service)

Execution

Greg Wright was murdered by the state of Texas on October 30, 2008 despite a confession from his co-defendant, a passsed polygraph test, and DNA testing.