“We have a determined enemy who will accept us only on a master-slave basis. When I revolt, slavery dies with me. I refuse to pass it down again. The terms of my existence are founded on this.”
– George Jackson –
The conditions here on the Polunsky unit and Texas Death Row are worse than ever. Naomi Klein's idea of The Shock Doctrine comes to mind: oppressive minded people in positions of power utilize & exploit crisis situations in order to pursue & enact oppressive polices & engage in authoritarian & sadistic actions. A whole hell of a lot of this has been going on around here lately.
An hour ago the C.Os on the pod ran off for an emergency code red situation on another pod. Correctional staff generally never do anything in a hurry so when staff starting running there is a real serious situation that usually involves blood. Or a dead body. Or a partially dead body. Earlier today my neighbor went to a legal call & saw nurses wheeling a gurney over to 11 building as “he's unresponsive! He's unresponsive!” blared over the C.Os' radios.
The day before, on Saturday (5-1-2021), they dragged a dead body out of a cell on 11 building. A guy committed suicide by hanging himself. So there have been at least three suicides or suicide attempts in three days. We've been on full unit lockdown for 12 days (since 4-22) & the way things are going this may be the longest lockdown ever. They have had to stop shaking down 3 or 4 times already for Use of Force emergency SWAT team deployments.
This past year has been bad & things just seem to be getting worse & worse. Guys are being pushed over the edge – to the point where they no longer want to live. I am generally a very happy & quite zenned out person – & I will never be suicidal – but there have been days recently where I have felt like I just cannot stand being in this wretched environment another day. The thing that is bothering me most is this: the fact that no attorneys are willing to get involved in the fight to challenge these inhumane conditions. It's just sad. Very, very sad.