Here is a classic example about just how unfair the Texas justice system and TDCJ are.
I know a guy here who has an Atkins claim, which is based on retardation. I get along with this guy, but I won’t be using his name. I don’t like using people’s names if I can help it. I’ll use a nickname now and then, but anyway… Here we are in the middle of a quarantine and on lockdown, but the prosecution from this guy’s county – by way of, I am sure, a court order – came into this prison. He came into 12-Building and took photos of this man’s property to help show that if he has certain kinds of property, then he can’t be retarded, which is not at all how the standard works.
It isn’t what you have learned since you have been here that the courts use to evaluate and determine if one is or isn’t retarded. That was an old standard that even the courts decided, long ago, that evaluation starts from the time one is born until they reach 18. The courts have also made it clear that they cannot use one’s strengths against them. Such as, they cannot use people’s commissary list, owning a typewriter, being skilled in arts and crafts, and several other things. I really don’t know a lot about the Atkins claim, but, along with the Bobby Moore claim and ruling handed down by the Supreme Court, I do know that. So, they are the law of the land. But this isn’t about the Atkins claim, it is about how the courts and prosecutors are quick to use TDCJ for their needs, and TDCJ, being a pawn of the courts, think it is their job to help the State kill us once a new legal claim comes up, such as this guy’s retardation issue.
My point is, they will allow the prosecution to come into 12-Building and onto this unit while it is on quarantine, to have a man pulled out of his cell, so the prosecution can take photo evidence of the guy’s cell and personal property, including his family photos and personal letters. And, if there is anything the prosecution deems to be something they can use as “evidence”, they will take it. They have done this several times to different guys. But again, this isn’t about that, it is about how TDCJ will allow a prosecutor in this unit that is on quarantine: doing whatever they can to be as helpful as they can be to help kill us. They will even put everyone at risk by allowing someone who is not an employee of TDCJ, who could quite possibly bring the virus in and/or take it back out with them, come onto the unit. They will do what they can to help the prosecution kill us, even when it is not their business. The courts were clear that this “evidence” gathered by prosecutors cannot even be considered as evidence to evaluate a person’s mental retardation claims. And yet they still get to come in and do just that, take all the photos they wish and take whatever else they want.
However, when it comes to allowing my or other guys’ attorneys who are trying to fight for us to help save us, they flat out refuse; even though I would have zero contact with my legal team – I would have to visit them through a safety glass and speak to them on a phone – with absolutely zero chance of them infecting me or me them. They do not get to walk around the prison shaking hands, or bring in a camera to come to my cell and take photos. Yet they allow the prosecution to do this. Where is the fairness in that? Where is the fair play with this guy and his retarded claim? Or for any of us? It is as one-sided as it has always been from the time we are arrested to trial, to appeals. But here, they get the help of TDCJ to screw us over. And I am sure they will do all they can to screw this man over. I refuse to believe that his judge, who has made no bones about not liking this man and has ruled against him at every turn throughout his appeals, will see those photos and read the letters (if they took them for evidence too). This judge will see how this guy lives, and all the books and other things he may have, and he will use that against him in his ruling, even though he is not supposed to.
But to allow a prosecutor in here, but refuse me a legal visit, that is the double standard I am talking about. When it comes to us doing all we can to save our lives, they couldn’t care less. But when the prosecution asks to come into a prison that is on quarantine – where hundreds of inmates are sick – they swing the doors wide open. What the warden should have done was told them no, not during quarantine. But since these wardens are not leaders, and instead nothing more than followers, they quickly do whatever they can to help kill us.
There is nothing fair about this double standard.
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