Death Row Roster
At the dog park this morning I was talking to one of my favorite people there who seems to have a heart as big as Florida. She was telling me that she is travelling to Starke, Florida today to get into a round robin of Christmas card writing. A group of people go up to Starke to sign Christmas cards for the death row inmates. Not sure how many of these 403 or so death row inmates are Christians but since John 3:16 is a favorite passage of those on death row, I suppose that there have been many inmates who find Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha or whatever God or Gods that they need to get through each day.
My friend from the dog park has two pen pals at the prison both of whom I believe are on death row. She does not want to know their crimes nor their victims. Kind of bothers me as that would be the first thing I would want to know but I suppose we all have our hobbies. Strange that God would put me and her on the same path so to speak. I have never talked with her about my own work for survivors/victims of crimes as I go to the dog park for the dog and not for the people. It is the dog's paradise, not mine.
Many of you probably know that I had a teacher in high school Barbara Mitchell whose daughter Michelle Mitchell was murdered on my birthday of 2-24 in 1976 in Reno, Nevada. This was while I was in this teacher's remedial English class. This started me on my own journey of trying to improve access to practical materials for survivors of crimes in libraries which began in that late February of 1976. I got two BAs from the University of Nevada, Reno (Philosophy and History), a MA in Librarianship and Information Management from the University of Denver and a JD from the University of Minnesota to try to give myself some credibility in this struggle.
Not sure if I could write a Christmas card to say Michelle Mitchell's killers wherever they happen to be. Have not really kept tabs on the people from that time of my life. It has been more about actually doing something for people who might become survivors and/or victims of crimes in the future.
Curious about others feelings about people on death row and those good hearted people who want to help them out?
I did have a prison pen pal for a year or so who was from a Nevada prison in the period around 1977-1978. I just wanted to get a peak into how an inmate views the world. He did not want to talk about his victims all that much. I seem to remember that he was in for burglary or some other kind of property crime. He got very upset with me when I was trying to discuss the Philosophy of Religion with him and stopped writing. Too much David Hume reading on my part.
I had been involved with Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoners while a law student mainly because it was a very practical program that taught law students how to draft filings, interact with clients, etc. You have to learn how to be very objective about things when in law school even if you happen to be passionate about something that clashes with other aspects of your life.