Texas death row inmates can keep these items in their cells: - Miscellaneous: radios, fans, hot pots, typewriters, religious and legal materials, mail, art supplies, and books - Games: chess and checkers boards; inmates can play by numbering the positions on the boards and shouting their moves to each other
No one could reasonably argue that being on Death Row is about hospitality. Of course, if you had to spend 23 hours out of every 24 in a 6 1/2’ x 10’ cell, you’d probably be looking for some diversion.
The question, though, is why the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) feels it necessary to necessary to deny television to Death Row inmates. Of the 38 states that currently employ the death penalty, Texas is the only one that denies Death Row inmates access to television.
There are two schools of thought at work in this debate, both of which have merit. The question, at least from where I sit, has more to do with what kind of a society we want to be than with whether or not inmates get their MTV.
(In the interest of fair warning here, I should disclose that I am virulently anti-death penalty. For the purposes of this argument though, my opinion on the death penalty is really neither here nor there. I just though I’d disclose my bias right up front.)
There are those in Texas, and there numbers are not small, who feel that anyone convicted of a crime heinous enough to land one on Death Row deserves to be wedged into a shoebox until their appointed date with Death.
The lack of TV viewing time is just fine with victims’ rights activists.
“Convicted felons lose certain rights and privileges, and even more so for death row inmates,” said Andy Kahan, victims’ rights advocate for the city of Houston. “The pain, misery and grief that death row inmates have caused, committing some of the worst crimes known to mankind, should not be rewarded.”
Kahan suggests that the inmates take out Book of the Month Club memberships and be required to write monthly book reports.
Dianne Clements of the group Justice For All adds that death row’s configuration would require putting TV sets in individual cells.
That, she says, would provide another hiding place for contraband and a source for makeshift weapons. On Aug. 18, condemned murderer Jorge Salinas stabbed a prison guard 13 times with a metal rod from a typewriter. The guard was not seriously injured.
Yes, I suppose it is true that there would be a certain risk factor involved, but in a prison, one finds risk in all sorts of unexpected places. Ingenious prisoners with too much time on their hands can fashion a weapon out of items you and I would never imagine. It’s simply the nature of the beast. Having worked in a military prison myself, you learn quickly that virtually ANYTHING can become a weapon.
Even with this risk in mind, 37 other states have managed to devise a system that allows inmates access to television. You’d think that TCDJ would be at least as capable of the same thing.
The flip side of this argument is that television can be, and is in many states, used as a means of rewarding good behavior. For those of you who didn’t sleep through your college lectures on behavior modification, it’s a pretty simple concept: you screw up, you lose your TV priviliges.
Another supporter of TV on death row is Chase Riveland, the former director of the state prison systems in Washington and Colorado. He says some degree of access to television can be an important tool for keeping prisoners in line.
“In most jurisdictions, in order to have a television, an inmate has to have a good disciplinary record,” said Riveland, now a consultant who has 36 years of correctional experience.
“If the inmates know they’re going to lose their television if they misbehave, they’re going to be very cautious about it, especially if they’re in a lockdown situation (as in Texas), because that’s their only real connection with the real world.”
Riveland added that, in most other states, inmates’ families pay for the TV sets.
“I can’t even fathom why one wouldn’t want to use such an inexpensive tool,” he said.
He also suggests that the use of televisions on death row might actually ensure that inmates are mentally fit to be executed.
If kept in isolation, he said, “the odds of inmates becoming mentally ill are greatly enhanced.”
“That, of course, then leads to all types of challenges against whether you can execute them,” Riveland said. “And so, by not having televisions or other means of keeping them mentally alert, it may add to the taxpayer drain through additional litigation.”
Indeed, lost in this argument is the impact of keeping a person in isolation for 23/24 of their life on their mental health. If a person’s mental state is adversely impacted by their isolation, do they then have an argument against their execution due to diminished mental capacity?
It would seem that Texas could do a good deal to allay it’s reputation as the express lane to the execution chamber by exercising a bit of compassion in this matter. And it could do so at a relatively small cost. There is no reason that the state should be required to provide televisions to Death Row inmates, but if an inmate wants one, and he or his family can provide it, what does the state lose?
Think about it; every minute an inmate spends watching “Days of Our Lives” is probably one less minute that same inmate is plotting some sort of mayhem. Of course, if TDCJ really wanted to develop a reputation for creative and yet inhumane punishment, it could actually FORCE inmates to watch television. Rather than losing library or interview privileges, for example, why not force an inmate to watch eight non-stop hours of The Disney Channel? Talk about cruel and unusual punishment….
I’m not saying that we owe it to ourselves as a society to make the lives of Death Row inmates easier or more pleasant. Even so, I fail to see how denying inmates access to television accomplishes anything useful. If mothers can sit their children in front of a television and use it as a surrogate babysitter, why can’t TDCJ do the same thing?
