The Death Row Book Club
March 29, 2018 12:56 PM Subscribe
Anthony Ray Hinton was released in 2015 after serving 30 years for a crime he did not commit. During his time on death row he created a book club for death row inmates where books had never been allowed before.
agreed. to deny books to those inmates seems beyond cruel. our penal system is like something designed by Kafka :(
posted by supermedusa at 2:12 PM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 2:12 PM on March 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
When New York State announced last year that inmates were only going to be able to get (mostly shitty) books from a single (really shitty) vendor it raised some of the swiftest outrage and lead to one of the quickest reversals I've seen of a prison policy. That heartened me, because apparently people still do believe in rehabilitation and self-improvement a little bit. But I didn't realize that policies like that were already out there, un-remarked-upon.
posted by atoxyl at 2:17 PM on March 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by atoxyl at 2:17 PM on March 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
(Or I guess it was a short list of six vendors - but the key was you couldn't just send people books anymore)
posted by atoxyl at 2:23 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by atoxyl at 2:23 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
I am glad he did some good with his time but this makes me really mad!
EJI attorneys engaged three of the nation’s top firearms examiners who testified in 2002 that the revolver could not be matched to crime evidence. State prosecutors never questioned the new findings but nonetheless refused to re-examine the case or concede error.
After 12 more years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the lower courts, and a new trial was granted. The judge finally dismissed the charges after prosecutors said that scientists at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences tested the evidence and confirmed that the crime bullets cannot be matched to the Hinton weapon.
It took 12 frigging year after presenting the evidence! Our justice system sucks!
posted by KaizenSoze at 2:47 PM on March 29, 2018 [3 favorites]
EJI attorneys engaged three of the nation’s top firearms examiners who testified in 2002 that the revolver could not be matched to crime evidence. State prosecutors never questioned the new findings but nonetheless refused to re-examine the case or concede error.
After 12 more years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the lower courts, and a new trial was granted. The judge finally dismissed the charges after prosecutors said that scientists at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences tested the evidence and confirmed that the crime bullets cannot be matched to the Hinton weapon.
It took 12 frigging year after presenting the evidence! Our justice system sucks!
posted by KaizenSoze at 2:47 PM on March 29, 2018 [3 favorites]
Thirty years. I can't even.
posted by 4ster at 6:26 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by 4ster at 6:26 PM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
This was very moving, I hope he finds the happiness the world owes him. Though by his actions inside prison, he sounds like someone who can find meaning wherever he is.
posted by ipsative at 2:21 PM on March 30, 2018
posted by ipsative at 2:21 PM on March 30, 2018
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posted by Thorzdad at 2:10 PM on March 29, 2018 [11 favorites]