(From: Peoples Tribune, Sept 1999) original at:
http://www.lrna.org/league/PT/PT.1999.09/PT.1999.09.10.html
James Heard 
| Writings By James Heard |
| Writings by James Heard from Dead Man Talking |
| James Heard - Penpal Request from Cellpalls |
I
am a prisoner on Death Row... There are over 500
of
us on Death Row at San Quentin, California . . .
I have compiled
this letter in an effort to communicate with all concerned parties, on
all levels. I am speaking for myself and many others on Death Row.
Our hopes are that we will be able to establish positive concerns with
the public. We would like to dispel the myths about incarcerated
people and create meaningful & friendly correspondence with whosoever
wishes to write us.
Many of us do
not have any family or significant others to support us,
or with whom
we can relate to.
The government
tries to instill hatred, distrust and indifference in the public
through the media. Very often, most people do not even think
about the
lonely and completely
abandoned persons behind bars... we are sort
of like;
·out of
sight, out of mind. Truthfully, we are real people with hopes, fears and
feelings. Yes, most of us have made grave mistakes and some are guilty...
However, contrary
to what the establishment would have the public believe,
some of us are
actually innocent!!
The bottom-line
is, we all are Human Beings!
In developing
channels of communication, by way of a Pen-Pal program,
you can help
to foster, encourage and promote the improvement of
incarcerated
individuals. Also, you can assist prisoners to maximize
self-realization,
enrich their lives and enhance life-fulfillment for all concerned.
PLEASE WRITE TO :
James M. Heard
P.O. BOX H-96500
San Ouentin State Prison
San Quentin, California
94974 U.S.A.
(From: Peoples Tribune, Sept 1999) original at:
http://www.lrna.org/league/PT/PT.1999.09/PT.1999.09.10.html
Incarceration is a cold, slow death
I am imprisoned on Death Row. I have had the unfortunate experience of
viewing broken and confused men firsthand. ... I fully realize what it
is like to
be disconnected from your family and your friends, to have your dreams
shattered.
The stories that you hear in prison about the judicial system and how it
functions are extremely disturbing. The public will never hear these accounts,
because the defendant usually has no means to reach society. Also, you
must
take into account the indifference that most people have to our desperate
situations! Unless you have been touched by the prison system in some way,
you can never know. A person who has been incarcerated (especially on
Death Row), becomes just another statistic... trapped in the system, alone
and indigent.
The prisons are full of talented people. More often than society is aware
of,
these persons are railroaded into prison by way of a seriously faulty legal
system. A person who is locked away in such a place has their humanity
slowly eaten away, day by day. Being locked in a cell erases your smile
and
your happiness is replaced with fear, sorrow and hatred. Where you once
were a warm and loving individual, you begin to see a sad shell of a person
with little or no hope.
Prisons are not designed to rehabilitate, they are no more than a zoo!
Made
to house people like animals ... often turning them into something other
than
humans.
Incarceration is a cold slow death that creeps into its victims from within
their bodies and minds ... and then eats away their souls.
James M. Heard
H-96500/5EB-86
San Quentin Death Row
San Quentin, California 94974
James Heard at San Quentin
| Writings By James Heard |
| Writings by James Heard from Dead Man Talking |
| James Heard - Penpal Request from Cellpalls |
