US - Connecticut - Despite ruling abolishing the death penalty, inmates still being housed on death row

Daily Reporter
Hartford, Connecticut — Former death-row inmates in Connecticut may soon be living under less restrictive prison conditions than other inmates convicted of similar crimes, legal experts say.

American Death Row

Connecticut's Supreme Court last month declared capital punishment unconstitutional in the state, striking down part of a 2012 law that had allowed the death penalty only for those already facing execution.

That statute replaced what had been known as "capital felony" with a new crime, "murder with special circumstances." Under the new law, anyone who is convicted of what would have previously been a death-penalty eligible crime is now sentenced to life in prison under conditions mimicking death row.

That means being held in single cell for 22 hours a day, being escorted by at least one staff member and placed in restraints when moving outside that cell. Of the two hours considered "recreation," one would typically be spent indoors, in an area that houses a law library and a phone. The other would be spent alone in a cage outside in a courtyard. There would be no physical contact with other inmates.

Ironically, the 11 inmates currently housed on death row may soon be escaping those conditions.

Those inmates must now be re-sentenced to life without parole under the old capital felony statue, which existed when they were convicted, their attorneys say.

Though the Correction Department has leeway in the conditions imposed on individual inmates, someone sentenced to life without parole under the old statute was typically placed in the general population and allowed to be out of a cell six to seven hours a day with other inmates. They also have access to the prison commissary and gym.

"At some point, the death-row inmates are going to be let into general population," said attorney Mark Rademacher, who successfully argued for the abolishment of capital punishment as the attorney for Eduardo Santiago and currently represents death-row inmate Russell Peeler Jr. "I don't see how the state could oppose that."

So far, none of the death-row inmates has been moved, said Department of Correction spokeswoman Karen Martucci.

"Nothing has changed with the management of the death-row population since their sentence has not been legally changed by a court," she wrote in an email to The Associated Press. "I really couldn't predict when any court action will take place."

The process has been delayed, in part, because prosecutors have asked the court to reconsider the August ruling that declared capital punishment unconstitutional.

The chief state's attorney's office, citing that pending litigation, declined to comment for this story.

Michael Courtney, who heads the capital defense unit for the state's Office of the Public Defender, said the high court typically does not grant motions to reconsider, but the legal maneuver could lead to further delays in abolishing death row.

"I guess (prosecutors) feel like they have to keep swinging," he said. "They have the procedural mechanism to delay this, and they have used it."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut is also monitoring the proceedings.

ACLU attorney David McGuire said the Correction Department already has the authority to decide where the former death-row inmates belong based on factors such as their age, mental health, disciplinary record while in prison and the security risk they present.

It is possible that some will remain at the Northern Correctional Institution under the state's tightest security, known as level five, while others are sent to other prisons as level four inmates or even to medical units, he said.

"All of those are very restrictive environments," he said. "These are not luxurious settings."

Death Penalty - Two prisoners removed from death row in Malawi

The Death Penalty Project
After many years of delay, the Courts in Malawi have been conducting sentencing hearings in the cases of prisoners who received mandatory death sentences prior to the landmark case of Kafantayeni and others v The Attorney General of Malawi striking down the mandatory death penalty.

Since February 2015, the courts have heard 29 cases of the 192 prisoners now entitled to re-sentencing hearings. These prisoners had already been commuted to life imprisonment but were still entitled to have their case considered based on their individual circumstances. 12 of these prisoners have been released and five others have received determinate sentences.

The first two cases for prisoners who remained on death row were decided on 27th April 2015. Aron John and Tony Thobowa‘s death sentences were set aside and each was re-sentenced to 24 years imprisonment (from the date of their arrest) after the judge took into account the 12 years they have spent on death row and other mitigating evidence, which included a psychiatric report and character witness evidence. Both defendants have behaved well in prison and if this continues they will benefit from a one-third remission of their sentence, meaning they are likely to be released in four years’ time.
Emile Carreau, a volunteer lawyer from Australia, said, “I visited Tony and Aron the day after judgment and both were in good spirits. They have already asked the prison officers to place them in the agriculture programme, which will allow them to go outside and farm maize and other crops on land next to the prison. They said they are looking forward to it because they have not been outside the prison uncuffed since being sent there in 2003.”

The High Court accepted the submissions made on behalf of the two individuals, namely, that they had remained on death row for some 12 years and it would be cruel and inhuman to execute a condemned person who had remained under sentence of death for such a protracted period. The Court also recognised the serious implications of the loss of their case files by the Court Registry and accepted that leniency should be provided in similar cases.

Saul Lehrfreund, co-executive director of The Death Penalty Project said, “The outcome of this case is extremely encouraging. The courts in Malawi have recognised that the death sentence cannot be carried out where there is a clear violation of international human rights principles. To go from more than a decade on death row to potential release in 4 years time is a huge step and is a testament to the many individuals and groups who have been assisting prisoners such as Tony Thobowa and Aron John for many years.”

Japan: 129 inmates remain on death row

Japan Today
Tokyo — Japan’s prisons had 129 inmates on death row as of Dec 26, according to a Justice Ministry report.

The ministry said that there were three executions in June and August, while five death-row inmates died of illnesses, including a 92-year-old man, TV Asahi reported Sunday.

A man believed to be the world’s longest-serving death row inmate, Iwao Hakamada, 78, was freed in March after the Shizuoka District Court ordered a fresh trial over the grisly 1966 murder of his boss and the man’s family.

Human rights group Amnesty International has criticized Japan’s use of capital punishment for being “shrouded in secrecy.”

Japan and the United States are the only major industrialised democracies to carry out capital punishment, a practice that has led to repeated protests from European governments and human rights groups.

International advocacy groups say the Japanese system is cruel because death row inmates can wait for their executions for many years in solitary confinement and are only told of their impending death a few hours ahead of time.

Change of president means unsettling time for Indonesia's death row prisoners

The Age
On October 20, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will step down as President of Indonesia after two five-year terms, and Joko Widodo will be inaugurated. What will be the potential impact of the change of Presidency on those prisoners on death row in Indonesia, which include Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran?

Mr Yudhoyono has a mixed record on the death penalty. Under his 10-year presidency, 14 prisoners were executed for premeditated murder, three for terrorist offences, and four for drug trafficking. However, executions by the state declined notably in his second term with no prisoner executed between 2009 and 2012, in part because of domestic concern over the fate of Indonesian domestic workers sentenced to death abroad.

Around 140 people remain on death row in Indonesia. Thirty to 40 of these prisoners have exhausted all options of appeal. Their fate rests solely with the Attorney-General's Office, which bears the responsibility for carrying out executions, though possibly with the president's tacit consent.

For another forty or so prisoners who have had no luck overturning their death sentences in the courts, the final option to avoid the firing squad is presidential clemency: the power of the president under the Indonesian Constitution and the 2010 Clemency Law to reduce a death sentence to life imprisonment.

Over the last weeks of his presidency, Yudhoyono has faced up to 40 clemency petitions from prisoners on death row, and hundreds or even thousands of petitions from non-death row prisoners seeking to reduce the length of their prison sentences.

Unless they have already been decided on, Chan's and Sukumaran's mercy petitions will be among those sitting on the president's desk. What will happen to these petitions as Mr Yudhoyono leaves office and the Widodo administration steps in?

Four possibilities exist.

First, Mr Yudhoyono could grant all of the clemency petitions put before him. Death row prisoners and their relatives will hope Mr Yudhoyono authorises a mass grant of clemency, as has frequently occurred in the United States,, where State Governors have pardoned numerous prisoners upon leaving office, reasoning there is no political cost in doing so.

With the speculation that Mr Yudhoyono plans to pursue a career at the United Nations, a mass commutation of death sentences would be well received, given a majority of UN member states have now abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. This option could see Chan and Sukumaran spared from the firing squad, though they would still face a life sentence.

The second option is that Mr Yudhoyono grants some petitions and rejects others. There is a precedent since, in October 2012, the president granted 19 of 128 clemency petitions (including four death sentence reductions) for drug trafficking cases between 2004 and 2011.

The decisions here could be made on the basis of humanitarian considerations such as good behaviour in prison, expressed remorse, or sufficient time already spent on death row, as well as political considerations such as relations with foreign states. Notably, the Governor of Bali's Kerokoban Prison has already expressed support for Chan's and Sukumaran's appeals for clemency due to their good behaviour. However the Indonesian Supreme Court, which has a formal role in giving advice to the president on clemency, reportedly does not support Chan's petition.

The third alternative is that Mr Yudhoyono rejects all pending petitions. Chan and Sukumaran, plus the many other prisoners affected, would have to consider any remaining legal options to avoid execution, including constitutional challenges. An impending execution could be challenged based on the cruelty of excessive time spent on death row, a new one-year deadline for clemency petitions impeding an effective legal defence, or even Mr Yudhoyono's own tardiness in responding to the petitions (Chan's and Sukumaran's mercy pleas should have been decided on by the president more than 18 months ago, according to time-limits set by the 2010 clemency law).

Finally, if he does not want to make a decision, Mr Yudhoyono could simply pass off the pending clemency requests to the new president. In the end, this may be the most likely outcome, as it will save Mr Yudhoyono from dealing with any political fallout.

The Widodo administration isn't likely to be as punitive as a Prabowo Subianto Presidency would have been (while campaigning, Mr Subianto stated that he was in favour of sentencing rapists and corrupt officials to death), yet the immediate abolition of the death penalty is still unlikely. Indonesia's public, government and religious institutions favour retention. Mr Widodo's treatment of clemency petitions is as yet unknown, but the longer they remain unanswered, political and legal pressure will build on the new president to dispose of the petitions by either rejecting or granting them.

Daniel Pascoe 

Assistant professor at the School of Law, the City University of Hong Kong.

USA - Florida: cappellano “death row”, condizioni “medievali”

ONUItalia.com
New York - Chiusi in “gabbie” due metri per tre, senza aria condizionata quando d’estate la colonnina di mercurio sale “a livelli astronomici”: sono le condizioni “quasi medievali” dei 412 prigionieri nel braccio della morte della Florida.”La nostra prima preoccupazione e’ il calore. Sentiamo di detenuti che non ce la fanno, che chiedono ‘basta con i ricorsi, ammazzatemi’”, ha detto alla rivista dei gesuiti Usa America Dale S. Recinella, avvocato e cappellano laico cattolico nella seconda “death row” per numero di occupanti degli Stati Uniti.

“85 per cento delle esecuzioni degli ultmi 37 anni, da quando la Corte Suprema ha ripristinato la pena capitale, sono state in Stati del Sud, gli stati della Confederazione e dello schiavismo”, ha aggiunto Recinella. Una considerazione dalle profonde implicazioni culturali da cui il cappellano, nell’intervista, non trae esplicitamente le logiche conclusioni, che la pena di morte discrimina sproporzionatamente sulla base del colore della pelle.

A poche settimane dal via all’Onu del dibattito sulla moratoria delle esecuzioni, una priorita’ della politica estera dell’Italia, negli Stati Uniti e’ in atto una riflessione sulla pena di morte soprattutto dopo una serie di esecuzioni “mal riuscite” dall’inizio dell’anno, l’ultima qualche giorno fa in Arizona. “Il fatto e’ che questi sono esseri umani che noi chiudiamo in gabbia fino al momento di ucciderli”, ha detto Recinella: “Abbiamo gente di tutte le eta’, alcuni piu’ giovani dei miei figli, altri dell’eta’ di mio padre, messi sotto il controllo dello stato e che non possono piu’ nuocere a nessuno. 

E tuttavia, un giorno o l’altro, li uccideremo. Questa realta’ pesa su ogni singola visita in cella ed e’ snervante per tutti: i prigionieri, i loro consiglieri spiirituali, la gente che lavora nel carcere. Dio non ci fa sentire buoni perche’ siamo parte della macchina della morte”.

Recinella e la moglie Susan, una psicologa, passano lunghe settimane con i condannati in attesa di esecuzione: “Quando il mandato e’ firmato, il prigioniero e’ spostato dal normale braccio della morte all’ala del carcere piu’ vicina al lettino dell’iniezione letale. 

Questo succede cinque o sei settimane prima della data della morte, ed e’ quando la famiglia comincia ad arrivare per dare gli ultimi saluti. Il condannato puo’ anche scegliere a quel punto il consigliere spirituale che lo assisterà’ negli ultimi giorni e che sara’ con lui dall’altra parte della finestra quando muore. Preparare qualcuno a morire: e’ diverso dell’aiuto che si da’ ai malati terminali, perche’ una malattia letale e’ un processo naturale. Qui si tratta di aiutare un individuo sano a prepararsi ad essere ucciso da un altro essere umano, ed e’ un processo molto, molto dark”.
Alessandra Baldini

Tanzania - Death Row Inmates Keep Increasing - The inmates on death row live in agony and despair

Daily News
Lack of proper procedures to handle inmates on death row in the country is weighing heavily on the Prisons Department budget and adding to the problem of congestion.The inmates who are waiting to be executed live in agony and despair of not knowing when the hangman will arrive, as a result if their demands are not met, they go on riot, placing the lives of those guarding them and other prisoners in danger.

He said the inmates who go into riots do not care about the implication of their actions since they have nothing to lose.

In his presentation on Overview of Tanzania Prison Services, positive development, challenges and prospects in management of prisoners under death sentence, Prison Officer Mr Dominic Mshana said the delays in execution of the inmates have resulted in unnecessary congestion in the prison cells since they cannot be mixed with the other prisoners.

He explained that the last execution took place in 1994, adding that those waiting to be executed live in agony, resulting in agitations and inmates making demands that if not met, riots would erupt in prisons.

Mr Mshana said the increasing number of inmates on death row is also weighing heavily on the prisons finances since they are not allocated any budget for their upkeep.

The Prison Officer was making his presentation in a two-day training workshop for Tanzania Prison Service that ends today, with the theme 'managing prisoners on death row: International Human Rights Standard.'

In his key note address the Executive Director of Inmates Rehabilitation and Welfare Services Tanzania (IRaWS-T), Deputy Commissioner (retired) John Nyoka said currently death row prison cells hold three inmates instead of the required one.

He said the whole concept of rehabilitation of prisoners is being compromised by the death penalty, stressing that inmates on death row cannot be rehabilitated as they await their execution.

He added that the constitution should be specific on what life sentence imprisonment is, stressing that this should substitute the death penalty or those condemned to death.

On overcrowding the retired deputy commissioner said despite initiatives efforts by justices organs aimed to address the problem, congestion still exists.

Among measures taken to address congestion in prisons include presidential pardons, community services, parole system, extra mural labour, case flow management committee and fines as an alternative for sentence to prisoners.

The Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) Executive Director, Dr Hellen Kijo- Bisimba, said after the workshop feedback reports will be forwarded to policy makers and the constituent assembly which is currently reviewing the second draft constitution in Dodoma.

Dr Kijo-Bisimba said the issue of death penality was not included in the first draft of the new constitution and neither is it in the second draft currently under discussion in the CA assembly.

According to an LHRC report of 2011 prisoners on death row are 295 men and 11 women by December 2010, with the method of execution noted as hanging.

The country still retains the death penalty as one of the punishments under the Penal Code and the National Defense Act.

There are three offences punishable by the death sentence which are murder, treason and misconduct of commanders or any military service man in the presence of an enemy.
By Rose Athumani