CORRECTIONAL CODE OF SILENCE

Here we go again. Another "expert" on the horrors of the death penalty is weighing in from an unusual perspective. Ron McAndrew is described by the Houston Chonicle as "the former warden of three Florida state prisons and an expert in prison and jail issues throughout the South." Yesterday, he had an op-ed piece in the Chronicle in which he complained that a code of silence among correctional officers is keeping those awaiting execution from receiving a fair clemency hearing.

McAndrew claims that correctional officers throughout the country are afraid to break a code of silence that prevents them from speaking up in favor of death row inmates at clemency hearings, fearing that to do so would get them fired or even beat up by fellow officers. He alleges that the code is enforced by correctional supervisors and "employers."

McAndrew's op-ed piece zeroed in on Willie Earl Pondexter who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3, 2009. McAndrew wrote that one "courageous" officer came forward and reported that "Pondexter is not a danger to anyone, stays calm even in challenging situations, does everything that is asked of him and 'could safely live out his days in a structured environment.'" In other words, according to McAndrew's "expertise," Pondexter has been "rehabilitated" and is no longer a threat to anyone, thus deserving of clemency.

Before going any further, here is the Texas Attorney General's description of Pondexter's crime: On Oct. 28, 1993, Pondexter and four other men discussed robbing Martha Lennox, an elderly woman. All five men went to Lennox’s Clarksville home. One of the men left the group, and the other four proceeded, with Pondexter kicking in the front door to Lennox’s home. The four men entered Lennox’s bedroom, where the 85-year-old Lennox was sitting on the bed. After taking Lennox’s money, James Henderson, one of the men, shot the woman in the head, then handed the gun to Pondexter, who also shot Lennox in the head. Henderson and Pondexter were tried separately, and both men were sentenced to death for the robbery and slaying of Lennox.

Rehabilitated my ass! All Pondexter has done is learned how to do his time: (1) "Hold your mud." (2) Don't give officers any shit. (3) Don't associate with troublemakers. (4) When the shit hits the fan, don't get involved - stay way back and enjoy all the head-knocking and ass-kicking as it takes place.

I have always maintained that prisons do not rehabilitate anyone (PRISONS CANNOT REHABILITATE CRIMINALS [11-28-07]) because, unlike society in the free world, prisons are "a highly structured institutional society." Many inmates can do their time and appear to be model prisoners, but when they re-enter the free world, it's often back to the old ways that got them into prison in the first place. The same may hold true for model death row inmates when they are transferred out to a less structured environment within the prison system.

McAndrew contends that death row officers get to know the condemned better than anyone else and are well qualified to judge whether or not they have been "rehabilitated." What utter nonesense! While on duty, correctional officers are imprisoned every bit as much as their charges. In fact, they are really held hostage by the inmates. Thus, the "Stockholm Syndrome" (a psychological response sometimes seen in abducted hostages, in which the hostage disregards his victimization and shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker) could come into play.

Pondexter, who insists that he did not kill Martha Lennox, has been on death row for about 15 years. During that time numerous appeals on his behalf have been heard by the courts. If there is, as Ron McAndrew claims, an enforced code of silence, could it be that the prison administration is merely trying to protect correctional officers from making fools of themselves because they are not actually qualified to give a clinical prognosis based solely on a long-time personal relationship within the very strictest of structured institutional settings?