Orange Ribbon
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There are many things worth living for, there are a few things worth dying for, but there is nothing worth killing for.
Female
25 years old
United Kingdom
Last Login: 10/31/2008
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tired
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This is a pen pal site for prisoners seeking mail and in search of a caring and compassionate pal. Our goal is to give prisoners the link they need to the outside world so that they may build a bond. Throughout this site you will find personal ads of men and women. Some only have a few years left on their sentence, others are doing life or are even on death row.
Some have displayed art work, crafts and poetry. These inmates are just looking for someone to link them to the outside world, a pen pal, a friend, a partner, or legal help.
Everyone needs someone. Even though they have been found guilty of committing a crime, they still need someone to extend a hand and hopefully give them the positive support they need to make a change.
A simple act of kindness could change a life. This site is totally free to you. Please help them build a bond today! Come on in and look around, there are personal ads, art, poetry and information. Pick a few and change a life today..
The word “DRIVE” can be defined in various ways and each definition can refer to various actions or states of being:
“to urge in some direction,” “to compel,” “to direct the movement or course of,” “the progress with a strong momentum,”
“an offensive or defensive move,” “an organized campaign,”
“motivation,” “energy,”
“The state of exercising one’s will to succeed.”
These definitions, along with the meaning of each letter of the acronym, exemplify the modus operandi and essence of DRIVE.
We seek to unite the Death Row Community to bring about change for everyone caged here. Due to the ever worsening deplorable environment of Texas Death Row we have no choice but to push forward and initiate change in the conditions.
Through DRIVE we have organized a group of passionate prisoner activists who have put aside all minor barriers of ethnicity, creed, color and beliefs, to focus on the injustices forced upon us by this system. By means of inner-resistance, organizing, outer petitions drives, protests and direct actions,
we will solidify our stance and remain relentless in the fight against oppression!
Until Humanitarian conditions are implemented and Freedom and true Justice is achieved, DRIVE will continue to be an uncompromising force in the Struggle!
Sister Helen Prejean was born on April 21, 1939, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille in 1957 and received a B.A. in English and Education from St. Mary's Dominican College, New Orleans in 1962. In 1973, she earned an M.A. in Religious Education from St. Paul's University in Ottawa, Canada. She has been the Religious Education Director at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in New Orleans, the Formation Director for her religious community, and has taught junior and senior high school students.
Sister Helen began her prison ministry in 1981 when she dedicated her life to the poor of New Orleans. While living in the St. Thomas housing project, she became pen pals with Patrick Sonnier, the convicted killer of two teenagers, sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana's Angola State Prison.
The Innocence Project is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.
Young Lawyers dedicated to fair Death Penalty Trials.
This site is dedicated to anyone who has been falsely accused of abuse, in whichever disguise it takes. Primarily concerned with false allegations of sexual abuse against children, it was soon to be updated, to cover the concerns of people accused of any type of false sexual allegations.
In order to better serve those people that need help, earlier this year PAFAA and SOFAP combined their respective strategies. This has led to a more coherent effort from all concerned when offering help to the people that need it most, those who find themselves falsely accused and convicted, and in a lot of cases, incarcerated for a non existant crime.
FedCURE is the world's leading advocate for America's, ever growing, federal inmate population. On behalf of the Board of Directors, we would like to extend an invitation to each of you to join us in our efforts to reform the federal criminal justice system in the United States. Federal CURE, Incorporated is a nonprofit organization that, inter alia, deals largely with the issues faced by federal inmates and their loved ones.
The IQRA Trust Prisoner Welfare was set up in 1993 to support the educational and training needs of imams and prisoners.
The IQRA Trust organised a series of prison imam training days between 1997 and 1999 in collaberation with the HM Prison Service Chaplincy. Following the appointment of the Muslim Adviser in 1999 the prison work of the Trust became focused on the educational and rehabilitation needs of prisoners.
Offenders & Victims, Children and the
Prison Reform Community. Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety
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Orange Ribbon's Details
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| Status: | Married | | Here for: | Friends | | Orientation: | Straight | | Body type: | My body is a temple | | Zodiac Sign: | Cancer | | Children: | Proud parent |
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Orange Ribbon tired.... tired tired.... Posted at 11:43 AM Apr 28, 2008
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Orange Ribbon's Latest Blog Entry
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Pending Executions (As of 6th September 2008)
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Kenneth Foster JR
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All about me and Orange Ribbon
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Abolition UK
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Pending Executions (14th May 2008)
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Orange Ribbon's Blurbs |
About me:
QUOTES...
People don’t consider us [my family] as individuals anymore. ... The press wanted to know if we were reared in the projects. Were we beaten? Were we drug addicts? During the trial, they treated us like
we were all murderers.
Martina Correia.
Saying good-bye to your child is the most painful thing that any mother could ever do. It left me with a knot in my heart that has never left. I will never recover.
Jane Barnabei, whose son was executed in Virginia, Cherry Hill Courier Post, 2/5/2005.
The death penalty is disgusting, particularly if it condemns an innocent. But it remains an injustice even when it falls on someone who is guilty of a crime.
Giuliano Amato, Prime Minister of Italy, 9/14/2000
He's the world champion executioner. He is a horrible symbol of your mania for the death penalty.
Robert Badinter, former French Justice Minister, about former Texas Governor George W. Bush.
The death penalty never solves anything. You should stand for your principles. If you're against it, you're against it.
Thomas Brinkman Jr., Representative (R-Cincinnati), Columbus Dispatch, 6/18/2002
The death penalty is immoral, inefficient and unproductive. It costs far less to lock these violent offenders for life than it does to weave through appeals and pay for them. It makes economic, social and moral sense to not have the death penalty on the books.
David Haley, Kansas Senator, The Kansas City Kensan, 12/16/2005.
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
Mahatma Ghandi.
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| Death Row |
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Kenneth was born in Austin, Texas on October 22, 1976. He moved to live with his grandparents in San Antonio, Texas when he was four. Kenneth attended high school at John Marshall where he graduated in 1995. During his high school years, Kenneth pursued an interest in the music industry. He worked with such record companies such as: Eternal Life Productions, Mystic Records, and Dad's House Recording Studios. With the views of wanting to help young people like himself, he immediately attended St. Phillips College in the fall of 1995 and majored in Sociology to become a social worker. With hard work and initiative, Kenneth started his own business, Tribulation Records, in May of 1996 at the age of 19.
On August 15, 1996, Kenneth was arrested with three others for an alleged participation in a robbery/slaying of a young man. On May 5, 1997, Kenneth was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die by lethal injection.
EVIDENCE SHOWS that Kenneth's guilt mainly came down to just being at the scene of the crime, for he was not the shooter. The actual shooter plead a case of self-defence. Even the most extensive safeguards against miscarriages of justice produce an infallible legal system. False testimony, mistaken identification, community prejudices and pressures may effect both verdict and sentencing and as in this case, MISINTERPRETATION OF EVIDENCE. An attorney's error of judgment, a prosecutor's misconduct, delayed access to or withholding of evidence may also result in the execution of an INNOCENT PERSON!
In December of 2000, at the age of 22, I was charged with capital murder of a police officer.
After a ridiculously unfair trial I was sentenced to death by a Harris County (Houston) judge and sent to death row. I am completely innocent and I am sure anyone who takes the time to look into my case will come to that same conclusion.
A few quick facts about my case: I was handcuffed when the shooting occurred. The officer radio logs confirm this fact. The actual shooter, who is the son of a well-known and well-connected police officer, has confessed to the crime numerous times. Various scientific evidence points to my innocence as well. I had court-appointed lawyers so, of course, this evidence was not used or not used properly at my trial.
My dad was murdered when I was younger, and I don’t have any other family to help me with anything. The way the Texas appeals are now handled I may only have 1 to 2 years left to live if I don’t get some help soon. My main appeal has already been denied, so my time is running very short. Plus, my case is being pushed through especially fast.
When my dad died a part of me died with him. I have a beautiful son and I don’t want him to go through the same terrible pain of losing his father. If anyone can offer any help at all please contact me. You can send an email to me, which will be forwarded using the contact info box within this site. I especially need legal and fundraising help.
Here’s a little more about myself: I am 28 years old, 6ft. 2 in. in height, and about 200 lbs. I have dark-green/blue-grey eyes and blonde hair. I am totally addicted to reading and the subject matter varies: Classic Literature, History, Symbology, Psychology, Adventure, Philosophy, Socio-politics, Mythology, etc. I read everyone from Nietzsche to Anne Rice. I also absolutely love music, art, and nature.
Right now, I am on the disciplinary pod for actively organizing and protesting the oppressive conditions we live under. I’ve been tear-gassed, beat down, and put on every type of restriction available.
They’ve tried every tactic known but I’m still fighting for prisoner rights. I strongly believe that inaction is the face of injustice in direct consent.
Have you ever been in a situation where everything spins out of control? Have you been there, watching events move by, unable to find any kind of break, screaming “STOP!” at the top of your lungs… Yet nothing slows, nothing stops… and your life is taken completely out of your hands, flipped upside down, and kept dangled in front of you, just out of reach? Imagine…
You’re sitting there at a vegetarian kiosk in northern California. You’ve spent the last several weeks squatting, hitchhiking, protesting, kicking it with some good, radical, free-thinking people. You’re taking a small break, heading down to San Francisco to see what’s up with the city life before getting back into the forest to continue the fight against the logging industry. An old friend is there, and you reminisce about some old people in an old place.
Then, all of a sudden, you’re approached by a police officer. They know you name and it unnerves you, so you give them a false one. You’re searched, and they check out your tattoos. The three roses and vibrant green vines trailing down your arm gives up the game. You’re placed in handcuffs, driven to a gulag, and subjected to various indignities before being locked into a small concrete box with nothing but a steel slab attached to the wall and a busted toilet. Despite the various colored activities of your past, this is your first time in a jail cell. You’re cold, you’re confused, you’re afraid. You’ve been using some pretty strong mind-altering substances for quite a while now and you’re not really sure what’s happening - if any of this is even real. And no one is telling you why you’re even there.
After a while you adjust, a bit dazed when they finally tell you what they think you did. They tell you that you killed a couple of friends. They’re going to seek the death penalty. They say that it happened in Texas, so they’re gonna ship you there. You have to wait because some psychopath just took out the World Trade Center. You know you’ve never killed anyone in Texas, but it doesn’t seem to matter. You’re shipped back like human cattle, trussed up and herded through the airport by a phalanx of soldiers. You’re still pretty much in shock, by this pretty callous handling of your LIFE. What can you do? You go to stand trial, forced to put your trust into a system you’ve been told all along works. You KNOW it doesn’t, but this doesn’t matter either. You have no choice. You’re a bum. Broke. No one to turn to. You’re stuck with legal representation who aren’t paid enough to care about you or your case. They barely work on it al all. No investigation, they barely do anything with the witnesses on the stand.
I hope that you will enter my world with an open heart and open mind. That ultimately you leave my site with different outlook at not only how the Death Penalty is applied, but also with a different outlook on humanity as a whole.
My main objective is to convince one person. Just one person who might have believed in the death penalty. To convince them that a vengeful society, a society without forgiveness, compassion, and love is not the answer. That the death penalty only creates an endless cycle of pain, suffering and grief. Death can never be the final solution.
My story is only one of many and I wish to share it with you. Through poems, a journal, memoirs, pictures and everything else that makes me who I am. My life is ever evolving and I strive to be the best person that I can be. I'm no saint, but I've grown and matured and through self reflection I've seen many places that I went wrong in my own life.
While I have always stated my innocence in capital murder, I have done many things in my past that still haunt me to this day. My friends often tell me I have to forgive myself, but I can't forgive myself for everything.
I was eighteen when I was first locked up in jail. Before that time I had been struggling from being homeless and addicted to drugs. I was no longer on talking terms with my family and friends, because I had become a liar and thief. Depression had settled in and I was constantly trying find a release. Soon depression led to anger and resentment. One night in August I was baby sitting and under the influence of LSD, the events of the past year came crashing down and for the first time in my life I snapped and lashed out in violence. On September 5, 1996, I was locked up and charged with injury to a child. In 1997 I was sentenced to thirty years in Texas prison.
My first years of incarceration were scary. My family had disowned me and I had no moral support. I did my best to survive, but never had I felt more alone in my life. I was still doing drugs. Prison is a violent and ugly world. I stood my ground, if someone tried to push me around and I had to hustle for things like snacks and hygiene items. I also had to hustle for drugs. Combine this with dealing with my shame and it was a tough battle.
I did try to continue my education and I volunteered to play piano in the bilingual choir. I wanted to change my life and I wanted a second chance.
But I began to feel hopeless. I had been moved to the bottom of the college waiting list for certain classes and Texas began to eradicate other programs aimed at rehabilitation. Most importantly all chances for parole were systematically obliterated and I was now facing the probability of being 48 years old before I would ever step a foot back into freedom.
And so me and six others escaped from The Connally Unit, in Kennedy, Texas, December 2000. My intentions, as naive as they sound, were only to start my life over. The media dubbed us "The Texas Seven" (For the record: I detest that name and all that it stands for…)
Having no money and clothing, it was decided that a robbery would have to be done. Shortly after the escape we robbed an electronics store. I brought no weapon into the store, only grabbing electronic items that could hopefully be sold later on down the road. No one in that robbery was hurt or injured. The feeling of that robbery shook me to the core. There was no rush or high. I felt disgusted and sick. Another robbery would have to be done, the others said. I refused and stayed in a motel watching movies on HBO.
Then, another big and final robbery was planned to take advantage of the Christmas sales. I initially refused to participate in this one also, but it was made clear that I had no choice and so I refused to pull a gun into the store.
During that robbery things went horribly wrong and a police officer was killed. I and another escapee had been shot also. I never not once pulled or shot a gun during that robbery.
We were all caught a month and a half later in Woodland, Colorado, a small town outside of Colorado Springs. One of us, refusing to return to prison, shot and killed himself.
We were taken back to Dallas County in Texas and all six of us were tried, found guilty and sentenced to death.
It is because of this man that i now do what i do.. although i never met him his words changed my life!
I could never in words say how i feel about this man.. and to have never even spoke with him.. it's unreal.. Please go see his memorial page! x
Kevin Cooper is on death row at San Quentin State Prison. He was scheduled to be executed at 12:01 a.m. on February 10th, 2004. The execution was halted just hours before, after a battle inside and outside the courtroom to prove his innocence. Kevin himself has always been at the forefront of the struggle not only for truth and justice in his case, but against the death penalty system as a whole. This page contains background information on his case and links to groups fighting the death penalty in California and across the U.S. Kevin is a prolific writer, and his essays are also posted here. Read the facts, find out about more death penalty issues, and get involved!!
In 1988, 19-year-old "Little" Tony Klann was brutally murdered in Cleveland , Ohio . Joe D'Ambrosio was convicted for the crime and has sat on death row ever since. When a Catholic priest visiting the Row heard D'Ambrosio's story, he so believed in his innocence that he helped the accused attain a new lawyer and win his motion for a new trial.
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