[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS, ILL., PENN.

[Rick Halperin]

March 29



TEXAS----impending execution

Houston inmate fighting tonight's death date


Death row inmate Roy Lee Pippin admits he's sold drugs, smuggled drug
money, even helped dump a dead body. But he insists he's no killer.

Pippin, a former member of a Colombian drug ring, smuggled millions of
dollars  inside modified gas tanks of his air conditioning service trucks
and in A/C units  into Mexico. The 51-year-old Houston man knew drug
agents could swoop down on his southwest Houston warehouse, but he
blithely carried on, indulging in drugs, booze and women.

In 1994, the high-flying lifestyle he had known for about 3 years came to
a swift end when he took part in the kidnapping of 4 men suspected of
pocketing almost $2 million from the operation. But Pippin insists he
wasn't the triggerman behind the murders of 2 of those held captive,
cousins Elmer and Fabio Buitrago.

One captive was able to escape; Pippin admits he helped dispose of the
body of the other man, Javier Riasco, who was discovered later.

"I wasn't the boss," Pippin said recently from death row. "I didn't
orchestrate these murders. I didn't have the power to kill these men."

If his numerous last-minute court filings fail, Pippin will be put to
death tonight, becoming the 97th Harris County inmate to be executed in
Texas since 1982.

During his trial, the state produced a witness, who pinned the murders on
Pippin, and presented evidence that one of the victims, just before he
died, had named Pippin as the killer.

Among the issues raised in his appeals include the belated discovery
during his trial that 2 guns were used in the murders.

The finding contradicted earlier testimony in which Pippin was said to
have shot the victims with one gun. Defense attorneys were caught unaware
and argued that the prosecution purposely hid the information.

Prosecutor Julian Ramirez said he learned about the use of two guns the
day a firearms expert testified. He said the use of 2 guns still does not
exonerate Pippin.

"The jury had that information when they convicted Pippin of capital
murder," Ramirez said. "The claim that we somehow hid evidence, which I
consider to be a red herring, was not only raised in front of the jury,
but on direct appeal and at every level of state and federal appeals and
each time it has been rejected."

The firearms examiner, C.E. Anderson of the Houston Police Department,
testified that bullets from Fabio Buitrago's body and 2 bullets removed
from his cousin's body were from the same gun. On cross-examination by the
defense, however, Anderson testified that another gun had been used. He
acknowledged this fact was not in his reports to the prosecution and
defense, but he said he discussed the issue with Ramirez before he
testified.

Joan Campbell, one of Pippin's defense attorneys and now a state district
judge, claimed the omission was intentional and punched holes in the
state's star witnesses' testimony.

"I don't think the case would have been tried for the death penalty if
there had been evidence of two guns," Campbell stated in a 2004
deposition. "They would have a hard time getting the death penalty when
there's more than one person involved."

Jani Maselli, one of Pippin's former appellate attorneys, said Pippin
deserves another trial.

"The gun evidence permeates throughout the entire trial," Maselli said.
"Every strategic choice was based upon one gun being used."

Pippin also filed an appeal in which he claims lethal injection is cruel
and unusual punishment because the procedure may cause unnecessary and
excruciating pain. The issue was denied.

On Monday, Pippin gave up his more than monthlong hunger strike. He was
protesting what he called deplorable conditions on death row. He lost more
than 20 pounds.

Pippin, in his interview with the Houston Chronicle, said that although he
could not bear to spend much more time on death row, his son and daughter
compelled him to continue to fight to clear his name. For more than a
year, Pippin has worked on his case himself and has become known as a
"legal eagle" on death row.

"This is absolute torture in this place," he said. "If they kill me it's
going to be a blessing."

(source: Associated Press)

********************

State Representative: Let's Hang the Artist!


Rep. Borris Miles, D-Houston, was walking through the Capitol with his two
young children when he saw 2 works of art in a public corridor he didn't
like. He liked them so little that he took them down off the wall and hid
them in his office.

On March 12, freshman state Rep. Borris Miles, D-Houston, was walking
through the Capitol with his 2 young children when he saw 2 works of art
in a public corridor he didn't like. He liked them so little that he took
them down off the wall and hid them in his office.

Now no one knows where they are.

Miles took down two paintings depicting executions because, he says, he
found them offensive. Scott Cobb, president of the anti-death-penalty
group Texas Moratorium Network, which organized the exhibition, condemned
Miles' action. "Here we are in the seventh year of the 21st century," he
said, "and people are still confiscating artwork for political reasons
like it's 1955."

The two paintings were part of an exhibition intended to raise awareness
of the death penalty in Texas. It contained 11 pieces, including three by
artists on death row. They were exhibited March 12-17  Texas Moratorium
Week  in the main corridor on level E2 of the Capitol Extension (the
bottom underground level). The artwork was selected from a larger touring
exhibition, "Justice for All? Artists Reflect on the Death Penalty"
(www.deathpenaltyartshow.org), which features pieces by 52 artists from
the U.S., Germany, France, and the Netherlands and includes 13 works by
inmates currently on death row in Texas. The full show was originally
displayed at Gallery Lombardi in Austin in May of last year and in
Houston's Gallery M2 in February.

The Widow Maker by Reinaldo A. DennesThe Widow Maker by Reinaldo A. Dennes
(currently imprisoned in the Polunsky Unit in Livingston) shows two white
men laughing and drinking at the feet of an old black man lynched from a
tree. In the background, a second, chained black man looks despairingly
out of a prison window. Cuban-born Dennes was found guilty of the 1996
murder of diamond merchant Janos Szucs and is awaiting execution. The
second work, by professional artist Shanon Playford of Portland, Ore., is
a monochrome watercolor showing a figure in an electric chair. The words
"Doing God's Work"  also the title of the piece  are written underneath in
script. Both pieces were on loan from the artists.

Miles says he does not regret his actions and claims that more than 50
representatives have told him, either in person or by e-mail, that they
support him. Explaining his actions, Miles said, "As a black man, I was
offended on the first one, and as a Christian on the 2nd one."

Cobb said Miles had missed the point of exhibiting in the Capitol. It's a
building "where we're supposed to discuss issues on an adult level," he
said. "We shouldn't reduce the level of discourse in the Capitol [to]
what's appropriate for a 5-year-old." And while Cobb disagreed with Miles
about both pictures, he was most concerned about Miles taking down Doing
God's Work. "That's a clear case of him stepping over the line," Cobb
said. "No one has the right to take down artworks to extend their
religious views."

Miles said that since he objected to the pictures, he was justified in
simply stripping them from the exhibit on his own initiative. "There's
obviously not enough oversight if those pictures made it to be seen in the
Capitol," he said. "There needs to be some kind of system to see and
screen what goes on display. Those were not appropriate." He had no
suggestion as to who should make the decision of what is acceptable art,
"as long as we don't have pictures in our hallways that could offend
people of any race, creed, or color."

Doing God's Work by Shanon PlayfordBut there is an approval system in
place, and the moratorium exhibition had in fact passed it. All
exhibitions in the Capitol must be approved by the State Preservation
Board, although board executive assistant Julie Fields said the
application process is usually "just paperwork to keep track of what's
coming into the building." Any exhibit must pass the basic test of being
for a public purpose. "Basically," said Fields, "what we screen for is a
private business trying to set up any kind of advertisement or promotion
or any kind of rallies or political events that are prohibited in the
building." She said that nothing like Miles' actions had happened before
and that the current application and approval system had been sufficient
so far. "There's no higher authority to ask for a review," she added, "and
quite frankly, we've never had anyone who has ever done more than voiced a
complaint."

Miles said that part of the problem was that the pictures were displayed
with no explanatory note. However, the rules established by the
Preservation Board for any exhibition in the Capitol states that they do
not allow "activities which promote a certain viewpoint or issue or could
be considered lobbying." Had the network included the kind of warning or
labeling that Miles suggested, it might have violated this clause.
Instead, the art was allowed to speak for itself.

Also under board rules, all exhibitions must be sponsored by either a
member of the Legislature, the governor, or the lieutenant governor. In
this case, the exhibition was sponsored by Miles' fellow Houston Democrat,
Rep. Harold Dutton  a traditional foe of capital punishment, who has again
filed bills this session proposing a moratorium or abolition. After
several phone calls, Dutton's office declined to comment, only confirming
that Dutton had never actually seen the pictures but had indeed signed off
on the Moratorium Network's application for the exhibition.

Artist Playford was surprised at Miles' action and that he had found her
piece sacrilegious. "If you were really a Christian," she said, "you'd see
the hypocrisy of claiming execution is doing God's work."

Playford normally works in oils, but after the 2004 elections, she was
drawn to make a series of politically satirical black-and-white
watercolors called "Seeing Red." "To me," she said, they're slightly
humorous. I don't think of my work as shocking. In fact, I've had some
Christians e-mail me, and they were very supportive."

One of those Christians has now offered to buy Doing God's Work. That is,
if the picture turns up. No one seems to know where either painting has
gone. Miles said he gave the pieces to Dutton, and the Texas Moratorium
Network said they thought they'd be able to collect them from his office.
However, as of Wednesday, Dutton's office denied that they have the
missing pictures.

(source: The Austin Chronicle)

*************************

Justice served by SC justices ---- High court refuses Muleshoe appeal


Gilberto Guadalupe Reyes is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas
June 21 for the 1998 murder of 19-year-old Yvette Barraz.

Barraz, who had dated Reyes, was abducted while leaving her job as a
waitress at a Muleshoe restaurant.

Barraz's parents reported her missing when she failed to come home from
work, and her car was found near the U.S.-Mexico border a day later. Her
body was found in the car's trunk. She had been hit in the head six times
with a claw hammer, strangled and raped.

Reyes, whose DNA was found on Barraz's clothes, ran across the border. He
was captured three months later in Portales, N.M.

Thanks to a ruling Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court, Reyes' flight from
justice is nearing an end.

The highest court in the land refused to hear Reyes' appeal of his death
sentence, which was based on his use of an inhalant as a teenager and
alleged parental neglect and child abuse.

Tragically, Reyes' case is not unique in the U.S. justice system.

Murderers who kill in brutal fashion often offer up an alleged painful
upbringing, as if this somehow explains their heinous actions. There is
another way to prevent capital punishment, this being a score of below 70
on an IQ test.

Neither legal maneuver should prevent the implementation of the most
severe form of justice and punishment.

In Reyes' case, the fact he fled the country to avoid law enforcement
indicates he had some sort of understanding of the horrific nature of his
crime.

There may have been many reasons Reyes chose to take a human life in
violent and inexcusable fashion, but at some point the responsibility has
to rest with the person who committed the crime.

Fortunately, the highest court in the land didn't buy the argument behind
Reyes' appeal, which in no way should prevent the administration of
justice.

(source: Editorial, Amarillo Globe-News)

************

Grand jury indicts Ivey for capital murder


An Angelina County grand jury returned its 1st capital murder indictment
of 2007 Wednesday.

Daryl Djuan Ivey, 20, of Lufkin, was indicted for allegedly shooting his
pregnant girlfriend, 20-year-old Claudia Rodriguez, in the head Feb. 13,
causing her death and the death of her unborn child days later. Police
estimated Rodriguez was five to 6 months pregnant.

The state has not decided if it will seek the death penalty.

"We have not discussed it," said assistant district attorney Art
Bauereiss.

Police arrested Ivey after responding to a call of an attempted suicide at
the couple's residence on Packer Avenue, off Lakeview near Kurth Drive.

There they found Rodriguez lying on the living room floor with a gunshot
wound above her left eye, police said. Investigators recovered a 9mm
pistol near her body. The department is not releasing any information on
how it determined Ivey to be the shooter.

Charles Meyers, a local defense attorney hired to represent Ivey, said his
client had shown remorse for Rodriguez and her family.

"Of course he is upset about it. It's a horrible thing," he said in
February.

Ivey remained in Angelina County Jail late Wednesday on a $500,000 bond.

(source: Lufkin Daily News)

**********************************

Examiner: Smith died of wounds


A Freeport woman who suffered a gunshot wound to her forehead died months
later due to problems caused by the shooting, an assistant medical
examiner testified Wednesday in the capital murder trial of John Joe
Bodley.

Almost 3 months after being shot, Chasity Smith, 28, suffered from
difficulty swallowing her food, bouts of pneumonia and pressure sores on
her body from being unable to move, said Albert Chu, assistant medical
examiner with the Harris County Medical Examiners office, who performed
the autopsy.

Smith and James Beverly, 31, died from gunshot wounds they received during
a shooting in a Freeport apartment in the early morning hours of July 14,
2005. Bodley, 22, is accused of shooting 4 people, including Smith and
Beverly, while a group of children slept in a nearby bedroom.

Bodley is on trial for capital murder and could receive the death penalty
if convicted.

Testimony was stopped a little after 1 p.m. Wednesday to allow defense
attorneys time to look over 5,000 pages of Smiths medical records that
were used by Chu to assess her cause of death.

Chu was the only witness to testify Wednesday, and the bulk of his
testimony was on Smith's condition after being shot as well as the cause
of her death in October 2005. Chu concluded Smiths death likely was due to
an E. Coli infection in her blood, lungs and spleen.

"This infection is attributable to her initial injury," he said. "She has
risk factors not only for contracting the infection but also succumbing to
it."

Defense attorneys for Bodley claimed during their opening statements
Monday that Smith died from a blood infection that could have been
contracted due to hospital negligence and not necessarily from the gunshot
wound.

"Chasity Smith did not die from complications from those gunshot wounds,"
said Katherine Scardino, one of Bodley's attorneys, during her opening
arguments Monday.

Chu testified that though an E. Coli infection can be contracted
independent of a gunshot wound, such infections are more common among
people who are immobilized due to injury.

"These come about basically from being bed-bound and not being able to
move," he said.

The jury was shown graphic images of Smith's injuries, including X-rays
showing a portion of the right side of her skull being removed. Smith
required parts of her skull and brain to be removed after she was sent to
Hermann Memorial Hospital in Houston, Chu said.

"She did undergo a number of procedures while she was in the hospital,"
Chu said.

After prosecutors finished direct examination of Chu, they moved to admit
about 5,000 pages of documents as evidence in the trial. Defense attorney
Jimmy Phillips objected to the documents, claiming Chu did not use all of
them to develop his opinion about the cause of Smith's death.

District Judge Randall Hufstetler dismissed the jury to give defense
attorneys time to go through the documents before beginning their
cross-examination of Chu today, he said.

"You have enough time to go through each page," Hufstetler told defense
attorneys. "That way you're not going to be wasting the jury's time."

Testimony is set to resume at 9 a.m. today in Hufstetlers courtroom at the
Brazoria County Courthouse.

(source: The Facts)

***********************

Don't mess with Texas----New gun law promotes vigilantism


Texas criminals thinking about breaking the law may want to reconsider in
the wake of a new law that goes into effect on later this year. Texas Gov.
Rick Perry has signed a law that, beginning September 1, will allow
"reasonable use of lethal force" against people committing violent crimes,
entering a "protected place," or "unlawfully removing a person from a
protected place," according to The New York Times. With practically all
Texans in possession of a gun, the law would effectively make every
citizen with a firearm a police officer under the aforementioned
circumstances. Texas is not alone in taking this position against would-be
criminals, as several other states have already passed or are considering
similar laws.

Although, as Perry states, "the right to defend oneself from an imminent
act of harm - is intuitive to human nature," giving every citizen in Texas
the authority to shoot someone dead promotes vigilantism. Our society has
already entrusted a group of people, namely the police, with the authority
to kill a person should a conflict arise or a serious crime be committed.

While it could be argued that the police cannot be present in every
situation, it is worth noting that police officers - at least in our area
- come under careful scrutiny every time that a criminal is killed, crime
or not. The use of lethal force is entrusted to law enforcement because
they - in theory - apply it judiciously and only as a last resort.

In a state where everyone has a gun, the protection this law provides the
ordinary citizen makes it easier for them to shoot first and ask questions
later. This is obviously problematic, especially since mistakes are sure
to be made, and there is no bringing someone back after they have been
wrongfully killed because of an errant and spur of the moment decision.
Even in Texas, where the death penalty is a popular form of punishment,
cases must still go through the legal system where it is determined - by a
group of people, and after a considerable amount of time - that a criminal
should be put to death. This law circumvents all this and puts that power
in the hands of any citizen with a gun.

The last thing Texas needs is an entire state full of self-righteous
people taking the law into their own hands - and possibly killing innocent
people in the process.

(source: The Daily Targum)

*************************

2 condemned inmates lose federal appeals


2 convicted killers, including one tied to more than a dozen rapes in the
Houston and Austin areas and another from Tarrant County linked to at
least 5 rapes, have lost federal court appeals, moving them closer to
death by injection.

Austin native Johnny Ray Johnson, 49, condemned for the rape and beating
death of a woman in Houston in 1995, had his appeal turned down by the 5th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

In another ruling late Tuesday, the court denied an appeal from Dale Devon
Scheanette, 33, condemned for the rape and beating death of a woman in
Arlington on Christmas Eve 1996. Besides at least 5 other rapes,
Scheanette was tied by prosecutors to 1 other slaying.

Neither man has a scheduled execution date.

Johnson was convicted of the death of Leah Joette Smith, described in
court documents as a cocaine addict who Johnson offered drugs in exchange
for sex. After she got high on crack cocaine, she refused to have sex with
Johnson and they fought. Court records show he raped her repeatedly after
beating her head against a concrete curb and stomping her face.

A medical examiner testified the beating was so severe her tongue was
displaced. She died on a Houston street, choking on her own blood.

Johnson had an extensive criminal history before he got to death row.
Testimony showed he raped an 8-year-old niece in Houston. In 1983, he was
convicted of sexual assault in Travis County and sentenced to 5 years in
prison but was released on mandatory supervision less than two years
later.

He found work as a cab driver and confessed to raping women he would pick
up, including one who fought back and for whose rape he was sentenced to
another 5 years in prison. He was released again after 10 months.

Johnson subsequently confessed to numerous other rapes, including one he
said he committed on a hill near the Austin police station.

"The evidence of his brutal rapes and murders seemed endless," the appeals
court noted in the decision.

In his appeal, he argued his trial lawyers were ineffective in not getting
a psychological evaluation for him and not conducting complete
investigations of a troubled childhood that could have offered some
understanding of his behavior as an adult. The court also upheld a lower
ruling that his appeal did not comply with time guidelines for appeals.

In the other case, a Tarrant County jury decided in 2003 that Scheanette
should die for the slaying of Wendie Prescott, 22. Her body was found by
an uncle in a partially filled bathtub at her Arlington apartment. Her
neck, hands and feet had been bound with duct tape, and authorities
determined she had been strangled and raped. Fingerprints and DNA evidence
pointed to Scheanette as her attacker.

Scheanette, a native of Ouachita Parish, La., who worked variously as a
machine and forklift operator and warehouseman, raised seven claims in his
appeal to the 5th Circuit, which turned down all of them.

Among issues he raised was that his trial lawyers were ineffective for
calling witnesses that he said bolstered the state's case against him. One
of the defense witnesses, under cross-examination, was asked about a piece
of glass Scheanette had hidden in his county jail cell while awaiting
trial and how it could have been used as a shank.

Other issues rejected by the court focused on jury instructions and the
issue of future dangerousness, which jurors must consider when deciding
whether a convicted capital murderer can be sentenced to death.

(source: Associated Press)






ILLINOIS:

Executions demean us


I just wanted to put my 2 cents in regarding your editorial "Abolish the
death penalty."

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I've been trying to express these
sentiments for years. There is a "certainty" when someone is put to death;
there is no way to fix an error by the court system. And yet there is no
certainty that the person who is found guilty actually is guilty. Our
system -- from the investigation to the determination of guilt and
sentencing -- is saturated with the potential for human error. Error is an
unavoidable part of being human. But the death penalty is "divine" and
perfect. A conviction by an imperfect court system does not merit a
perfect punishment.

I have no love for murderers. I did some research for a professor working
on one of John Wayne Gacy's appeals. I enjoyed the work I did. But when he
eventually was executed, I couldn't care less for him. He was a narcissist
and the world was none the worse for his absence. But I felt that the
people of Illinois had been lessened by the act of killing him. We were
demeaned. We were lowered to his level by killing him.

If we had safely warehoused him and forgotten about him, we would have
kept our dignity rather than lowering ourselves by killing him.

Taking a life is always demeaning. A healthy human being is always hurt by
taking the life of another even if it is justified. Every time a prisoner
is executed in the State of Illinois, we, as citizens, are demeaned and
lessened by that act. We should strive to be the best we can be and not
allow ourselves to be lessened in the name of justice.

Sheila Wanger----Chicago

**

Proving innocence


The "Abolish the death penalty" editorial stated that the Tribune has
reported "on cases that suggest innocent people have been executed."

Were any innocent people executed?

Evidently not, because your investigation would have uncovered this fact
if it were true.

In all the years that this controversy has raged in modern society, there
has never been a single documented instance of an innocent person being
executed.

If your reporting had revealed an actually proven case of an executed
innocent, perhaps your argument would be more compelling.

But it didn't.

Joe Paolelli---- Park Ridge

(source: Letters to the Editor, Chicago Tribune)






PENNSYLVANIA:

DAs criticize panel makeup


The Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association and a veteran senator
clashed Wednesday over whether a Senate-sponsored study of cases of
wrongful convictions will serve the ends of justice.

James Martin, the Lehigh County prosecutor who is association president,
and Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham said the advisory
committee in charge of the study is stacked in favor of advocates for
criminal defendants. The 2 prosecutors and several crime victim advocates
called on Senate leaders to change the committee's membership to provide a
better balance between defendants, prosecutors and crime victims.

The 37-member committee is scheduled to hold its 1st meeting today. The
committee was formed following passage last year of a Senate resolution
calling for a study of the reasons why innocent defendants are sometimes
mistakenly convicted of a crime. The committee can make recommendations,
but has no power to change laws.

Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, the Senate Judiciary Committee
chairman who sponsored the resolution, said some district attorneys favor
the study, but the statewide association opposed it from the start.

"They have nothing to be afraid of," said Mr. Greenleaf in an interview.
"We are not looking into blame. We are not an innocence commission trying
to prove people innocent."

At a press conference here, Mr. Martin and Ms. Abraham said they think
criminal defense lawyers, anti-death penalty advocates and inmate
advocates are over-represented on the committee and are pursuing a hidden
agenda.

"Only 4 of the 37 members of the committee are prosecutors,' said Mr.
Martin and Ms. Abraham in a letter to Senate leaders. "More disturbing, we
are aware of no representatives of the victim services community that
provide direct, ongoing support to victims and their families in the court
system on the committee."

In his response, Mr. Greenleaf said he welcomes additional representatives
of law enforcement and victims groups on the committee, but his efforts to
reach out to groups drew no volunteers.

While Mr. Martin said he thinks that problems with wrongful convictions
are exaggerated, Ms. Abraham said she has no problems with a study that is
unbiased.

"Prosecutors are not objecting to a fair, balanced and objective look at
the criminal justice system," she said.

In an effort to ensure fairness, the DA's association supported enactment
of a law in 2002 to allow convicted criminals to seek DNA tests in order
to clear their names, Mr. Martin said.

DNA tests conducted since the law took effect have resulted in cases where
convicts serving lengthy sentences were proven innocent, said Mr.
Greenleaf. He said he has supported tougher sentencing laws and authored
Megan's Law, but thinks some attention needs to be given to the conviction
process because sentences are often long.

"Justice is served when someone guilty is convicted," he added, "but
justice is not served when you convict an innocent person."

(source: The Daily Item)

**********************

Inmates tell story with 'Holding Up'


A windowless room in the basement of Graterford Prison is a strange place
for a dress rehearsal, but when your actors are inmates and the play is
their if-only-it-wasn't-true legacy of pain and suffering, any stage will
do.

"Keep the despair going," director Teya Sepinuck tells an inmate named
Donald - first names only, prison rules - a 60-year-old who spent nearly a
decade on death row, doing a monologue about his family paying for his
crimes.

"I was suicidal . . ." his voice trails off, as any man's might when
revealing secrets and shame in front of 10 other certified tough guys.

"You're at about 30 % of the suicidal stuff," Sepinuck interrupts. "I want
to see more tension."

Given that the cast comprises inmates, ex-cons, wives and children left
behind, she's seen plenty of it.

There was tension as Sepinuck helped the inmates confront the collateral
damage caused by each drug deal and gun fired. And there's tension as they
bare all in rehearsals, because that's the only way someone locked up can
help others stay free.

When I met them last week, the inmates had become decent performers,
though none of it feels like an act.

"I used to say I knew how to get out of jail, but not how to stay out," a
lifer and former addict named Wayne explains during a piece about being
reborn behind bars. "Now I know how to stay out, but not how to get out."

Pain for life

Holding Up, which will be performed tomorrow night at the Broad Street
Ministry and next month at Graterford, grew out of talks with teenagers
about how prison punishes families, and with lifers about their need for a
bold, public repentance. "What they did at 19 is no longer who they are,"
notes Sepinuck. With no way to perform on the streets they once prowled,
the inmates improvise. When Holding Upis staged on the outside, their
parts are played by ex-cons, who could just easily be telling their own
tales. The cast includes Andre, who spends each day of a 240-year sentence
knowing he stole his little girl's childhood. And Toya, his now-grown
daughter who at 12 had to parent her siblings after Daddy got locked up
and Mommy fell apart. "If I didn't take care of everyone," Toya explains
in her moving monologue, "no one could or would." Suzette is a proud wife
and mother humiliated anew each time she visits her husband and son in
prison. Keon is a young boxer about to get another chance, knowing he'll
have dozens of volunteer parole officers on the inside riding him hard to
get a job and stay out of trouble. "We're all responsible," Harun, one of
Keon's white-haired mentors, explains. "We're late to it, but we get it."

Never leave

Part of what motivates the cast is the desire to prevent their children
and grandchildren from doing time. As Paul, a lifer with 30 years
completed, sings, "Son, wherever you may be. I hope you're not like me.
Always love your family, and never leave." His voice is rich and mournful
until he stops abruptly, telling Sepinuck, "I can't sing any more." "Too
emotional?" she asks. Paul nods and takes a seat. The show also features
interviews with high school students venting about parents who did them
wrong. A boy says the only thing he knows of his father is his name. A
girl says if she ever sees the crack-smoking mother who abandoned her, the
first thing she'd ask is, "Where you been?" Suzette, fed up with driving
in the prison carpool, talks about wanting her kids to confront the family
curse. "When they get older, the kids talk of not wanting to go visit him
anymore. The ride is too long, they're bored, they don't like being
searched, they have nothing to say," she says. "I ask myself, is it that
there's nothing to say - or is it that there's too much?"

(source: Philadelphia Inquirer)