California death penalty boon to some

[The Straight Story]

California death penalty boon to some


LOS ANGELES, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- California's bogged-down execution process means death-row inmates can expect to live a long time and in better conditions than other inmates, officials said.

California has the nation's largest death row population -- with 685 currently sentenced to die -- but only 13 executions have taken place since 1977 and none since a moratorium was imposed nearly four years ago, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

Death-row inmates in California are far from pampered, but they are allowed to live in single cells, usually can mingle with inmates in exercise yards, have sole control over televisions and music players in their cells and have greater access to telephones because of the need to talk regularly with their lawyers, said Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Laurie Levenson, who teaches criminal law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said some inmates figure they will be better off on death row.

"We have a perverse system, given that we have a death row but we don't really have executions," Levenson said.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/11/11/California-death-penalty-boon-to-some/UPI-30331257988146/

[Hello_Kitty]

1. I would totally ask for the death penalty were I ever convicted of a capital crime.

Not that I'm planning to be or anything.

[LuvNewcastle]

3. Me too.

I guess it would be a good idea to show no remorse as well.

[bluestateguy]

2. And free government run health care

and that needs to stop.

That should have been the first thing on the budget chopping block: government run health care for death row inmates.

[Orrex]

4. Why? They're wards of the state.

A civilized state is obligated to treat its prisoners humanely.

[bluestateguy]

5. My top priority is treating our law non-murderous citizens humanely

If after doing that, and if we can still afford it, then we can give health care to murderers on death row.

[Orrex]

6. My, aren't you righteous!

Once the state takes custody of a person, then the state has a responsibility to treat that person humanely, even if you've decided that the person doesn't deserve it.