For the past year, men from Mississippi’s death row have been able to share with the public who they are and their experiences while incarcerated through an online platform.
The nonprofit organization Humans Remain, which several of the men formed a year ago with England-based advocate Liz McCann, hosts the platform. McCann runs the website, creates the videos and shares them on the group’s social media pages. Personal tablets enabled users to make video calls and send electronic messages.
On Aug. 7, Mississippi Today published a story about the group’s first anniversary, purpose and work with the 34 men from Unit 17 at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. The story quoted McCann and a death row prisoner and included one line about the use of tablets that helps the group do its advocacy and educational work.
Within two hours of the story’s publishing, the death row men lost access to their tablets, according to advocates, leaving two communal phones, mail and in-person visits as their available forms of contact with people outside the prison.
A month later, the tablets have not been returned. The death row men continue to wonder about why it happened, how the decision was made and whether they can get the devices back. A spokesperson from The Mississippi Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for comment.
“There’s literally a wall of silence,” McCann said last week.
The restriction has urged some of the men to speak out through an unpublished editorial that McCann shared with Mississippi Today.
“The application of ‘mushroom censorship’ is absurd and as outdated as the death penalty itself,” they wrote in the editorial.
Lisa Jo Chamberlin, the only woman on Mississippi death row, had a similar communication restriction at the beginning of the year shortly after Mississippi Today published a story about her.
As with the men, she was not able to use her tablet, but her restrictions also included phone use. Chamberlin was blocked from making phone calls, and advocates who had regular contact with her were met with silence until April. She has since regained phone privileges, according to other advocates working with her.
MDOC did not provide Mississippi Today with a comment explaining why the tablets were removed.
Prison staff gave the death row men reasons why the tablets were taken away, according to the editorial, including that Unit 17 is a restricted area, that McCann has used the devices to contact them and that Mississippi Today published the story about their efforts.
The editorial pushes back against those justifications. Unit 29, death row’s previous location, was also a restricted area and is where they first got access to the tablets. Advocacy from death row in the form of published videos predates the formation of Humans Remain.
McCann said she takes some responsibility for what happened because she operates the organization.
While the death row men criticized the prison officials’ actions, they gave credit to Chief of Institutions Marc McClure, the former Parchman superintendent. Under his leadership, the men said that their quality of life has improved, including freedom of movement within the unit.
According to McCann, Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain and McClure visited Unit 17 on Sept. 4 and talked with the men. The prison officials did not explain why the tablets were taken away, including when they would be restored or whether any prison rules were broken, she said.
McCann said she has been transparent about using tablets to communicate with the men and to show people the advocacy group is being run legitimately.
“We’ve never tried to hide any of this advocacy stuff,” she said.
Hence then, the article about death row men lose personal tablet access after advocate shares their stories online was published today ( ) and is available on Mississippi Today ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Death row men lose personal tablet access after advocate shares their stories online )
Also on site :