ARKANSAS' EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY CARROT - A 25 YEAR NIGHTMARE - Part VI - Government - http://maxpages.com/darkevilworld/The_Clemency_Carrot_Part

THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS

Now, several years later still, now that all the pre-1969 lifers are dead or close to dying; today when the 1969 lifers are all paroled or dead; and since the post-1977 lifers first served their seven then twelve years, followed by the one-to-three-years-to-reapply time now in fact, Governor Huckabee has inherited this wonderful Arkansas legacy; twelve-thousand plus prisoners, at least a hundred of whom truly deserve clemency are perpetually knocking at his door. Although there is little revived hope among prisoners that Mr. Huckabee is not of the same cut as his predecessors, recent events give every indication that history will simply repeat itself, beginning with the new and still more harsh clemency bill, SB 112, as well as with the recent grants of god ol' boy clemencies to prisoners who were about as suitable for clemency as a carcass has a good smell, but who had local clout and insider supporters that could have someone whisper into the Board's and the Governor's ears. More on that later, in another article.)

Given this sick state of affairs, and giving Governor Huckabee the benefit of the doubt, I must admit that it is difficult to grasp what kind of combined volume and pressures this untenable sentencing and clemency situation floods into the Governor's Office. How many meritorious cases ever confront him; how many family members and friends of prisoners who deserve clemency are perpetually calling, writing, faxing or e-mailing about their loved ones who are locked up? How many lawyers and chits-owed political and other figures are trying to gain an audience with him to "do a favor" in a given case? However, it is also almost inconceivable that Mr. Huckabee is not himself behind SB 112, since it directly effects a power granted exclusively to him alone by Article VI of the Arkansas Constitution. True, lawmakers Mike Bebee and Glover, the actual sponsors of the bill, are most assuredly old line good ol' boys that would do any governor's bidding, and who have repeatedly and systematically proposed the very legislation that created the injustices I'm talking about, beginning with elements of the 1977 criminal code. It is, however possible that they proposed SB 112 on their own to sort of do Mr. Huckabee the unsolicited favor of getting the clemency monkey off his back for a while. Again, time will tell.

No matter its real reason or source, however, it is not that difficult to know that SB 112 will in fact do for Mr. Huckabee the same thing that was done for Clinton by raising clemency eligibility from seven to twelve years in 1982, and for Tucker with Act 5 of 1993. At worst, there is no difference whatsoever, and at best it is just another example of newly-elected lawmakers having no true idea what kind of sickness and injustice they are perpetrating even though SB 112 doubtlessly sounds proper and fair on its face, in the vacuum of the current legislative session.

My real sympathy and empathy in all of this lies with the countless families and friends of prisoners or future prisoners who will unfortunately have a loved one condemned and incarcerated in Arkansas. How many times over the years have I spoken to families after they were completely disillusioned and felt utterly betrayed by "the system" in whose professed fairness and justice they so deeply trusted all their lives. Worse, it's no easy thing when they suddenly find themselves on the other side of the fence as objects of scorn by the very fellow citizens and the system that they once so truly befriended and loyally supported.

You see, those of us who have all of our lives known, seen and experienced the real "truth in sentencing," and the real "truth about crime and punishment", for that matter, are seasoned to whatever "they" may do to us. It's really not our world that is being decimated, not our trusts that are violated, nor our dreams that are shattered. We didn't have any to begin with. To us, those of us who are the condemned, what shocks you and crushes you is something with which we live in stride every day of our existence.

I'm not really writing this article or series of articles for my benefit, nor for the benefit of prisoners in general, and certainly not for the benefit of seasoned criminals that even our own prison society condemns as such. I'm writing it for you, the moms and dads, the brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, the friends and relatives of those who will be condemned to prison in the time ahead. It won't be officially charged criminals who will bring the inflated charge, improperly prosecute the case, render the foredrawn verdict, impose the excessive sentence or send folks by the thousands to these places. It is you who will need to understand THE TRUTH ABOUT SENTENCING IN ARKANSAS, (we already do, thank you), so that those for whom you care can have any chance at all for a real truth in sentencing, instead of the twisted lie that is.

Believe me, you do not want those for whom YOU care to ever experience the kind of truth in sentencing that Arkansas currently likes, any more than Steve Clark and Jim Guy Tucker or Bill McCuen, A.L. Lockhart, and a long list of others wanted to experience the truth in sentencing that they all so loudly and relentlessly demanded of us. No, sir, for them a good ol' boy lie in sentencing did just fine. Also, unlike them, your sons and daughters, husbands or wives, brothers or sisters, friends or family are not going to be as lucky. If you mere "good ol' suckers" dare to plead that your loved one should not be sent to prison because of poor health, they'll tell you they have doctors in prison. If you dare to plead that you and your family have all suffered enough already because of the regrettable unlawful acts of someone you care about, they'll tell you that excuse only applies to corrupt politicians' and police officers' families. If you dare appeal for their release because they are ill, they had better be terminal and you had better have a lot of money. If you request mercy from them in God's name, you will be told that God is in the mercy business, not they and He can be prayed to from prison, too.

However, there is one bright spot in it all; when those whom you love and care about are condemned to prison to die, we will help them make it okay all on our own, provided they don't first encounter the 10% or so of the real criminal animals in here. Maybe in that you may learn something about publicans and sinners.

FOR AN UPDATE ON THE GOOD OL' BOYS