December 3, 2002
Execution looms

Dear Friends,
At 360degrees.org we are continuing to document the US criminal justice system from the inside. You may remember last year when we did a story about Ronald Frye, who was scheduled to be executed for the murder of his landlord. We didn't know at the time what his outcome would be. It was a very strange and sad morning when we logged on to the North Carolina DOC website to read that Frye was executed by lethal injection in the early morning of August 31, 2001.

As a part of Frye's story we also interviewed Earnest Basden who is scheduled for execution this Friday, December 6th.

Basden described for us death row during execution nights:

"...when they take the person out, to put him in the ambulance, I can see from where I am. When you see this person that you've known, you see 'em come out on a stretcher with all the life forced out of them. It's a sad thing...You just kind of deal with it on a daily basis. It doesn't mean that I don't think about it, or consider it. I'm not giving up 'til I have to."

Today, Basden and his lawyer will ask Gov. Easley to grant clemency. There is a precedent for the governor to do so and Basden's lawyers feel that they have a solid case to present; several of the jurors have come out against his execution and the court of appeals called Basden's case "troubling."

Details of his crime and his appeals can be found at: http://www.ncadp.org/html/dec02-nc.html and information about the death penalty in North Carolina is at: http://www.doc.state.nc.us/DOP/deathpenalty/

When we began investigating life inside the US criminal justice system, many of you cautioned us that it would be difficult to ever extract ourselves, and that the emotional toll would be high. The truth of these words continues to make itself known to us. Although our time with these two men on death row was short, it is an altogether new and different perspective to be this close to an execution. 360degrees.org is intended to give us all a closer view of life inside the criminal justice system Whether you are for or against the death penalty, we encourage you to consider this issue today from the perspectives of those involved: the inmate, the jurors, the community, the prison warden, and ultimately all of us, and to make your thoughts and opinions known. The story can be found at http://www.360degrees.org. Click on "Stories" and then click on the third circle titled, "Ronald Frye."

Governor Easley's fax number is: (919) 733-5166 or (919)-715-3175. Basden's lawyers have told us that your letters will make a difference.

Thank you,
Sue Johnson and Alison Cornyn Picture Projects

Take a look at the web site:
360degrees.org

Created by Picture Projects, it contains stories and statistics, and offers an uncommon look at the people most affected by the criminal justice system through their own words, and pictures.

360degrees describe their site: "Over the past year, we have been collecting the stories of inmates, correctional officers, lawyers, judges, parole officers, parents, victims, and others whose lives have been affected by the criminal justice system. In tandem with a new series on National Public Radio, Prison Diaries, we've conducted interviews and given inmates and officers tape recorders so they could keep audio diaries of their experiences in prison.

"Each story is focused around a specific case and is told from the perspectives of the people involved. As you listen to the stories, you can explore each speaker's personal space by navigating 360 degrees-up, down, and around-prison cells, offices, judges' chambers, and living rooms.

"To address many of the issues affecting our nation's growing prison population, we will add new stories throughout the year."

John Mills is serving 7 to 9 years in Polk Youth Institution in North Carolina.

John Mills III-- his story: All right, he has now put me in my cell. So routine here is, come here, get ready for bed. I'm gonna fix this is ÷ a hard bed, and got to flatten it out 'cause the mattress always lumpy.
name John Mills. 21, black male, prison.

I wanted to be a police officer, you know what I'm saying? When I was smaller, I used to think about that all the time, be a police officer. All the sirens and loud noises and blue lights and stuff. It was just something I always wanted to be. But now I hate the police. I know my life just took a big turn somewhere. I just don't know where. My mom always predicted my life, "You're going to be just like your daddy." He went to prison. I think he pulled like five years in prison. "Just like your dad" ÷ she'd say that all the time. And I started getting in trouble, kicked off the bus, kicked out of school. And then when I turned 15, I robbed a store.

Yeah, I'm ÷ I don't think I'm fully recuperated from being a robber. I don't know. I mean, I look at it like this: I'll always be someone able to rob you, shoot your house up, take your car, cash a check. You know, that's not my ... I'll always be that person, I believe. Can't nothing change this. It'll always be a memory. But I don't think there'll never be anybody that would be able to bring it out in me again.

Sometimes I can still remember my first night in prison. I cried like a baby, man. That's all I did, walk around in circles and cry in my room. I felt like I was in a cage. You know, I couldn't get out. Once they turned out the lights, it's pitch black and there's so much yelling going on, it made me feel I was just sick, I was real sick. You know, being locked up in that cell, you know, now that I done got used to it, I love being in the cell by myself.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten ÷ that's ten months. I got five years left. You know, that's kind of a long time, get up in the morning, 5:30 every day, get up, go to the rec yard, come back from rec yard, go in your cell for count, go to the shower, come back, take your shower, sit in the day room.

Being in prison, I mean, it's like playing a tape back or something, the same thing over and over again. Nothing changes, nothing at all.