Texas state troopers couldn't scare off death row
protesters
By Gloria Rubac
Houston
After seven weekly demonstrations by activists in front of
the Polunsky Unit--the Texas prison that houses death-row
prisoners--to condemn conditions there, the state of Texas
showed its true colors.
On May 18, Texas state troopers arrived in three squad cars
to threaten, harass and ticket protesters, passersby and the
goat farmer who allows demonstrators to park their cars and
hold protests on his property directly across from the prison
driveway.
The prison police, local Livingston police, Polk County
sheriffs and the prison's Internal Affairs Police from San
Antonio had all threatened activists in previous weeks. Yet
none of these agencies deterred a single protester, stopped a
single rally or silenced a single chant in front of the prison
or the warden's house.
Prison officials' latest tactic is to use the Texas state
troopers.
The goat farmer told activists that before they arrived on
May 18, state troopers visited him and warned that "there would
be trouble today with the protesters." The farmer said he got
angry with them and asked if any of them had read the U.S.
Constitution or the Bill of Rights lately. He told them that
these documents still apply to Texas.
As activists arrived, troopers were consulting with the
prison police. They then drove up and down the highway, making
U-turns and coming back by again and again.
They ticketed one young woman who was visiting because she
pulled over to talk to activists. The troopers ordered the
protesters not to talk to any visitors going into the
prison.
When that didn't intimidate activists, the troopers harassed
and pulled over any driver on the highway who slowed down to
read protest signs or give activists a thumbs-up sign. Troopers
gave out more than half a dozen tickets and threatened to
arrest protesters who videotaped their actions.
"Yahoo! We must be doing something right to get this kind of
reaction from the state! They sure don't want us supporting the
prisoners' struggle to change conditions," exclaimed Joaquina
Rodriguez, a member of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition
Movement, the group that began the protests in March. "We're
exposing the crimes of the prison system."
Bonnie Caraway, who attends the weekly protests with her
children, vowed: "We'll be back next week with more people and
with the news media. The behavior of the cops was unbelievable.
I saw it with my own eyes and still can't believe it."
An American Civil Liberties Union lawyer is trying to locate
those who received tickets in front of the prison and is
offering to represent them as victims of state harassment.
Reprinted from the May 30, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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