Testimony of Damon Thibodeaux — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00uh chairman dermond uh ranking member
2. 0:02crews and members of the south committee
3. 0:03thank you for inviting me to speak about
4. 0:05my 15 years
5. 0:06in solitary confinement on death row at
6. 0:08this louisiana state penitentiary at
7. 0:10angola
8. 0:11i'm here because in september of 2012
9. 0:15i became the 141st actually innocent
10. 0:17death row exonerees since the u.s
11. 0:19supreme court reinstated capital
12. 0:21punishment in 1976
13. 0:23but before i was exonerated and released
14. 0:25i was subjected to solitary confinement
15. 0:28for 23 hours a day for 15 years
16. 0:31between the ages of 23 and 38.
17. 0:34this experience was all the more painful
18. 0:36and cruel because i had not committed
19. 0:38the crime for which i had been sentenced
20. 0:39to die
21. 0:41in my written statement i described the
22. 0:42physical and mental torture that inmates
23. 0:44in solitary confinement suffer the dye
24. 0:46is horrible the heat and cold are often
25. 0:48unbearable
26. 0:49and normal physical and mental activity
27. 0:51human contact and access to health care
28. 0:53are severely limited
29. 0:55as harmful as these conditions are life
30. 0:57in solitary is made all the worse
31. 0:59because it's often a hopeless existence
32. 1:03humans cannot survive without food and
33. 1:04water
34. 1:05they can't survive without sleep but
35. 1:07they also cannot survive without hope
36. 1:10years on end and solitary particularly
37. 1:12on death row
38. 1:13will drain that hope from anyone because
39. 1:15in solitary there's nothing to live for
40. 1:19i know this because
41. 1:20i lost my hope
42. 1:22after realizing what my existence would
43. 1:24be like for years on end until i was
44. 1:26either executed or exonerated
45. 1:28i was on the verge of committing what
46. 1:30was basically suicide by state
47. 1:33by voluntarily giving up my legal rights
48. 1:35and allowing the state to carry out the
49. 1:36sentence of death
50. 1:38something that would have been done only
51. 1:39a few weeks after signing the necessary
52. 1:41paperwork
53. 1:43my lawyer denise labeouf
54. 1:45talked to me out of doing that by
55. 1:46convincing me that i would be exonerated
56. 1:49and released on someday
57. 1:52and that's why i was able to regain my
58. 1:53hope
59. 1:54and
60. 1:56became willing to continue my legal
61. 1:57fight
62. 2:00i was one of the fortunate on death row
63. 2:02because i had denise and my other
64. 2:04lawyers and supporters but the state
65. 2:06effectively kills most men in solitary
66. 2:08years before it injects them with any
67. 2:10legal
68. 2:11lethal drugs
69. 2:13i can see no reason to subject anyone to
70. 2:15this type of existence no matter how
71. 2:17certain we are that they are guilty
72. 2:20of a horrible crime and are among the
73. 2:22worst of the worst
74. 2:23even if we want to punish them severely
75. 2:25we should refrain from this
76. 2:27form of confinement and treatment only
77. 2:28because it's the humane and moral thing
78. 2:31for us to do
79. 2:33my religious faith teaches that we
80. 2:35should be humane and caring for all
81. 2:37people saint and center alike
82. 2:39what does it say about us as a nation
83. 2:42that even before the law allows the
84. 2:44state to execute a person we're willing
85. 2:45to let it kill them bit by bit and day
86. 2:47by day by subjecting them to solitary
87. 2:50confinement
88. 2:52i do not condone what those who have
89. 2:53killed and committed other serious
90. 2:54offenses have done but i also don't
91. 2:57condone what we do to them when we put
92. 2:59them in solitary for years on end and
93. 3:01treat them as sub-human
94. 3:04we are better than that as a civilized
95. 3:06society we should be better than that
96. 3:09i would like to believe that the vast
97. 3:11majority of the people in in the united
98. 3:13states would be appalled if they knew
99. 3:15what we are doing to inmates in solitary
100. 3:17confinement and understood that
101. 3:19we are torturing them for reasons that
102. 3:22have little if anything to do
103. 3:24with protecting other inmates or prison
104. 3:26guards from them it's torture pure and
105. 3:28simple
106. 3:29no matter what else
107. 3:31we want to call it
108. 3:32i would like to think that we
109. 3:34can all agree that our constitution
110. 3:36prohibits
111. 3:37it
112. 3:39i thank the subcommittee for looking at
113. 3:40the situation and educating the public
114. 3:42about it and i'm pleased to have
115. 3:44any questions you may ask mr thibodeau
116. 3:46in the opening statement i talked about
117. 3:48the inmate that i met
118. 3:50who said
119. 3:51i got an extra 50 years because i told
120. 3:53him if they put somebody in the cell i'd
121. 3:55kill him and i did
122. 3:57it was a stunning
123. 3:59cold-blooded statement
124. 4:01did you run into similar circumstances
125. 4:04of other inmates who were that dangerous
126. 4:09there was there
127. 4:13there was one
128. 4:14um
129. 4:15he volunteered for execution
130. 4:18um
131. 4:19and that's why he
132. 4:21dropped his appeals
133. 4:23because he
134. 4:26stated that if he if if he ever got out
135. 4:28he would do it again
136. 4:29what is the right thing to do with that
137. 4:31kind of person based on what you've seen
138. 4:34in your
139. 4:36i don't know how to describe it
140. 4:38incredible life experience well i've
141. 4:40also
142. 4:42i've also come in contact with
143. 4:45individuals who are in prison rightfully
144. 4:47they're on death row
145. 4:50and
146. 4:51they make no
147. 4:53attempt
148. 4:54to
149. 4:56profess their innocence
150. 4:58they just would prefer
151. 5:01life
152. 5:02as opposed to death
153. 5:04but someone who would
154. 5:07make a statement like that to kill
155. 5:09someone that's
156. 5:10put in the cell with them
157. 5:15just leave them in the cell by
158. 5:16themselves
159. 5:18you you let them out at appropriate
160. 5:20times you don't just
161. 5:21lock them in a hole and forget about
162. 5:23them you know if
163. 5:25if i was to do that or you were to do
164. 5:28that to someone
165. 5:29in your home you would go to prison for
166. 5:31that
167. 5:32it's inhumane
168. 5:35thank you