P R E S S   R E L E A S E
from
F L O R I D I A N S   FOR   A L T E R N A T I V E S
                                   TO THE DEATH PENALTY   (FADP)

15 July 2004

CONTACT:
Abe Bonowitz: 561-371-5204 (mobile)
Hannah Floyd: 904-964-4303
***See additional resources below***

ACTIVISTS TO ASK GOVERNOR BUSH TO ALLOW FANS ON DEATH ROW
Open Office Hours provides rare opportunity for continued dialog....

After being repeatedly denied the opportunity to meet with lower level 
staff at both the Governor's office and the Florida Department of 
Corrections, activists concerned with illegal and unhealthy conditions on 
Florida's death row plan to raise their concerns directly with Governor 
Bush at today's Open Office Hours at Defuniak Springs.

"While most of the wings at Union Correctional Facility are so well air 
conditioned the prisoners have to sleep in their clothes, the death row 
wings have no air conditioning at all," said Hannah Floyd, coordinator of 
the Florida Death Row Advocacy Group (www.FDRAG.org).  "Ever since the 
lawsuit was filed, the prison has even shut off air flow to the death row 
cells.  The men on death row are reduced to standing in their toilets, 
lying on the floor, and wrapping themselves in wet sheets in their attempts 
to keep their body temperature down."

A lawsuit (Chandler v. Crosby) seeking relief from the heat was filed by 
death row prisoners several years ago and was denied.  Lawyers for the 
prisoners have appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th 
Circuit.  A ruling from that court is expected at any time.  In an 
unrelated case in Mississippi, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th 
Circuit last month handed down the most comprehensive U.S. legal decision 
concerning death row conditions for a decade.  Among other issues, the 
unanimous ruling by the three-judge panel ordered the state to provide 
inmates with fans and ice water whenever the heat index reaches 90 degrees 
Fahrenheit and to measure the temperature four times a day during the summer.

Meanwhile, the oppressive heat continues at Florida's death row prisons, 
and prisoners have been asking friends and relatives to contact the 
Governor and ask him for relief.  Activists will present the Governor with 
a sample "security fan" exactly like that which is used by prisoners in 
their cells on death row in Texas and in prisons in a number of other 
states.  They have raised pledges of enough money to donate a fan for every 
death row prisoner, but requests to discuss the issue with Department of 
Corrections officials have been denied.

"Our colleagues at the Florida Catholic Conference are shocked that they 
cannot even get in the door to discuss this matter," said Abe Bonowitz, 
director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.  "The 
gate-keepers want to wait for Chandler v. Crosby to be decided, and 
meanwhile there is no relief for the prisoners.  These men were sentenced 
to be killed by lethal injection, not by heat stroke.  We hope the Governor 
will have compassion and allow us to donate these fans."

Members of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) and the 
Florida Death Row Advocacy Group began arriving this morning in the tiny 
and isolated town of Defuniak Springs in the Florida pan handle east of 
Pensacola in anticipation of meeting with Governor Bush and Lt. Governor 
Jennings.   The officials will hold a rare "Open Office Hours" at the 
Walton County Courthouse on Thursday, July 15, 2004.  "Open Office Hours" 
allows citizens who wait on line to have five minute one-on-one meetings 
with either the Governor or the Lt. Governor on a first come, first served 
basis.

During their meetings with the Governor and the Lt. Governor, activists 
will also present the elected officials with yet another batch of petitions 
from thousands of Florida citizens calling for an immediate and indefinite 
"Time-Out" on executions.  They will ask the Governor for his reactions - 
assuming he made good on his promise to watch a very brief (13 minutes) 
video documentary featuring former warden Don Cabana in which he discusses 
the brutalization effect of executions on the prison workers who carry out 
the extermination of prisoners, and the trepidation he feels at the 
possibility that he executed an innocent man.  The video was given to Bush 
at the Open Office Hours in December in Mayo.  Copies of the video are 
available to the media by e-mailing name, agency, and address to 
<fadp@fadp.org>.  Finally, activists will ask Governor Bush, once again, to 
engage in a public debate on this issue so that Floridians might understand 
some of the well-obscured facts about the death penalty, and thus be better 
able to decide if they still sanction "The Ultimate Penalty."

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

The Florida Justice Institute represents the prisoners in the heat 
lawsuit.  Contact FJI at 305-358-2081

Shiela Hopkins, Associate for Social Concerns at the Florida Catholic 
Conference, has been repeatedly denied meetings on this issue:  Contact the 
FCC at 850-222-3803


*****************


SENT BY:

Abraham J. Bonowitz
Director

           Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP)

           800-973-6548    http://www.fadp.org    <fadp@fadp.org>
                 PMB 335, 2603 DR. Martin Luther King Jr. Hwy
	                      Gainesville, FL  32609

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty works for restorative
justice in the form of effective alternatives to the death penalty.  It
does so by
     # supporting and coordinating the work of organizations and individuals
     # educating and energizing the general public and state legislators
     # supporting the many persons affected by capital crime and punishment
     # advocating specific legislative improvements