In Leaving Death Row Is Blessing and Curse, New York Times Reporter Jodi Willgren explains that "for some of the fomerly condemned prisoners in Illinois, a sentence of life in prison is an unappealing alternative to life on death row." They're leaving their family of firends, their guards who made sure they took their medicine and exercised, their own cells.

It is not that Danny Edwards wants to die, per se, it is just that he does not want to leave death row.

The guards here know about his heart condition and make sure Mr. Edwards exercises daily, regardless of weather. His 8-by-13-foot cell with the metal bed frame is not much, but at least it is his alone. The condemned share a bond, "like one big family," Mr. Edwards said — a family about to be broken up. And without a looming execution, he could lose his free appellate lawyer, who he still hopes will win him a new trial.

"I'm not thrilled about spending the rest of my life in prison — who would be?" Mr. Edwards, 46, said this morning in an interview at Pontiac Correctional Center, where officials have begun dismantling death row.

Mr. Edwards is one of about 20 condemned inmates who did not file petitions for clemency but nonetheless were included when Gov. George Ryan issued a blanket commutation of the state's death sentences. Mr. Edwards had even written to Mr. Ryan, urging him not to spare his life.

In other words, not all of the prisoners on death row want the life sentences handed them by Governor Ryan's clemency decision last week.

Reaction on the row here at Pontiac, 100 miles southwest of Chicago, was some clapping and a "Thank God" or two, Mr. Edwards said. In the days since, the formerly condemned have fretted over being split up and sent to Menard Correctional Center in the far south of the state, adjusting to bunk beds and to sharing a cell.

"I'm not looking forward to group showers," Mr. Edwards said. "The down side is I'm going to have a cellie. The good part is I'm going to have a little job."

Already, Mr. Edwards and the others are being treated differently, allowed to meet visitors without their hands cuffed to their waists. Mr. Edwards celebrated the new freedom throughout an hourlong conversation, waving his arms, slapping the table, pointing fingers.

"I can't wait until my mom comes and I can give her a big hug," he said. "I haven't hugged my mom in 15 years."

The Washington Post has a similar article, Off Illinois Death Row, To A Rougher Place, that explains:

The convicted murderers whose sentences were commuted last weekend are no longer facing death, but for many of them, day-to-day life will be much rougher, and possibly more violent, according to people familiar with conditions in the state's prisons.

Isolated from each other and from the general prison population, Illinois's death row inmates have led a life at once more restricted, but also more physically secure, settled and sedate than that of thousands of other maximum-security prisoners.

On death row they have been confined behind bars 23 hours a day, deprived of work and educational programs and shackled hand and foot when ushered to meet visitors.

But they also have their own cells, meals delivered by guards, and reasonably good access to art supplies, reading material and telephones. Many are ministered to regularly by an array of churches, religious groups and organizations opposed to the death penalty. And virtually all enjoy the comfort of knowing that prison enemies cannot easily knife, beat, rape or intimidate them. Much of that will now be lost as they face life terms without in overcrowded, hellishly hot prisons.

"There is a kind of security in death row which is uncommon," Nordgaard said. "I mean, they'll have their lives, but those new lives are in a maximum-security prison, which I wouldn't want to be in for 24 hours, to tell you the truth."

....In recent days, Fairchild said, prison authorities have doubled the number of psychiatrists and psychologists on duty in death row; they are on the alert for mood swings and to prevent suicides.

Fairchild said he expected some death row inmates, fearing for their lives once they are integrated into the general prison population, to seek protective custody. He also said all of them would undergo an orientation to prepare for life in the general prison population, much as brand-new prisoners do.

So its mixed emotions for some of the inmates. Still, we think Governor Ryan did the right thing by commuting all the sentences, including those of the inmates who would rather die now.

Either way, these inmates are coming out of prison in a box. Their's is still a death sentence, it's just a question of when.

Is Charlie Rangel correct that a disproportionate number of our soldiers are black and poor? Not according to UPI, which crunches the numbers and finds it isn't so.

Contrary to popular belief, blacks have not died in combat in disproportionate numbers, even in Vietnam. Two leading military sociologists, Charles Moskos of Northwestern and John Sibley Butler of the University of Texas, researched this carefully for their 1996 book "All We Can Be: Black Leadership and Racial Integration the Army Way."

They reported, "Black fatalities amounted to 12.1 percent of all Americans killed in Southeast Asia -- a figure proportional to the number of blacks in the U.S. population at the time and slightly lower than the proportion of blacks in the Army at the close of the war."

In recent decades, blacks have tended to gravitate away from combat jobs. In arguing against Rangel's bill, the Department of Defense noted, "Blacks today account for 21 percent of the enlisted force, but make up only 15 percent of combat arms (e.g., infantry, armor, artillery)."

African-Americans make up about 13 percent of young adults, so they are still somewhat over-represented in combat positions....

Interestingly, the military today seems to attract pugnacious whites and pragmatic blacks. Analysts have suggested that more young white men see the infantry as a way, in the words of one, to "play Rambo" from age 18 to 22, then go to college using military tuition benefits. In contrast, blacks often view the military as either a long-term career in itself, or as a way to get practical training for a civilian white-collar career.

Are soldiers the products of particularly poor families? In general, the enlisted ranks come from neither the top nor the bottom of society, but from working and middle class backgrounds. Very few enlistees appear to be the scions of the wealthy. (Some officers are from rich families, however; but a larger proportion of officers are the sons and daughters of officers.) ....

In fact, on a number of measures, African-American enlistees tend to stand well above the black average and very close to, or above, the mean for white enlistees. The celebrated high degree of racial equality and amity found in the military, especially in the Army, would appear to benefit from the similar backgrounds that black and white soldiers bring to the Army.

Not only do black and white soldiers come from households of almost equal income, but their educational attainments are virtually identical. In 1994, 99 percent of black and 97 percent of white Army enlisted personnel were high school graduates, figures above the national average.

We suspect that the racial disparities came into play when there was a draft, because the affluent and connected got deferments or went into the National Guard. For the past 30 years, we've had a volunteer army, and "90 percent of black Army enlistees had their degrees, versus only about 40 percent of whites. After the large pay raises of the early 1980s, the Army was able to recruit a better-educated group of youth, so the black advantage narrowed as both groups' graduations rates approached 100 percent."

The article has lots more data, so go read the whole thing, and then come back and tell us what you think.

Here's Toby's Political Diary, 'Let it Begin Here', with a layman's view of what we might be reading in the national news in the not too distant future, based upon the Bush Administration's "unbridled" exercise of what it perceives to be its rightful executive power. We won't spoil it, as it's quite creative (and, to us, conceivable) but we will quote Toby's conclusion:

It is probably a cliché, but rights and freedoms atrophy and die unless they are strongly defended and supported. Look what is happening to affirmative action, which came into being through the civil rights movement to remedy vicious legalized discrimination, but is now dying. We have leaders who represent a throwback to a militaristic, southern aristocracy, with contempt for democratic and egalitarian values. If we don't want to live on the plantation, we had better call in the Union cavalry.

Back to the court martial trial of the American Air Force pilots who accidentally bombed Canadians last year in Afganistan while taking speed pills(dexedrine) to combat fatigue: An Air Force physician took the stand today and defended the pilots' use of speed.

An Air Force physician sang the praises on Thursday of amphetamines used by two U.S. fighter pilots who bombed a Canadian infantry unit in Afghanistan, saying fatigue, not ``speed,'' kills. Col. Pete Demitry of the Air Force Surgeon General's office told reporters that Dexedrine, which the Air Force provides for pilots making long flights, was a life saver, not a dangerous drug that distorts judgment as attorneys for pilots William Umbach and Harry Schmidt have argued.

Ok, it's not a dangerous drug that distorts judgment. It increases alertness. It prevents fatigue. So why can't everyone else have it without risking a jail sentence?

Seems to us, what's good for the goose....

The Electronic Privacy Information Center and other civil liberties groups have sent a letter to Congress calling for a prohibition on further development of the controversial Total Information Awareness (TIA) project.

Also on EPIC, this seven page letter to Attorney General Ashcroft--written by three Senators-- asking for detailed information on current "data-mining" operations, including information on practices and policies at the Department of Justice and DOJ's involvement in TIA.

We've been working today and unable to do our usual reporting and checking in with other blogs. So until we catch up in a few hours, here's the afternoon update:

Cartoonist Mark Fiore on Executions

By Recycling Pickering, Bush Resurrects Lott by Ruben Navarrette Jr., Seattle Times

(links via How Appealing)

Chicago City Council votes 46-1 to oppose war with Iraq

Sampling of this weekend's anti-war protests, Associated Press

The ACLU has a new report that says our privacy rights are being unjustly diminished and Big Brother is no longer a fiction.

The ACLU on the Rave Dismissals in Racine.

The defense team in the court-martial trial of the pilots who bombed Canadians in Afganistan, while taking "go pills" supplied by the Air Force to help them combat fatigue, blame communication errors for the mistake.

The Persecution of Pee-Wee Herman by Village Voice Columnist Richard Goldstein

And a bump to today's New York Times article on Law Professor Glenn Reyolds (Instapundit) and his new MSNBC weblog.

"Racine - Hundreds of young people who fought $968 citations for attending a rave party here won vindication in court Thursday morning when the city agreed to dismiss all of the pending tickets and to make refunds to the relatively few party-goers who had pleaded no contest and paid fines.

In addition, the city agreed to:

Not again use its "inmate of a disorderly house" ordinance for writing citations at such gatherings.

Work with the Common Council to revise the ordinance.

Train police officers so that citations will not be issued as they were at the Nov. 2 party.

Expunge the record of each person so that no record of the citations will exist.

In exchange, the Milwaukee-based American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, which negotiated the settlement, agreed not to bring a class-action civil rights lawsuit against the city."

Thanks again to our great source on this topic, Pete Karas at the Progressive Racine--he's got more, so go read him.

The Judge in the case of detained "dirty bomb" suspect Jose Padilla blasted Government lawyers yesterday for creating more obstacles to Padilla's lawyers' ability to meet with him.

The Government has contended that Padilla is an "enemy combatant" and not entitled to meet with counsel. Padilla's lawyers contend he is not a terrorist and has no information to provide the Government.

On December 4, Judge Michael Mukasey ordered the Government to allow Padilla to meet with his lawyers. He ruled that Padilla had the right to bring a habeas corpus petition to challenge his detention. The challenge will be limited to the issues of whether the Government had some evidence to support its finding that Padilla was an enemy combatant, and whether events subsequent to his detention rendered that evidence irrelevant.

Despite the Court's Order, the Government still has not allowed Padilla to meet with his counsel. At the hearing today, the Government said allowing such a meeting would jeopardize national security. The Judge didn't buy it and neither do we.

We don't see how allowing Mr. Padilla to meet with his lawyers and have a hearing on the legality of his continued detention is a threat to national security. On the other hand, keeping Padilla in indefinite detention without charges, without access to counsel and without an opportunity to be heard is a threat to the Bill of Rights and the civil liberties of all Americans.

The matter was continued until January 29.

Three cheers for Senator Russ Feingold.

Business Week reports that there is growing opposition on the Hill to the Pentagon's proposed Total Information Awareness Program. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) plans to introduce legislation today to prevent TIA from being implemented, until Congress has had sufficient time to study the datamining issues.

"If fully implemented, TIA would link databases from sources such as credit card companies, medical insurers and motor vehicle departments for police convenience in hopes of snaring terrorists. It's funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)."

The program would track consumer purchases, such as "sudden and large cash withdrawals, one-way air or rail travel, rental car transactions and purchases of firearms, chemicals or agents that could be used to produce biological or chemical weapons. It would also combine consumer information with visa records, passports, arrest records or reports of suspicious activity given to law enforcement or intelligence services."

LA Police Chief Bill Bratton unveiled a new offensive against gangs in the murder-torn city.

The latest strategy will involve pooling hundreds of officers from across the department, including detectives from homicide and narcotics units, to form gang-busting teams. They will receive help from probation and officers, prosecutors and school district officials. The teams will also work with agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. In addition, the LAPD is trying to engage members of churches and neighborhood groups to join the effort -- and to dispel the years of mistrust and rancor felt by many in the black and Hispanic neighborhoods whose residents describe the LAPD as an invading army.

This is a major restructuring of the Los Angeles Police Department. It's certainly due, as far as we're concerned. At a news conference, Chief Bratton said,

The department should shoulder blame for the city's soaring murder rate because of poor management and deployment of police officers, low morale, rogue officers, and timidity and disengagement that made anti-gang efforts ineffective.

"We got out of the business of going after gangs," Bratton said at a news conference in South Los Angeles, the neighborhood that has experienced the most violence. For example, he said, the former anti-gang squads did not work on the weekend and did not pursue drug cases.

"This department has been on the bench," Bratton said. "We've been totally out of the game when it comes to dealing with crime."

How bad is it in LA? Here are some numbers. 658 homicides, mostly centered in south and east Los Angeles, home to many of the city's poorer black and hispanic residents. 432 gangs with an estimated 52,000 gang members.

In some families, gang membership is generational, from grandfather to father to son. Most of the active members are in their teens and early twenties, after which time they are either incarcerated, retired or dead. Many gang members pursue lives of "opportunistic" crime, but they are not highly organized, like drug cartels or the Mafia. Many of the killings are reportedly over issues such as "respect" and the control of a block or corner.

In a bid for more funds, Bratton and Mayor James Hahn will go to Washington next week to meet with FBI Director Robert Mueller and Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge.

We commend Bratton's efforts to involve the community in his policing. We know he is cognizant of the tension between enforcing the law and respecting constitutional and civil rights. He's an innovative law enforcement agent. But the residents of Los Angeles have good reasons to fear the LAPD--years worth of them. We hope Bratton can earn their trust, as we see that as a critical pre-requisite to any success in restoring sanity and some semblance of order to the streets of LA.

For James Capazzola of Rittenhouse Review, one of the finest writers anywhere, please go read his exquisite tribute to his good friend Richard Silbert, who recently passed away, way too many years too soon.

You knew it was only a matter of time before conservative/libertarian (depending on the issue) Bob Barr, former Congressman, surfaced on a cable news network with a paying job. True, back in August, we thought it would be Fox. But Atrios informs us it is going to be CNN.

Now that he's out of the House, his reputation as the " worst drug warrior in Congress" no longer scares us. We've always appreciated his civil liberties positions--as does the ACLU, which put him on the payroll after his primary defeat.

Bob Barr, "contributer" to CNN and "consultant" to the ACLU. Not bad for an incumbent who lost a primary.