THE DEATH CHAMBER
"Shirley Style"

by Timothy J. Muise
PO Box 1218
Shirley, MA 01464

You want to see injustice? Listen up. Here at the Hospital Unit (HSU) at MCI Shirley prison you will find that blatant injustice in the new "Death Chamber". This death chamber is a series of five (5) man dormitories where they (the draconian warden and deputy warden) lock the sick, elderly and infirm away: out of sight of any compassionate and humane folk. Allow me to give you a few examples of the slow death penalty these men are being subjected to.

FS has been in prison since 1972. He has been eligible for parole since 1987. At this point he has 40 straight years in prison. During his stay in the death chamber he has had feces left in his adult diaper for 36 hours, causing a rash that tore 30 square inches of skin from his posterior. Ants were found down the front of his diaper eating food that had fallen down there due to his inability to properly feed himself while left unattended by medical staff. His life revolved around his ability to go to Church at that point, but when the evil warden and her evil deputy found out that FS was reporting his abuse to other men at Church they immediately restricted him to the HSU and we have not seen him in months. Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do.

JR is left bloody and soiled for hours at a time. Due to his dementia's violent side effects most of the nursing staff avoids him like the proverbial plague. This avoidance allowed "maggots" to form in his diaper. That's right: MAGGOTS! These maggots came from improperly stored hazardous waste which was kept in the next room. This waste festered in the heat and the flies that gathered on that waste made their way under the door, into JR's room, and then laid their eggs in his diaper. Are we not human? How can this happen? Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do.

WB was severely beaten by a 39 year old weightlifter. WB was 72 years old at the time. He was thrown in an "isolation" cell in the death chamber and denied his life sustaining medication. This denial brought on six (6) separate major heart episodes which required outside hospital attention and surgical procedures. All during this time WB had done nothing wrong except to get beaten by a drunken weightlifter. The drunk was transferred to a better prison and WB was issued a disciplinary report for "fighting". It is insane. WB was later found not guilty of the charges (of course he was not guilty - he is 72) but still experienced continued incidents of medication denial. He eventually escaped the death chamber but knows that he could be returned at any time. Forgive them, Lord.

If you thought the death penalty was abolished in Massachusetts, you thought wrong. It is alive and well at MCI Shirley and is administered each and every day in a slow, grueling, and methodical process: death by a thousand cuts. The torturers leave the prison and take this hatred to the streets. Beaten wives, abused children, and drunken debauchery are left in their wake. Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do, but also afford me the strength to battle them.