Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Sandrine Ageorges writes from France


Dear All,

Today, TDC decided to hear the voice of reason and I wanted to thank all for your support. It meant a lot to me personally and I am sure it means even more to the men and women on death row. I feel no sense of victory and none of us should, but a strong sign that we must open and maintain the dialog with both TDC and the Polunsky Warden to resolve such matters peacefully before it gets out of control.

I would like to add that it is vital for ALL visitors (from overseas or otherwise) to strictly respect the rules (correspondance and visitation). We have lost many privileges over the years because visitors violated the rules, sometimes purposely, sometimes in good faith. Someone new to this may feel that by cheating the system they have won something, but believe me we all lose in the long term and mostly our friends on the row are the big losers. Respect works both ways, whether we like or not. If a rule change seems necessary we can all work together with the proper authorites to implement chages, breaking the rules adds unnecessary pressure for all concerned.

To conclude I would like to add that at no point did I feel that Warden Massey was at fault, merely enforcing a system, maybe over-zealous and under a lot of pressure, but certainly I hope he won't be sanctionned for it. In his days as assistant warden at the same unit, he was a decent man, fair and open to conversation, let's hope that now we will get back to productive conversation rather than one-sided decisions.

Anyway, thank you all very much for your support. The petition will be closed tonight now that TDC has officially anounced the change of policy. Let's be sensible about the whole thing, enjoy your visits and don't play with fire.

Best to you all.

Sandrine Ageorges
-sandrine.ageorges(At)free.fr
-

Picture:
Bob Wakfer & Sandrine Ageorges meet Governor Ryan at the Texas Coalition Against the Death Penalty Conference -- January 29, 2005

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