5 November 201116 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Two HMP Preston officers charged after death of inmate

all credits: BBC News
published: 2nd November 2011

Two prison officers have been charged following the death of an inmate at a Lancashire jail. Christopher Oldham, 36, was found hanging in his cell in HMP Preston on 21 April. He was on remand, accused of perverting the course of justice. Shaun Percy, 49, of Walton-le-Dale, is charged with misconduct in public office. He has been suspended.

His wife, Lisa, also 49, is charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. She is also suspended. Both are due to appear before Preston magistrates on 21 November.

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5 October 201116 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Mourners call for abolishing death penalty at funeral for Troy Davis in Georgia

originally by: Democracy Now!
published: 3rd October 2011

This weekend in Savannah, Georgia, Troy Anthony Davis was laid to rest. Davis was killed by lethal injection in Jackson, Georgia on Sept. 21 after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stop his execution.

The 2,000-seat Jonesville Baptist Church was filled to capacity for his funeral. While his body was being lowered into the burial ground, 23 doves were released. The first was symbolic of his spirit, and the remaining 22 represented each year Davis spent in prison.

He was convicted of the 1989 killing of an off-duty police officer, Mark MacPhail. Since then, seven of the nine witnesses have recanted their testimony, and there was no physical evidence that tied Davis to the crime scene.

1 October 201116 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Wardens who protested Troy Davis’s execution: are a rare breed…

originally by: The Nation
published: 24th September 2011

In the waning hours of protests against the execution on Troy Davis by the state of Georgia last Wednesday, one action drew particular notice: a group of six former wardens and correctional officials pleading for clemency and suggesting that prison staffers be allowed to refuse to take part in the death process.

“While most of the prisoners whose executions we participated in accepted responsibility for the crimes for which they were punished,” the wardens’ statement read, “some of us have also executed prisoners who maintained their innocence until the end. It is those cases that are most haunting to an executioner….