Interview with Sandie, Death Row Advocate

I met Sandie on Myspace. We clicked on each others page to become friends. We had one thing in common right from the start. We were both prison reformists. Sandie had one of the most effective activist pages I had seen, and it was loaded with Capital offense information. Sandie is also an advocate for death row inmates, and began doing pages for them also, to make their cases known.

Sandie is a 44 year old beautiful women who lives in the UK. A mother of two children, a daughter and a son. She is interested in UK criminal and employment law, and also interested in the prison system.

Sandie has taken some time off from work and is planning a return visit to the USA to marry the death row man she has fallen in love with, Chucky Mamou .

Here is my email interview with Sandie:

1. Sandie, What sparked your interest in the death penalty?

Well, this is going to be a long story but I'll try to keep it as brief as is possible. OK when I was 4 and a half years old I was diagnosed with leukemia, I had chemotherapy, blood transfusions, I suffered with it throughout my school life, I was then given up to the age of 12 year old to live, however I survived that year and went past it, I still look back now and remember the times that I didn't bother doing my homework as I used to think what's the point I wont be there tomorrow to hand it in, I'll be dead. Whilst in the early stages of leukemia, my grandparents were friendly with some prison guards here in UK, those prison guards must have said something to a few inmates, those inmates made me little gifts, which I kept all those years but then was lost in transit when I moved into a home before this one. Which as I got older I realized that not all inmates are bad, they have hearts, I grew up with my cousins being in and out of prison, I knew they were not bad people, they were my family who I loved very much. But going back to my illness I often wonder how those guys on death row feels when they are given their date to die, I sat around waiting for mine, so in a way even though different circumstances I feel their pain, their worry, and how scared they must feel, I know I did. Sat around waiting to die. However I'm fully cured, just over 17 years now. But also growing up I learnt about my grandfathers nephew, my fathers cousin, Reginald Woolmington, here in UK, he was sentenced to death, (to be hung) Reginald became the first man in English history to be set free from the gallows. His case was Woolmington v Dpp 1935, there is a lot on the Internet about his case. His case brought in the INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY, beyond reasonable doubt, the golden thread of law. After hearing things from my father, and visiting Reginalds brother, I learnt that mistakes can happen, there was a struggle over a gun, the gun went off, killing his wife, he went to his wifes mothers house to try and get his wife back as they had separated, he tried all ways to win her back, in the end his last thought was if he said he would kill himself it might make her come back to him, so he went to the house with the gun threatening to kill himself, except his wife tried to get the gun away from him and it went off, yet he was sentenced to death. So with all this in the past, help me understand. For years I wanted to write to prisoners in the USA and death row, at the time I didn't know how to go about it, then out of the blue someone gave me a penpal site to go to and that's how I got started.

2. How long have you been advocating for death row inmates, and in what ways have you done so?

Death row Inmates I would say 14 months, but prison inmates nearly 2 years.
Sometimes its just writing letters to them, sometimes they ask me if I can type up things for them, or looking at past cases similar to theirs, writing letters to organizations, sending out petitions, writing to newspapers in the UK to see if they can bring awareness on certain inmates, recently I was asked if I could help an inmate from Arizona, he was given a 40 years sentence for protecting himself and someone else, he didn't know what to do, so much money had been exchanged into a lawyers hand which in fact that lawyer didn't do what he said would do, so his family lost a lot of money, so I found a lawyers organization that may be able to help him. If I cant help them I try to pass them onto someone that maybe able to help them.

3. There was a recent controversy about inmate pages on Myplace, how were you involved?

Oh that, do you mean the Fox news deal, well OK I run a few Death row inmates pages, also at the moment 3 general population inmates pages, the general population inmates pages are purely for penpals to write to them, well Fox news did an article which involved a certain man, who did not want the inmates myspace pages on the Internet, various inmates pages were shown on the TV, they then Brought up a lot about Charles Mamou, (Chucky) I run Chuckys page, they then showed my page and said Chucky's page is maintained by a woman in the UK named Sandie, and put my photo up, was this supposed to deter me, no, as I see it, inmates have no access to the Internet and the pages on myspace are run by families, loved ones, and supporters of a particular inmate. They mentioned that at no time were the victims of the alleged murderer mentioned on their pages, however if we had done that, that would too be wrong. Most of the pages are purely for us to voice more awareness of what really does go on, or asking for some help even for people to write to, as in Texas the guys are locked up in their cells, 22-23 hours a day, they still need contact with friends in the freeworld. Sometimes the guys sends us poems, or some writings to put on their pages. A certain gentleman then said about children or under 18s viewing the inmates pages, well I am a mother, as far as I'm concerned I would want my son to see the pages, and understand it more. However my 8 year old son does not use the computer. But parents have that right. People do not have to view the pages, they don't even have to come to our pages.

4. I understand you visited the US and Texas Death row. Could you tell us how the visit was and who did you visit on Texas Death Row?

The visit itself went well I had planned to see two, but only ended up seeing Charles Mamou, because I went sooner than I was going to go, a couple others didn't have me on their visitation list in time, however when I go again next month that will be different as I'll be visiting a couple more. But the prisoners have no contact visits at all, I think that Texas death row is the only death row facility that doesn't have contact visits, I maybe wrong. You sit there at the booth, the guards then bring the inmates to you in handcuffs, they put them inside this pokey little booth, shut and lock the door, the inmate then has to bow down (his hands are behind his back), and put his hands through like a letter box thing and then the handcuffs are removed. You then pick up a phone and talk to the inmate via a phone. You can buy food for the inmate, but you have to put the money in the vending machine, and the visitation officer takes the items of food out and puts into a brown bag, this is then given to a guard who takes it to the inmate that you are visiting. Whilst I was at visit with Chucky on the day of 7th February it was Chucky's friend execution date, it was a sad time, the inmates family was there, they came over to speak to me, it was so hard, what could I say to a mother, and the inmates sister who a few hours later would see their son and brother be put to death, it was a feeling I will never ever forget. It is sometimes difficult talking on the phone as there is no real privacy at all, you hear others around you talking to the inmates that they are visiting, you try to shut the back ground noise off but it is difficult. But Chucky was ol Chucky he tried to keep his humor up, but I could see the eyes and the eyes don't lie, but ol Chucky loves his food. He ate quite a bit. I saw Chucky on 4 x 4 hour visits, and 2 regular visits of 2 hours each, the last visit I had with Chucky was very ,very emotional, as I knew that evening I would be flying back to the UK, we didn't really talk much at that last visit, it was difficult, I'll be honest with you all, I sat there feeling helpless I felt I wanted to break that dam glass in and give him a hug, even though I wouldn't have done that, its how a lot of people feel that visit Texas death row. Then it was time to leave, tears welled up, but I tried to cover my tears by making some stupid remarks, I always said to myself that I wouldn't look back as I walked out of the visitation room, but I automatically turned around, and just saw Chucky stood there watching me leave, I waved and blew a kiss to him, and walked out that room.

5. How was you treated by the CO's?

Well, I know some may not hear this very often, but I also visited 3 other prisons whilst in the USA and even in Texas death row, they were very polite, and as you walked by they would say hello, the officers in the visitation room was really friendly and very nice to me. I wasn't expecting that to be honest. One prison I went to, the visitation officer said to me, we think you should stick around a little longer, I thought ohhhh why, he said so we can hear more of your accent haha, but I had no problem with any of the C.O's in the prisons or Texas death row. But that is visitation we do not see what goes on behind those closed doors.

6. I understand you are to be married to an inmate on death row in Texas. Who is he and how long have you known him? Are you his advocate?

Chucky, have known him just over a year, I do his website and myspace page, and now and again he may ask me to look into things for him.

7. How will the marriage take place and where?

The marriage is done by what they call Proxy, it will be in Livingston Texas, It was going to be June but delayed it to maybe December as I have some personal things that have to be sorted first at home in uk. But Chucky will not be able to attend, I have to have a stand in for him.

8. There is a stereotype about women who have romances, and sometimes marry death row inmates and they are sometimes called "death row groupies," Could you clear this up for us? The readers want to know why and how this happens.

I don't really know about the groupies, but the women I know which some are my friends they really do love their husbands. I remember one lady saying to me once, she would have still felt the same about him even if she had met him in a corner shop. Some women feel they cannot meet anyone in the freeworld I suppose, and then they befriend an inmate, but really its not so wrong as both the inmate and the lady does get some happiness from that.

9. What will be the most difficult thing being married to an inmate on death row?

OK the most difficult thing is not being to hold him, to touch him, to do the normal things that a marriage usually bring, or should bring. To do things together even the simple things like going shopping or going out with the kids for the day. But also the problems that you face by pro death penalties supporters or people that is just not in agreement with you marrying a death row inmate, I don't see Chucky as a death row inmate, I see him as a loving Man, a man that shown me so much love a man that makes me laugh, and yes sometimes I get angry at him, but that would be no different if he was in the freeworld. But I fell in love with his heart, Chucky as a person.

10. Do you have anything you wish to say about your future husband's case?

Not at this point in time, as legal matters are on going.

11. What do you want the readers to know about Capital Punishment?

Capital Punishment is wrong, it does not deter crime, all it is doing is teaching the youngsters of today that it is right to kill. I do feel for the victims and their families, but the inmates have families and friends too, they too are the victims. The death penalty should be reviewed now before its too late and before any more innocent lives are put to death. When people are exonerated after they have been giving that lethal injection, ones that were found to be innocent, its too late, you cant bring them back. That is why the UK abolished the death penalty, after an English case back in 1953 Bentley, 46 years later he was exonerated, too late for him though. 80- 100 men are on death row who has never ever killed anyone who has the law of parties statute against them, meaning they may have been present at the scene of the crime, yet they did not do the killing. So in fact they are innocent of that crime, and are still given the death sentence, this is wrong, and this statute should be looked at in a big way, and more people should be made aware of this statute.

12. Thank you for this interview, and at this time if there is anything you wish to add, please do so.

Please help end the death penalty.