| Have we forgotten that nothing exists that wasn’t first imagined? -Jy’Aire Smith, Prison Radio Correspondent |
From Prison Radio: Jy’Aire Smith-Pennick called to Prison Radio on Tuesday to express outrage over Kenneth Smith’s scheduled execution in Alabama. The execution was performed by placing a bag over his head full of nitrogen gas. This experimental and untested method of capital punishment was allowed to proceed despite pressure and protest. Experts from the U.N. Human Rights Council expressed grave concern that Alabama’s actions are torture and could violate their proscription on “cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.” The American Veterinary Medical Association stated that nitrogen gas is unacceptable for the euthanasia of animals because it causes panic, distress, and seizures. News media reported that Smith suffered a prolonged period of struggle against the effects of the nitrogen gas. The idea that he was not conscious or did not experience suffocation, was disproved. The attorney general claimed that nitrogen would “cause unconsciousness within seconds, and cause death within minutes”. Unwavering Alabama AG Steve Marshall in the wake of the execution notes that this method is “easy to carry out” and “humane and effective” despite what was visible to everyone who saw Smith struggling. Their blatant disregard for criticism, evidence, and the actual result of the execution shows that Alabama doesn’t care about the torture of its victims, just the macabre display of finality. |
| Jy’Aire expressed outrage and disbelief that we could be living in a time characterized by such glaring hypocrisy, pointing out that the state condemns murder only to take it upon itself to decide who lives and who dies. He compares the experimental method of execution being tested in Alabama to international war crimes and notes that even animals being euthanized are allowed to die with more dignity than prisoners sentenced to death in the U.S. |
This execution, which occurred on Thursday, brings into focus many states’ continuing use of the death penalty despite opposition from the public, medical and ethical critiques, outrage over racial disparities in its application, and clear evidence that it does little to deter violent crime.
The justifications for state violence are again and again proven to be false, overinflated, and unable to keep our communities safe.
Jy’Aire has called in and commented on this topic in the past. In his commentary on Prison Abolition from October 2022, he references Angela Davis’ book, Are Prisons Obsolete? To break down the assumption that prisons and police keep communities safe and deter crime. He highlights how underlying inequities continue the cycles of incarceration and recidivism. He analyzes the profitability of carceral institutions as a driving force of punitive systems of criminal justice. Finally, he asks us to imagine a world without prisons. Read an excerpt from his excellent piece below.
Amplifying Jy’Aire’s message from inside prison, bringing the challenge and the hope for a better world to listeners and communities on the outside, is what Prison Radio is all about. We want to bridge the ruptures created by the prison industrial complex and support those on the inside to lead us in the struggle for abolition.
“I know the opposition, that being those who are in support of warehousing human beings, are listening to this saying, but what about crime? Well, there’s a little bit of food for thought. In order for a person to go to jail or prison, they have to get convicted. Prior to that conviction is criminal charges, right? And in order for a person to be charged, they must first be arrested.
But wait, a person isn’t arrested until the police are dispatched and officers arrive on the scene. Typically the police don’t arrive until the crime has occurred. My point is this, police and prisons alike are not preventative, but rather they are reactionary.
Both prison and police are respondents of the crimes committed. So. For those walking around with this fictitious belief that prisons deter crime, I have to respectfully disagree. Yet and still, the looming question remains, what about crime? Well, for starters, we can begin with addressing some of the underlying issues plaguing our society, communities of color in particular.
Issues such as the lack of employment opportunities that offer livable wages, underfunded schools without data curriculum, and of course, poverty, which I believe is concentrated, but that’s a conversation for another day. These issues breed crime when left unaddressed. Currently, we have a system that places way too much emphasis on punishment.”
Jy’Aire’s commentaries consistently imagine accountability and healing at the center of the justice process, and he reminds us that the beginning of creating a better world is imagining that one is possible. His commentary joins a host of advocates, protesters, and prisoners speaking out against the centrality of cruel and punitive measures in the U.S. criminal (in)justice system. In addition to his Prison Radio commentaries, Jy’Aire has contributed articles to the Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. Read his work here.
You can write to him at:
Smart Communications/PA DOC
Jy’Aire Smith / #ND7319
SCI Chester
PO Box 33028
St Petersburg, Florida 33733
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 