John Booth is in his mid-50s. He has salt-and-pepper hair that is parted in the middle and braided in two parts that lie close to his temples. His poignant brown eyes are widely set, and his thick lips are turned up in a small smile. He is outfitted in khaki scrubs, a frayed white tank undershirt, gold chains and two large gold rings that rest on his right pinkie.
Mr. Booth is currently one of five death row inmates in Maryland, housed in the "super-max" prison in Baltimore. He has been on Maryland's death row for 24 years. Booth was convicted of a robbery/murder in 1983, and since then Maryland has spent $3.2 million on his death sentence, only a fraction of the $22.4 million it would cost to incarcerate death row inmates for life since the 1978 reinstatement of the death penalty in Maryland.
The process to get in to visit Booth is like airport security on acid. Visitors are not allowed to bring anything into the visiting room, must successfully walk through a metal detector, must submit to a strip search if asked and then must walk through a series of six gates that slide open and closed. Then a guard directs the visitor into the visiting room.
When Booth tells his story, he sits in a long, narrow visiting room, only about 3 by 12 feet, fluorescently lit and separated in the middle by bullet-proof glass. He must communicate through a speaker system as two guards listen to and observe his conversations.
Booth has been in the prison system the majority of his life. Seventh grade was the last schooling he completed in a traditional setting. He spent time in juvenile detention centers, was involved in a fight in which someone lost an eye and then was arrested in the robbery/murder case. However, while in jail, he has participated in book drives for inner city schools and a program designed to prevent other youth from following his path by locking up these troubled youths so they have clear understanding of where their path is leading them.
When asked how he is treated, Booth grimaces, responding, "They dehumanize me."
In the hour the death row inmates are allowed to spend outside each day, they are not free to roam the yard like typical inmates. Instead, they are contained in large kennel-like pens, with grating on one side to allow fresh air to enter. Their cells do not have bars, but solid metal doors with a window that is about 6 by 15 inches. Booth says oftentimes guards look into his cell while he is taking a shower, urinating or defecating.
Even though many guards have worked at the penitentiary for years, Booth does not attempt to have amiable relationships with them. He does this to limit the pain involved in his impending execution, because any one of them could get the order to handcuff him and lead him out of his cell for his final walk. By the same thought process, Booth's family has stopped routinely visiting him. As each appeal is defeated and execution dates are set, his sentence becomes more real, making visits much more agonizing, especially for his aging mother.
Booth's case faces an interesting problem when it comes to appeals. Life without the possibility of parole was not a sentencing option in Maryland until 1987 and, according to the law, sentences that were not available at the original sentencing hearing are not available for resentencing in the appeal process. So when jurors ask whether or not Booth would be able to get out of prison eventually if they revoke his death sentence, the answer is yes, because in Booth's case the highest sentencing option besides the death penalty is a life sentence with the possibility of parole.
Currently, there is a moratorium on executions in the state of Maryland under Governor Martin O'Malley. This stay was invoked for two reasons. The first was the public release of the Paternoster Report in 2003, which shows that in the majority of murder cases in Maryland when there was a white victim the prosecution team was more likely to ask for the death penalty. The second reason is that the execution manual used in Maryland may be unconstitutional or because some officials did not sign off on the manual before it was placed in use. These issues prompted a death penalty repeal bill in the Maryland's General Assembly this spring, but on March 15 the bill failed with a tied vote.
AU is participating in Death Penalty Awareness Week from April 2 to 6. The AU Chapter of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, co-facilitated by Daniel Guarnera and Caroline Barrett, is sponsoring activities on campus and will be tabling on the quad throughout the week.
