I went to Central Prison yesterday on a medical trip. For those who don’t know, Central Prison is in Raleigh the capital of NC. It’s the place death row is at and where people are, after much premeditation and deliberation, put to death. Although under NC law at time, I was too young to be at Central Prison that is where I was sent after being sentenced. I was processed at Polk Youth Center the same day I was sentenced so the paperwork wouldn’t show that I was illegally sent to Central Prison the next day. The intention was to feed me to the wolves and isolate me.

Raleigh is named after Sir Walter Raleigh who was put to death over accusations of Treason after Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham, Raleigh’s alleged accomplice testified against him to save his own life. One of the judges who sentenced Raleigh to death confessed on his own death bed that Raleigh’s trial was a travesty of justice because they convicted him on the word of an alleged accomplice who had the strongest incentive to lie on him, saving his own life. Although Raleigh was not allowed to confront Henry in court to cross examine him under oath, Henry’s out of court statements against Raleigh was used to send Raleigh to death row. For those of you interested in reading more about Sir Walter Raleigh’s rigged trial, google The Law of Treason, The Origins of the Confrontation Clause By Allen D. Boyer.

When I go to Central Prison it is always a thought provoking experience. It’s where I began this sentence, where my outlook on how to do time was shaped, and because Central Prison is in our state’s capital I can’t help but be reminded of the pervasive role that politics played in my conviction, and that the prison industry has always been about politics and profits. So, as a kid at Central Prison with a profound awareness that prisons are plantations, I always think “What kind of slave would you have been back then if you had been in a plantation?” The authenticity of my answer can only be tested by the way I am traveling through this experience now….. by the type of slave I am now.