ENGLISH SPEECH
Imagine yourself in a room, 12 feet long by 6 feet wide. You're sitting on
a metal bed bolted to the floor with a thin foam cushion. The only other
things in the room are a table and a chair, a sink and a toilet. There is
no window, only a small faint light on the ceiling. You spend all of your
time in this room, you have no choice. This is your dining room, your den,
your bedroom and your bathroom. You are allowed to read and write letters
in this room. You cannot entertain guests in this room, you must go
somewhere else for that, in a room with a mesh screen for you to sit
behind, where you are constantly watched over. Even though this is your
bathroom, it has no shower stall or bathtub, but once a week you are
allowed to leave this room to take a shower.
Your days are spent inside
this room reading, thinking and worrying. You aren't in any ordinary room,
you're in a cell on death row. A cell reserved for people who were
sentenced to death for committing a crime. Death could be by firing squad,
lethel injection, the gas chamber or electric chair. Chances are you've
been in this room for many years and will be for many more. your lawyers
have began the lenghthly appeal process. Once all the appeals have failed,
it soon is time, and you will be moved to a holding cell. There you will
be offered your final mean, of your choice. Your last visitors arrive,
first your lawyer, your family members and at last a preist who prays with
you. You take your final glance around the room, as you are lead to
another room close by, the execution room.