********    HEAT CAN CAUSE VIOLENCE    *********

First let's establish that it is hot in the cells:

Warden Rathmann on Heat

Death Row Poet Strikes Again

In FEBRUARY 1st, 2004, Death Row Poet, Ronald Clark Jr. was part of a 10 day hunger strike protesting conditions in Maximum Management, Q-Wing at Florida State Prison.  On July 1st, 2004 Mr. Clark plans to do it again, this time in protest of the unrelenting heat, the lack of circulating air that re-occurs every summer, the administrations' decision not to sell fans in the canteen, and other cruel decisions and harsh conditions in Florida state prisons.

I don't know if you realize what kind of danger Mr. Clark is putting himself in by standing up in protest, but he certainly understands the retaliation that lies in wait for him. He's been through it before. Everyone in Florida who knows anything about the prison system knows how personally most prison workers take this kind of action. Bad apples among the prison workers in Florida have made the state infamous in cases such as the Killing of Frank Valdes and the ongoing and worsening mistreatment of its prisoners. The prison administration and it's workers do not take kindly to dissent nor publicity of their flaws.

But Ronald Clark Jr. is not an ordinary inmate.  He has declined appeals of his death sentence, stating "To each his own.  I know it's not a 130-mile-an-hour motorcycle ride where I'm just flirting with death.  Nope!  I'm fixing to meet death head on, grab it, and dance with it."

Ronald Clark Jr. doesn't waste his remaining time feeling hopeless and helpless: He dedicates what time he has left to trying to improve the system for other people in prison.

"I really wish Ronnie would not do this because I am worried about him but I know that he believes in what he is doing and that he has to follow his heart" Ronald's mother states.  "That's my son and yes I am proud of him and love him very much. I would be willing to speak to anyone about Ronnie to help him get his message out to the public."

The Hunger Strike begins on July 1st, 2004.  Contacts for the strike are:

CONTACTS FOR THIS STRIKE WILL BE