[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 130 (Tuesday, October 2, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1757]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 VERMONT HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT CONGRESSIONAL TOWN MEETING, SEPTEMBER 11, 
                                  2001

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 2, 2001

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, today I recognize the outstanding work done 
by participants in my Student Congressional Town Meeting held this 
summer. These participants were part of a group of high school students 
from around Vermont who testified about the concerns they have as 
teenagers, and about what they would like to see government do 
regarding these concerns.
  I am asking that these statements be printed in the Congressional 
Record, as I believe that the views of these young persons will benefit 
my colleagues.

On Behalf of Ethan Casavant and Jaime Santerre--Regarding Education in 
                      Vermont Prisons, May 7, 2001

       Jamie Santerre. Ethan and I visited the Chittenden Regional 
     Correctional facility.
       Ethan Casavant. We spoke with Mary Tripp, a teacher at the 
     facility, one of three. There is her and John Long, who are 
     both full-time teachers, and there is one who is based on 
     independent study and special ed. I don't remember her name, 
     though.
       Jamie Santerre. The facility was built in the late 1970s. 
     In the 1980s, the facility had an open library, where people 
     who went there could only, get their GEDS. And the classes 
     that they have now, which are like math, social studies, art, 
     English and science, they started in 1998, where anyone under 
     22 without a high school diploma had to attend in an attempt 
     to get their high school diploma.
       Ethan Casavant. Just to touch up on that a little bit,, 
     even if, say, you are 16 years old and you drop out of high 
     school and end up going to the prison system, you have to go 
     back to the schools to graduate or get your diploma. They 
     won't let you just get off of it or get out of it. But, 
     anyway, the classes are Monday through Friday, like any other 
     school. There is independent study and regular class, like 
     three, four people to a class. There is three classrooms, an 
     art room, and one with science and social studies, that you 
     can't do labs or like chemistry or physics or anything like 
     that, because they can't trust the inmates with any of those 
     materials. The materials are also supplied to them for free 
     so that they can, you know, use them all and learn just like 
     anybody else. They have a library that they can use. For 
     resources, they have some computers, but they don't have 
     Internet access for safety reasons, or any of that. Anything 
     they need to download off the Net, the teachers do before the 
     classes and go over it. The Vermont Correctional Facilities 
     school system are the only schools in the state that require 
     literacy competency before you graduate. Any other high 
     school, you don't have to be fully literate to graduate. And 
     Mary Trip, the teacher we talked to, said that about 20 
     percent of the population of the inmates attend class 
     regularly. And if you get the diploma from their high school, 
     you have just as good a chance of getting a job as you would 
     from graduating from any other school. You know, you might 
     just not like it for personal satisfaction.

                                  ____
                                  

   On Behalf of Derek Wong, Drew Arnold, Tericia Savaglio, and Alex 
  Whittelseui Regarding Broadcasting Executions to the Public, May 7, 
                                  2001

       Alex Whittelseui. We are from Rice High School, obviously, 
     and our topic was the issue of the morality and ethical 
     viewpoint of broadcasting executions to the public, because 
     we felt it was important, because the upcoming execution of 
     Timothy McVeigh is actually going to be televised and shown 
     on a closed-circuit in the Oklahoma City area. And we feel 
     that that is not going to make justice, it is more going to 
     just make--how do I say this?--just make it worse, because of 
     the fact that it's going to almost glorify what Timothy 
     McVeigh did, and how he is going to die a martyr. And we just 
     feel it shouldn't be shown on TV, and that it is just wrong 
     to do that.
       Theresa Savaglio. To begin with, a little bit of background 
     on the execution. He is dying by lethal injection, which is a 
     series of three shots. First he is given a sedative. They are 
     using sodium pentetate. And then they are going to inject 
     pancurium bromide to stop his respiration, and then finally 
     potassium chloride to stop the beating of his heart. That is 
     actually one of the most common forms of capital punishment, 
     because it is the least painful. According to Amnesty 
     International, they believe that any form of execution 
     violates basic human rights, which are stated in the 
     Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and which the United 
     Nations adopted this declaration in 1948. And so they believe 
     that, since we are a member of the United Nations, we should 
     also use this and ban executions. They think that any person 
     sent to death should be able to appeal to a higher court, 
     which we do allow. And Timothy McVeigh's execution is going 
     to be the first capital punishment case for the federal 
     government in, I believe, maybe 38 years. So it is a pretty 
     big issue. Amnesty also believes that, no matter what reason 
     the government uses to execute their prisoners in its 
     custody, and no matter the form of execution, the death 
     penalty can't be separated from human rights, because you are 
     taking this person's life from them. And another interesting 
     aspect of this is that the cost of executing a person and the 
     process to lead up to that is more expensive than life 
     imprisonment, because of all the appeals and court costs.
       Congressman Sanders. Okay.
       Alex Whittelseui. From a pool of randomly picked 2,621, 
     1,494 people said that they would not view the execution--
     which is 57 percent--and 1,127 said they would. And that is 
     just kind of to throw out the fact that most Americans would 
     not want to watch this execution.
       Derrick Wong. Those who said they would not watch the 
     execution said that they could not draw anything from seeing 
     a death on television. And they said that an execution on TV 
     would only act as entertainment for our society, which then 
     becomes a pity. People against televised executions are 
     concerned for the condemned's feelings, and of his or her 
     family's feelings as well. They say that it is bad enough 
     that a person has to die for their actions, and that 
     televising it would not have a positive effect. Some say that 
     Phil Donahue wants the execution to be televised because it 
     is his sad attempt to be on primetime television, and those 
     opposed are concerned with the issue of ethics and the 
     morals. There is a huge controversial issue of whether the 
     televised execution of Timothy McVeigh, which is coming up on 
     May 16th, and there is a lot of arguments that his execution 
     should be televised, even among those who oppose capital 
     punishment. Even Timothy McVeigh wants his execution to be 
     televised, because he hopes that he will become a martyr for 
     the people with the same intentions as him, getting revenge 
     against the government. Ashcroft approved a closed-circuit 
     televising of the execution for the 250 to 300 survivors and 
     families of the deceased, but there be no public viewing to 
     the general population. Anti-death penalty activist, Sister 
     Helen Prejean, said that the execution could happen, but she 
     is against it. However, she does not feel it should be 
     televised, and she is the author of Dead Man Walking, and 
     believes that criminals being put to death would just grow if 
     you have it televised. She is aware of assertions that the 
     executions are good for the families of the killer's victims, 
     but says that she does not believe that, and that she has 
     watched the victim's families going through this, watching 
     the person die, waiting for them to die, and being promised 
     it was going to give them closure, and coming out with an 
     empty chair at their dining table, but it hasn't done 
     anything to bring back the life of their loved ones. 
     Execution have been behind closed doors since the 1930s, and 
     in a quote by Richard Tietzer, he supports televising 
     executions because it used to be very public and not done 
     behind prison walls, meaning the more people that know about 
     the death penalty, the better they are going to be able to 
     judge it, and the whole process is carried out in the 
     people's name and they should know if those acting in their 
     name are doing so carefully and humanely. Some view the media 
     as vultures descending on the execution in Oklahoma City to 
     feed on McVeigh's infamy. 1,400 journalists have registered 
     for credentials with the Bureau of Prisons to cover the May 
     16 execution, at Terre Haute, Indiana, with more reporters in 
     Oklahoma City. The media wants to feed off the fact that 
     there hasn't been a federal execution since 1963. Walter 
     Genic, a journalist professor from southern Illinois, at the 
     University of Carbondale, said that McVeigh's execution is 
     going to be another media orgasm. It is sensationalist lust. 
     And the general feeling from a mother of a daughter who was 
     murdered said that she doesn't feel that it is appropriate to 
     execute someone, especially being televised, because it 
     doesn't do anything except show that this person is dying, 
     and you know that they're dying from witnesses there.
       Drew Arnold. There were 23 electrocution executions 
     recorded between 1983 and 1999 in Jackson, Georgia. They were 
     aired on a New York radio program on WNYC, and they said that 
     it was their journalistic responsibility to air the 
     executions. VPR decided not to air them, because, just 
     because it exists doesn't mean it has to be made public. And 
     people don't need to see their taxes at work killing 
     prisoners.

     

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