Latest News (7 January 2003)

Anthony has written this letter for all those interested in his current situation:

My dear friends,

Happy new year to all of you and may this be the year we are able to move forward, progressively in our effort to obtain fairness in a judical system that has no feeling.

Many of you have been wondering what has been going on within this prison/death row within the past year, especially since I have spent the majority of the time talking about the case and what has been going on with it, so let me begin by saying that I am very grateful for having all you guys in my corner and I sincerely appreciate each and every one of you.

As you may have heard there have been some lock downs, two in the past 18 months, and the first one being the worst one. During this lockdown, the guards were given the okay to go through our things and make a determination for themselves as to what was legal material and what was not. What happened was that the officers ended up taking all of our writing materials and envelopes and even the carbon paper, leaving us with basically nothing. During the same lockdown there were hundreds of books taken and then destroyed, the reason being that they were simply taking up too much space.

The food has never changed, and as a matter of fact has gotten worse because it seems that the adminstration has figured out that we are going to each as much as we can from the commissary (thanks to all of you) so there is no need to feed us like we are humans. The food is not cooked properly and it is never enough. We do not get butter, sugar, whole milk or fresh fruit. We get meat at breakfast time and when we get pork it is always undercooked.

Right after this lockdown I got a kidney infection. I went through hell just to be seen by a nurse, and even though I never saw a doctor, I was able to get medication for the infection. The next thing I learn is that I have high blood pressure, the medication for that changing twice.

The most recent lockdown begain in October of 2002 and was also a terrible lockdown. During this time, many of uslost many things that were and are very important to our causes. The administration brought in a box 1 foot by 1 foot by 2 feet and we were told that we had to place all our things in the box, with anything else having to be gotten rid of. I lost photos, legal documents and many other personal effects. There were some guys who lost shoes and were left barefoot. Imagine being in one of those cells on the concrete floor without shoes? And then again, there were legal materials that were confiscation again.

On November 22nd I awakened with half of my face being drawn to the other side, or better yet, it looked like I had two faces, a big one and a smaller one. There was also pain that beat out any pain I had felt before. When I went to the infirmary the nurse said that she could see nothing wrong with me and sent me back to the cell without even an aspirin. When I did get to see the doctor five days later, the first thing he did was ask the nurse if she knew what Bells Palsy looked like, and you know what, the lady said "No" and he then told her that it was what I had.

When you look up "Bells Palsy", you will not see anything about pain and there isn't a thing there about losing or hindered speech. But if you look at a stroke, you do see these things and these are the things that I am experiencing. There is a terrible pain behind my left ear, my left side of the face goes to the right, when I open my mouth it slants to the right, when I eat I cannot keep food on the left side of my mouth, my right eye does not close completely and the base around the eye is numb. When I open my mouth my lips do not raise above the teeth, when I try to bite something I will use my finger to lift the top lip on the right side and then let my teeth fall completing the bite. I cannot smile because there are no lines or anything on my face. I can laugh, but it is an empty laugh as there is no facial expression at all.

I am being fed steriods and now am so swollen. I have breasts now, my toes are swollen, my finger tips are swollen and I don't know how much more I can take. I was as healthy as a bull before coming into this place and I believe that the entire situation has found a way to get to me - through my health. It feels as if I am losing my vision in my left eye and there are other things that the medication is doing to me that is too humiliating to talk about, but I can say that as a man I am catching pure hell.

When I talk I cannot say words that begin with "f" or "p" and if I do not talk slowly I cannot be understood at all. I cannot pucker up to a kiss because my lips go to the right and I feel just as I look.

Other things in 2002, it was learned that if an inmate wanted to be baptized, he/she had to wait until three days before the execution to be able to do so. How is that for a compassionate US christian society?

There have been a few guys who died in their cells and each time the administration say that it was due to natural causes. I do not believe that 40 year olds die from natural causes.

What has been going on now is that I'm trying to get my property back and have been trying since 18 months ago. So, aside from the courts doing the best it can to make life difficult for us here, the prison system is certainly doing it's part in making daily life as miserable as possible.

In an effort to make things less stressful for me and you, I have come up with a few ideas that should help. For starters, I do not have any books at all and am down to less than half a ream of paper. I am trying to get my property back so this may be taken care of soon. Now, if you decide to send me books, please send CHEAP books, and as usual be sure to use places like www.amazon.com. I am not allowed to have cash sent to me, please remember that it must be a money order or a travellers cheque AND that it must be sent to the trust fund in Huntsville, Texas. If you do not have a trust fund deposit slip, you are allowed to send your money order or travellers cheque to me and they will let me send it on.

So, if you do not have a deposit slip and would like to send me some funds, please send a money order or travellers cheque made payable to "Trust Fund for Charles Nealy #999289 and I will forward it from this unit. The address of the trust fund is Inmate Trust Fund, PO Box 60, Huntsville, Texas, 77342-0060

Hopefully this information will make things a little easier for you if you do wish to send me any funds - every dollar really helps.

I love you all and wish you all the best in the new year.

Lots of love

Ant

Charles Anthony Nealy #999289
Polunsky Unit
3872 FM 350 S
Livingston
Texas
77351
USA

Useful links and downloads:

The CAN (Charles Anthony Nealy) Network of Friends

Case for retrial (Page Temporarily Suspended - contact us for more information)

Summary and full report of Abuses and Neglect of Charles Anthony Nealy (Page Temporarily Suspended - contact us for more information)

Anthony's Life

Anthony on the Death Penalty