This article seems a bit biased, but I wanted to post it anyway. The article briefly discusses a greeting card business that Texas death row inmate, James Vernon Allridge III has started. The focus of the article is on a lawsuit being filed by the Victims Rights Office of the city of Houston. Apparently, there is a law in Texas known as the "murderabilia" law which arguably allows the State of Texas to confiscate any profits made by an inmate from their "ill gotten notoriety." In the article, Director of the Victims' Rights Office, Andy Kahan, expresses bafflement at the fact that actress Susan Sarandon visited Mr. Allridge and purchased some of his greeting cards. Mr. Kahan finds it difficult to understand why Ms. Sarandon would participate in supporting Mr. Allridge instead of making the same efforts to support the victims' families. What Mr. Kahan may fail to understand is that abolitionists like Ms. Sarandon and myself (I certainly am not trying to speak for Ms. Sarandon, but rather am hypothesizing her opinions) see the men and women on death row as additional victims. What makes it even more difficult to swallow is that the murder of those men and women is planned and executed (for lack of a better term) by our government...by our GOVERNMENT. Yes, most of those awaiting their deaths in our nation's death houses committed horrific crimes. Their victims certainly deserve nurturing and support. However, for those of us who believe that the death penalty is a moral outrage, those inmates who await their deaths need nurturing as well. They have become additional victims. Moreover, their families have become victims who now must deal with the murder of child, sibling or parent. Why do we need to create MORE heartache in the name of retribution, deterrence and finality? It certainly does not achieve justice. Why does the almighty state think that killing another human being creates closure? Does a victim's pain and anguish go away after he watches his loved one's killer filled with poison? Something tells me its not that easily relieved.

Texas Death Row Inmate's Greeting Cards Stir Controversy