Chronicles from Parchman #12: Robbery by Default
Incarcerated writer L. Patri on the sorry (and scammy) state of prison telecommunications
This is the latest installment in the Chronicles from Parchman series, a monthly column by writer, L. Patri, who has been fighting his wrongful conviction on Parchman’s death row for over thirty years. You can listen to the voiceover if you want to listen to Mr. Patri reading “Robbery by Default.” Please read the postscript for a dispatch from Mr. Patri regarding the upcoming execution date of Richard Jordan.
When it comes to having access to people on the outside
As a death row prisoner, I have rights that must abide.
At this prison, MDOC gives me three ways to communicate
And they contracted Global Tel to bring the systems up to date
I’m having serious concerns, so this upgrade is up for debate
As I don’t believe GTL is even a third-rate.
Because if they are the only game in town
It becomes robbery by default that’s going down.
It’s more akin to a Ponzi scheme con
That’s robbing the shit out of me without using a gun.
MDOC and GTL are fucking up my days
Holding my connection hostage in multiple ways
At 5 cents a minute, I’m allowed access to video calls
As long as I use the portal stand nailed to the guard tower wall
The majority of the time, I’m catching hell just trying to log in.
When I finally succeed, it cuts off and kicks me out again
Thinking I might have better luck, I try a regular call by phone
I dial the numbers and pay by debit to call home
The static is so bad that my family can’t hear what I’m saying
And when I complain to MDOC and GTL, they mean mug me as if I’m not paying
They had me giddy as fuck after 33 years in a cell
When they told me I’d be able to send an email
But this goddamn wifi keeps hijacking my messages so they don’t get saved
Any time someone decides to use the microwave
Error! Login failed! You are currently logged into another device #112206
Hmm, now ain’t that some shit.
At these inflated prices, they’re treating me like a sharecropper’s slave
And they’re picking my pockets, ensuring they get paid
I’m feeling like a junkie, a goddamn clucker
Who’s fiending for a fix from these crooked motherfuckers
You best believe when service is this shitty all the time
That some funky-ass crook is stealing my last dime.
I don’t know what to do, I’m at my wit’s end
Because GTL is causing smokescreens between me, family, and friends
If I get a contraband cell phone, MDOC makes that a sin
No matter what I do, I can’t fucking win.
Having lived on Mississippi Death Row for over three decades I have watched twenty men walk to the death chamber to be murdered at the hands of the State. I have watched six men walk back to claim their freedom after serving decades fighting not to be murdered at the hands of the State.
Mississippi has an upcoming execution scheduled, June 25th, for a seventy-nine-year-old man—Richard Jordan, a man who has been on death row for the past fifty years. Richard is a man whom the prison allows to be out of his cell all day, from 3:30am until 6pm. What does that say that after fifty plus years that the State now deems it necessary to kill this man? What does it also say that religious and anti-death penalty organizations are willing to wait until this man has been set a date, or wait until the day this man is executed before speaking out and speaking up about the injustice and inhumanity to this process within our judicial system? So, here is some food for thought: when Rome nailed Jesus Christ to the cross, that was an execution. How can people of faith claim to be followers of Jesus yet continue to stand on the sidelines and watch as States like Mississippi continue to execute people?
L. Patri - June 19, 2025
Thank you for spotlighting all of this. The 13 minute video in the link was well done and devastating.
Governor Reeves posted this a couple of hours ago:
I’ve been repeatedly asked this week by the press and others about the execution scheduled for tomorrow evening, and want to be clear to my fellow Mississippians where things stand.
I have reviewed the clemency petition and met with my counsel to discuss the request and the facts of this case. By his own admission, Richard Jordan is guilty of kidnaping for ransom Mrs. Edwina Marter at gun point from her home where her three-year-old son was sleeping, forcing her to drive into the Desoto National Forest and shooting her in the back of the head. Following this premeditated and heinous act, Mr. Jordan demanded and was paid a $25,000 ransom prior to being apprehended by law enforcement. He has been convicted by multiple juries of capital murder and sentenced to death. His most recent round of appeals and stay motions have been considered and rejected by the United States Supreme Court, the Mississippi Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the United States District Court. At this time, all necessary procedures are being followed with the anticipation that the execution will proceed as scheduled.
This is a somber responsibility, and one that nobody enjoys. But it is a responsibility I take seriously as part of the oath I took to faithfully discharge the duties of Governor.
Justice must be done - and in Mississippi - justice will be done.