When you sentence someone to prison you are 'sentencing them to slavery': indictment of American judicial system from man about to be executed



Ray Jasper, a Texas inmate scheduled to be executed later this month, shared the letter with Gawker

Sentenced to death as a teen when convicted for 1998 robbery and murder of recording studio owner David Alejandro

Criticizes lengthy prison sentences as a 'form of oppression'

Alleges that sentences are part of prison-industrial complex: 'It's not about crime and punishment, it's about crime and profit'

A death row inmate scheduled to be put to death later this month compared prison sentences to slavery in a stinging indictment of the US judicial system.



Ray Jasper, a Texas inmate, submitted his letter to media blog Gawker. Jasper was convicted for participating in the 1998 robbery and murder of recording studio owner David Alejandro and sentenced to death as a teen.



Gawker initially reached out to all death row inmates with scheduled executions this year back in December 2013. In January it published a letter Jasper wrote in response, detailing his experience on death row.



Jasper's letter included his reflections on the justice systems and its perceived flaws -- and even compared prisoners to slaves.

Ray Jasper, seen in this file mugshot, was sentenced to death after being convicted for the 1998 robbery and murder of David Alejandro

'Under the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution all prisoners in America are considered slaves,' he wrote. 'We look at slavery like its [sic] a thing of the past, but you can go to any penitentiary in this nation and you will see slavery [...]People need to know that when they sit on trial juries and sentence people to prison time that they are sentencing them to slavery.'



Jasper also said that prisoners 'have no choice' but to work while incarcerated -- and that the alternative may cause severe mental harm.



'If a prisoner refuses to work and be a slave, they will do their time in isolation as a punishment,' he wrote. 'You have thousands of people with a lot of prison time that have no choice but to make money for the government or live in isolation. The affects of prison isolation literally drive people crazy. Who can be isolated from human contact and not lose their mind?'



Jasper also said that jail sentences given to first-time offenders are a form of 'oppression.'

Jasper says, 'People need to know that when they sit on trial juries and sentence people to prison time that they are sentencing them to slavery'

'There are guys walking around with 200 year sentences and they're not even 30 years old,' he said. 'Its [sic] outrageous. Giving a first time felon a sentence beyond their life span is pure oppression.'

Jasper's letter even alleged that heavy sentences may be delivered as a result of the prison-industrial complex.



'The other side of the coin is there are those in the corporate world making money off prisoners, so the longer they're in prison, the more money is being made,' he said. 'It's not about crime & punishment, it's about crime & profit.'



He later added, 'How can those that invest in prisons make money if people have sentences that will allow them to return to free society? If people were being rehabilitated and sent back into the cities, who would work for these corporations? That would be a bad investment. In order for them to make money, people have to stay in prison and keep working.'

Jasper also writes that prison sentences may linked to a money-making prison-industrial complex. 'It's not about crime & punishment, it's about crime & profit' he says

Jasper's indictment described his experience of race and the judicial system, even citing the words of deceased rapper Tupac Shakur.



'When I walked into prison at 19 years old, I said to myself "Damn, I have never seen so many black dudes in my life,"' he said. 'I mean, it looked like I went to Africa. I couldn't believe it. The lyrics of 2Pac echoed in my head, "The penitentiary is packed/ and its filled with blacks."'

Referring to young African Americans, Jasper writes that in order to overcome inequalities they 'have to be exposed to something new' and ignore rap stars like Jay-Z and Rick Ross.