Visiting Ray Meeks After Two Years
I had not visited Ray Meeks in almost two years because of COVID. I saw him again July 27, and so much has happened since then.
As a reminder, Ray has been on death row since 1974. He spent that time at Florida State Prison and later Union Correctional Institution alone, in a single 6×8 cell, getting out twice a week for an hour of exercise in a concrete yard.
Four years ago we were able to get his death sentence reduced to life in prison. He moved first to Santa Rosa Correctional Institution, then to Wakulla and last year to Madison. Madison is an incentive based medium security prison where anyone who has not received a disciplinary write up for 2 years is eligible to go. In 2017 there were 92 stabbings at Madison. At that point the DOC stepped in, cleared it out, and started over. Ray is very happy to be there.
However, when he arrived in December of 2020 he was suffering severe chest pains. He was moved to the infirmary with major coronary blockage. He was in the infirmary until March 2021(!) when he was finally scheduled for surgery. Here’s his story as he told it to me on July 27.
“Until I had the surgery they gave me nitro glycerin pills to take any time I had chest pain, and I had pain a lot. Finally they took me to Jackson Memorial hospital which is right next to UF Health in Jacksonville. I saw the UF sign as they brought me in. They told me I would have a triple bypass. When I woke up they told me they had done all four arteries. They were all blocked.
“They got me up and walking the next day. I was in the hospital there a week. I had two guards who took turns guarding me. They really liked it because they got to sit and watch TV all day. They come by and see me a lot now and want to know how I’m doing.
“When I came back the nurses made sure I came back to Madison. They got to know me all those months and they said they were the best nurses in the prison system and they knew how to take care of me. They didn’t want me to go the Reception and Medical Center in Lake Butler for recovery. Oh no, they said that was a bad place.
“They sent me back to my dorm, and the next day I woke up with a sharp pain in my chest and my ankle was all swollen up. They told me not to move at all. The nurse came and saw me and said it looked like I had blood clots in my lung and calf. They kept me on a stretcher and called an ambulance that took me back to Jacksonville hospital where they did take care of the two blood clots.
“Since then I’ve been back in my dorm. It’s a nice dorm. We are allowed to move around the campus of the prison all day. At night they lock us in our cells. We get up at 4:00 and have breakfast. Lunch is around 11:00, and dinner around 4:00 again.
“One great thing that happened is we got Direct TV in the dorm. Now I can see all the sports events and there are lots of movies to see. I hadn’t seen any movies for years and years. I also have a tablet, but it costs money to watch movies on it. I love watching the movies on TV.
“Another piece of good news is that I saw a guy named Barnehill today He was on death row with me for 19 years. For a bunch of years he was in the cell next to me. I said he could be my cell mate. He’s moving in tonight. I really like that.
“The prison has a new warden, a woman. She is great. She came to our dorm, which is not air conditioned. It has big exhaust fans. She said she would get us ceiling fans. She’s the one who got us Direct TV.
“They started peer to peer counselling for everyone. It begins today. The warden, she said ‘You don’t have to do peer to peer counseling. If you don’t want to, just tell me, and I’ll send you right back to the prison you just came from.’ Everybody’s doing peer counselling.
“They have lots of training programs about to begin. If you’re in those programs you get points toward release. They’re going to have plumbing, woodworking, all kinds of stuff. I’m going to sign up for everything. But right now the best thing that happened is I met a guy who is doing art classes. I signed right up. I used to do all kinds of art, acrylic, oil, everything until they took away all our art supplies at UCI.
“I know I’m in here for life without possibility of parole, but I’m going to take all these programs. You never know. I never give up hope.
“I can’t do any sports any more. My chest still hurts. I can’t do any lifting. And I still have my degenerative disc and have to use my walker. But I like it here. It’s a good place. I like the chaplain too. I’ve been to bible study here.
“And I really liked my birthday cards.”
So that’s Ray’s news. If I ever need to see hope personified, I look to Ray.
Larry