THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 19, 1995 TAG: 9509190042
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH
Journal of a condemned man
This is one in a series of dispatches from inmate Dennis Stockton,
awaiting execution on Virginia's death row.
LENGTH: Long : 126 lines
SEPT. 18, 1995. I woke up at about 2:40 this morning under a blanket, in air-conditioned comfort. This is my first time ever in an air-conditioned prison anywhere. It was also my first morning to wake up in the death house at Greensville Correctional Center, where state-sanctioned killings occur. I was brought here yesterday at about 2:45 p.m. This is my third moving day since last Monday. . . . and it will be my last, unless God intervenes.
On arrival at Greensville last Monday, I was placed in cell 517 in D Building. Across from my cell, separated by a wall that reached almost to the ceiling, in cell 532, was another man on death row with a killing date. His name is Lem Tuggle, and he is the most famous prisoner on Virginia's death row, having been one of six men to escape from death row in 1984. Because of the wall, we couldn't see each other, even though our cells were directly opposite each other, but that didn't prevent us from talking.
We had to be careful of what we said. The other men around us were famous for dropping ``kites'' (notes) in the mail to officials in the hope of getting favorable treatment.
Last Thursday I made my second move - to Tuggle's cell. At the same time, he was moved to mine. We just switched cells. I later learned that moves like that were standard procedure. The move was a plus for him, for he now had two more shelves to hold property on - while I had two less. This caused me to have to store most of my property on the floor.
A few days before I was moved here to the death house, Tug (that's what most everyone calls him) gave me an exclusive interview. Tuggle is scheduled to be killed this Thursday, unless he gets a stay. Here are excerpts from the interview:
Q. Tug, How old are you and how long have you been locked up?
A. I am 43 and was first locked up on Sept. 14, 1971. I was given parole in June of 1981 and was sent back to prison in May of 1982 for crossing the state line to find work. I made parole again Feb. 14, 1983, and was arrested again in May of '83.
Q. Try to think back to your early years and tell readers something positive about that time in your life.
A. When I was 10 years old, living in Smyth County, I met an old man living alone that everybody else was afraid of. But I walked up to him and began talking to him and we became best friends. His name was Sam. I took him a birthday cake and he was so happy he cried.
Q. What is your favorite TV show?
A. ``America's Funniest Home Videos.''
Q. What are your hobbies in prison?
A. Building churches from matches.
Q. What is you favorite book of fiction and nonfiction?
A. ``Clan of the Cave Bear'' and the Holy Bible.
Q. Do you believe in God and the Second Coming of Christ?
A. Yes.
Q. Has it been difficult handling the notoriety you attained because of the 1984 breakout?
A. The notoriety from my death-row escape has been difficult to handle at times. Any time something happens, guards and people on the outside think I'm part of it.
Q. What are you favorite sports?
A. Car racing, and Kyle Petty is my favorite driver.
Q. If you were freed today, what would you do?
A. My girlfriend and I would go as far from Virginia as we could, to a place where we could live out the remainder of our lives in peace.
When I woke up my first morning in the death house, I asked for a cigarette and a cup of coffee. Officers have to get everything for me, including my cigarettes. I'm not allowed anything in my cell except a stack of papers 5 inches high and a beige plastic chair. There's a shelf of sorts that also serves as a table for meals. I have a commode, sink with hot and cold water and - get this - double-ply toilet paper! Not the single-ply stuff I'm used to, which has the texture of newspaper.
Did you know that toilet paper was first marketed in 1857? Well, I didn't either until a couple years ago while doing research for a piece I wrote in my newsletter, ``Passin' Thoughts.'' I've often wondered how people reacted to toilet paper back then when it replaced corncobs, grass, leaves and shirt-tails. Anyway, I'm certainly enjoying my double-ply here in the death house. I also have to use toilet paper as a handkerchief, as I'm not allowed one. I've come to realize how valuable toilet paper can be. I bet those folks back in 1857 reached the same conclusion.
Several guards came and went after I woke up. They keep my Marlboros on a table, and when I want one, they have to get it and light it for me. I'm not allowed to have a comb and have been unable to comb my hair today.
Officers write down everything I ask for and everything I do, what they call ``keeping a log.'' Guards even make notes in the log when I answer a call of nature. There are always at least two guards, sometimes as many as eight.
I'm in cell No. 2, the same one Willie Turner was in with his ``special'' typewriter. There seems to be a new policy here now: No typewriters allowed. So I guess I'll never see mine again. I write my stories longhand and dictate them to the newspaper.
Breakfast, believe it or not, was great this morning: Soft scrambled eggs, grape jelly, oatmeal, orange juice, hot toast, milk and coffee.
I called my lawyer at 9:30 a.m. I learned then that some good news in my case will break Tuesday, or at the latest Wednesday. At 10 a.m., I lay down to take a nap. At 11:05 a.m., I woke up hearing Tug's voice and thought I was dreaming, but found out that I was not dreaming, it was indeed Tug. He was coming in and is now next door to me in Cell No. 1. This area has three identical cells. On the day one of us is killed, anyone occupying another cell will be taken upstairs until the killing is over with. Then, once the hoopla of the latest killing quiets down, the surviving inmate or inmates will be returned to the death-house cells.
As of today, I have nine days left to live. The state is proceeding at full throttle in their effort to kill me.
To my friend Steve: That book is en route to your father, and by the time you read this, he should have received it. I pray for you at least twice a day. If I should die, please remember to play that song you promised you would play - the 11 1/2-minute version of ``Free Bird'' - at 9 p.m. on the 27th. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Dennis Stockton
Death row inmate Lem Tuggle is scheduled to be executed on
Thursday.
Dennis Stockton is occupying the cell that Willie Lloyd Turner
stayed in before he was excuted in May. Because a gun was discovered
in Turner's typewriter after his death, they're no longer allowed on
death row.
KEYWORDS: DEATH ROW by CNB