Andrea Downer, Features Writer

Anthony 'Fines' Ashwood … says he spent 10 years on death row for a crime he didn't commit. - Andrew Smith/Photography Editor

He spent 21 years in prison. For 10 of those years he was on death row. For 10 long years, he waited to die. Anthony 'Fines' Ashwood said from the moment the jury pronounced him guilty of murder and the judge sentenced him to hang, his days were numbered.

Crammed into a small cell at the Spanish Town District Prison, he endured the mind-numbing horror of listening as the bodies of 30 of his former inmates were slowly wheeled past his cell on their way from the gallows to their final resting place within the prison walls.

"You see, where I was located, every dead man haffi pass my cell. Di coffin dem haffi pass my cell pon a cart and go up fi di body dem and come down back," he recalled.

Excruciating task

For Fines, listening as the bodies were taken past his cell on their final journey was excruciating.

"When I put my foot pon di wall and climb and peep through the vents in my cell, I could see the grave dem a dig," he recalled.

"Di cart have on two wheels and a pure squeaking it make when dem a push it," he continued as he imitated the squeaking sound that rang like a death knell down the corridor of death row and reverberated in the minds of every inmate waiting to be hanged.

The sound, a gruesome reminder that the next day or next week or the next month, it could be their bodies being carted to an unmarked grave and forever entombed behind prison walls.

Strength from others

According to Fines, when he arrived at the Spanish Town District Prison, he gradually lost the fear that gripped him when the judge handed down his sentence to be hanged until dead, and he drew strength and hope from other inmates who had been on death row for several years before he arrived. According to him, Earl Pratt, who was released from prison recently, was one of them.

"When mi go pon death row, mi did confused, me did scared, me neva know what fi expect, because this is somewhere where mi say dem a go hang mi. Mi did a look somewhere fi run or jump, but a pure grille, and walls and barb wires and gun surround mi," he recalled, the dread still evident in his voice.

"It took me a little while to get rid of the fear, but what helped me is that people get strong off other people; if me weak and you move with self confidence, mi will look pon it and say how mi come see you and you a cope.

"So by talking to other death row inmates, I was able to gain courage and followed their example in writing letters to the Privy Council and international human rights bodies to get help for my case," Fines stated.

"Mi start deal with it one day at a time and try fi understand the place. Me try fi get fi know the rules and the regulations and the laws and history of certain things, because prison is like a different world," he continued.

Despite many attempts to thwart the hanging process through filing various appeals to delay the inevitable, Fines said many of the men who were on death row with him were taken to the gallows. He estimates that in the 10 years that he was on death row, 30 men were hanged.

Painful process

He explained the painful process that the condemned men had to go through and which those who were waiting their turn to die had to witness countless times.

"You see if dem come for you this evening, you have at least a weekor a week and a half before dem hang you. There is a process that you have to go through before dem hang you and if that process is turned down, the day before you are to be hanged, the Governor-General will sit in Privy Council and decide if you were to be given a stay of execution, if you were to be executed or if you were to be given a reprieve," he explained.

Fines explained the morbid practice of 'fattening up' the persons who were in the condemned cells waiting to be hanged. According to Fines, men who were given basic prison fare for years, in the face of their impending death, were told that they could order any kind of food that they desired. A few did just that, but according to Fines, many just did not have the stomach for food, no matter how appetising it might have seemed and simply waited for death to arrive while slowly losing their fragile grip on sanity.

"Those times you get the best food. Anything you ask for - beef, pizza, steak, anything!" he stated.

"Most of them don't ask, but some a dem will ask, because dem know say dem nah come back!" he emphasised.

He explained another morbid practice of constantly monitoring the men in the condemned cells to ensure that they did not get the opportunity to harm or, heaven forbid, kill themselves before they were to be hanged.

"(On the condemned block), them have three cell(s) and the officer dem sit in a likkle place in front a dem, anything whey dem (the condemned men) do … if dem spit, anything whey dem do, dem see. Dem duty is fi ensure that dem (the prisoners) no hurt themselves before they are hanged. You see, if dem see dem move like dem want to hurt themselves, them just go in, hold them and restrain them by tying them up," he continued.

Seven-day countdown

While the wait on death row with the hundreds of inmates is nerve-racking on an everyday basis, when those whose time have come are moved to the condemned cells and they begin the seven-day countdown to their final hour, Fines said many of those waiting to be killed by the hangman's noose tried to thwart the system by attempting to kill themselves in horrific and painful ways.

"You have man who will just run and slam dem head inna di grille, just fi try fi thwart di hanging (process)," he continued. "So dem haffi watch dem, straight from di week before dem go over deh until dem hang them," Fines continued as he explained the constant monitoring of the condemned men who were waiting to die.

However, he explained that some of the condemned men's desperate attempts at suicide were more than just attempts to deny the hangman the task of hanging them.

According to Fines, many of them were simply making final bids to secure their freedom after death, trying to ensure that they were buried outside the prison walls.

See Part 2 in tomorrow's Gleaner.