Tag Archives: prison

“Super-Six-Four is Hit!”

 

Michael Durant is a Night stalker who was involved in a battle in Mogadishu, Somalia. For the people who have heard of “Black Hawk Down” Michael J. “Mike” Durant is the brave Night Stalker pilot of his helicopter (Super-Six-Four).  His helicopter was shot down and he was taken prisoner during a battle in Mogadishu, Somalia.  He writes about his captor’s personality’s and their quirks.  For example, Durant makes you laugh as he describes his prison guard snoring as he sleeps.  Mike Durant makes you feel like you are in the dark concrete room with him, scared, angry, and hopeful.  I have just read his book, In The Company of Hero’s, which I thought was an excellent book and it’s a book that you have to read.  I mean it, it’s a quality book.

Mike Durant paints a picture in your mind of how gruesome ,yet compassionate, his captors were.  His captor’s were horrific because they moved him to places VERY violently.  But, when they realized he could be useful to them, they got a doctor to help him, give him pain killer’s, let him write letters home, and letters to his fellow pilot’s who survived the battle.  This book depicts the real life scenario that Mike had to face.  I thought that this book was very interesting and exciting because the details made you feel like you were suffering with him.  Most of us boys think about the coolness of war with guns, but, none of us think how would it feel to be captured.  Mike Durant excels in making the reader understand every aspect of war, even the parts no one wants to think about.  I would recommend In The Company of Hero’s to anybody who wants wants to hear a true heroic story.

~Peter Earley

Prison Fire Kills Hundreds!

Late Tuesday, February 14th a fire broke out at a prison in Honduras. It was said to be caused by an inmate lighting his/her mattress on fire. Many people died stuck in the prison,but  some prisoners escaped from the prison roof when the chaos of the fire was happening. After the fire was put out officers/gaurds were going through the cells and all they were finding were charred bodies. The fire killed more than 350 prisoners.This is the third major prison fire in Honduras since 2003.

    I feel that the fire shouldn’t have even had a chance to start. The prisoners should have no way to start a fire. Even if a fire was started there should be a plan to get as many of the prisoners out as possible. Another problem is that it was the third major fire since 2003. There should be a better system to stop fires from happening. There are many problems about this event , but these are the biggest ones.

~Ashley Hunt

Troy Davis Execution

Troy Davis was claimed guilty for shooting an off duty police officer. Although he’s said he was innocent since 1989.  After they gave him a lethal injection at approximately 8:00pm, that was suppose to take less than two hours, took about four hours and he died at age 42 at 11:08.  When relatives and supporters heard that he hadn’t died (with in two hours) they were relieved.  Everyone thought he was going to live.

Once they announced that he had died the truth came out.  Seven witnesses from his trial and and a possible confession from another suspect people began to doubt it was really him.  Before he died Troy Davis claimed that the shooter was Sylvester “Red” Coles. Davis and Coles had both been at the scene of the shooting, talking outside of Burger King, Coles had been threatening a homeless man (Larry Young) and holding a pistol when Mark MacPhail  was shot attempting to aid the injured Larry Young.  Only after Troy Davis died did Coles confess.

I personally think that we need to be more careful about finding our facts in crimes and making sure that we choose the right criminal.  I know crimes like this has happened all over the world where they execute the wrong person.  I hope juries take this seriously and question more people and look for more clues so that this can be limited.

~Juliana Kuss