Texas death row inmate volunteers to die tonight

Tonight, Texas will execute death row inmate Jamie McCoskey for a 1991 abduction and murder. He will be the 15th prisoner to be executed this year in that state.

Most prisoners fight for a stay of execution. But not McCoskey

McCoskey wants to die to escape the horrific conditions on death row. In an open letter to Governor Rick Perry, McCoskey's friend Petra de Jong describes the prison conditions:

"They are basically stuck in a box for at least 23 hours a day. No human contact, hardly any daylight, abysmal food with hardly any nutritional value, relentless heat, continuous noise and harsh, if not outright violent, treatment by guards. Men go insane in there. Men smear themselves with feces, men gauge their own eyes out (google for Andre Thomas if you are blissfully unaware of his tragic story), men scream day and night in absolute terror."

Amnesty International and other organizations and individuals consider the death penalty to be a gross violation of human rights. But McCoskey has volunteered for death in order to escape other gross human rights violations that he and the other inmates endure every day.

And Governor Perry just continues to brag about the "justice" system in his state.