Michelle, Roger’s sister, and her husband Dwight met me at the airport and drove me to the Hampton Inn (just 100 yards from Holiday Inn and much better: friendlier personnel and cheaper). Their apartment had been slightly damaged by hurricane Ike, and Michelle and Dwight moved into a larger apartment early November.

ALLAN POLUNSKY UNIT: entrance controls were particularly severe on the Tuesday, as the officer who controls visitors is known to be ultra tough. I was happy to be able to honestly say that I did not have any paper money, only the $ 20 in coins. Visitors are only allowed to enter with their ID (which they have to leave at the desk), $20 in coins and their glasses and car keys. At last year’s visit I had the visiting card of the taxi company, which I would call after the visit and even this was confiscated from me!

There are reasons for this severity. Just before I arrived, the prison had discovered that a series of inmates had cell phones, which had been smuggled in by prison personnel. Inmates circulated the phones between themselves, either with the complicity of officers, or by other means (such as putting the cell phone in a box of food tied to a string, which the « sending » inmates rolls from under his door in the direction of the cell of the inmate who is to receive the phone). One inmate’s cell phone had made over 2000 calls in a month! The owner of this phone had even been phoning a senator from Texas, giving him details on his daughters! One understands the politicians are uneasy and immediately decided on a major lockdown, with very, very tough searches.

But they have only themselves to blame, as the main reason for this corruption one finds among the prison personnel are the extremely low salaries paid, (among the lowest in the USA), unpaid overtime, with a resultant extremely high turnover rate of the personnel.

Roger was slightly groggy when he arrived. It was the first day of the lockdown, and he didn't know I was coming that day. So he took a little while "revving up" but was soon in his normal good spirits. His health was much improved, he told me. The doctors had not found anything wrong with his heart (her had been experiencing pains in his chest for quite a time) and thought it could be due to over-exertion. (Not surprising when one knows he is capable of 1500 push-ups in a row. I am puffing like a grandfather walrus after just 10-12!)

ENGLISH EDITION of Roger’s book «Messages of Life from Death Row»: Roger felt that it was OK to put his name on the British version to be published early next year by Cygnus Books, my British Publisher (also a book club - and the book will essentially be for members of the club). The reason we are not putting his name as author on the US version is that the attorney general's office in Texas could have all the income from the book seized, claiming that Roger was making money from his crime (which he never committed, but that's another affair!) For there is a regulation in Texas stipulating that an inmate did not have the right to make money from the crime he had committed.

Roger continues being overwhelmed by letters. He told me he has about 25 regular correspondents, not to mention the innumerable people who write once or twice, so stamps continue being a major problem. So I no longer have any compunction about not writing long letters (mine are never more than 2-3 pages, about once a month), as he literally says he often does not have enough time to reply. So I would like to suggest to potential correspondents: please do not be too loquacious when writing to Roger. There is a certain irony that he sometimes lacks time – on death row! (But it is also a good sign)

The most important exchange we had concerned his lawyer, Anthony Haughton. He spoke so highly about Tony it warmed my heart, but above all it is so important to feel that Roger trusts his lawyer 100%. Tony had recently brought his new assistant working on Roger’s case to Polunsky. Jennifer is an extremely bright young black student who has just finished her law degree. Both Roger and Tony describe her as incredibly sharp and alert. What impressed Roger especially is that she had memorized the names of all the jury members on his case, and could quote them verbatim! As Tony is more and more impressed by the human and spiritual dimension of Roger, we seem to have a perfect match here.

HOUSTON: Dwight drove me down from the prison to Tony's office. We met Tuesday at his office for a summary of the legal situation, and Wednesday for another exchange.

Roger’s case has moved from the federal court in Texas to the State district court. Morris Moon of the Texas Defender Service I met later told me this was a very positive sign. I will not attempt to explain the complexities of the Texas system, because I still barely understand them myself, but there are so many possibilities of appeal and moving to other courts that the case is far from being over. What impressed me most was that Tony said he was expecting a "miracle" in this case. He feels something very special about Roger’s case, and this includes the core group the like of which he seems never to have met. We agreed that the credit goes to Roger who just seems to attract to him special people.

After leaving Tony, whom I trust 100%, I felt very powerfully (and still do) that something special is at work in Roger's case. How often do we have death row cases where both the client and his lawyer respect each other as much as Tony and Roger and both come from a spiritual basis - and believe the spiritual dimension will make all the difference? It cannot be very frequent. And of course, through Roger, we are working for all death row.

DAVID AND PEGGY ATWOOD: Tuesday, evening, I had a most friendly dinner with David and Peggy, whom I was meeting for the first time. David is the founder of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and gave me a copy of his just published book on how he started the coalition, “Detour to Death Row”, peace CENTER books, San Antonio, TX, ISBN 1438277733.

TEXAS DEFENDER SERVICE: Wednesday I had an extremely pleasant and informative lunch with Morris Moon. Morris is the TDS lawyer who recommended Tony to us two years ago. He gave me an amazing example to show that the tide may be slowly turning - occasionally at least - in the field of death penalty, even here in Texas. His companion, a lawyer, defended a Mexican man who had been expelled from the States for molesting a child, had returned illegally, and had shot a policeman dead in the police car! Normally, one would say a case like this was 110% certain of getting the death penalty. Well, the defense was able to argue in such a way that the jury recognized the man's humanity and he got life instead. This really is amazing. Of course, the defendant was privileged to have an outstanding lawyer, which is very rarely the case for poor Latino and black defendants.

Thank you to all of you members of Roger’s international support group for just hanging in there! Let us always remember that injustice, evil, error has no foot - no principle - to stand upon. Only truth, love, is based on law (principle). As a spiritual thinker I respect deeply once wrote:" The only power of evil is to destroy itself. It cannot harm you. It cannot stop the eternal currents of truth" (Mary Baker Eddy.) Let us replace "you" with "Roger" and KNOW THAT THIS IS A SPIRITUAL LAW.

My love and deepest gratitude to you all.

Pierre Pradervand