Damien Echols II

Here is a portion of the letter I got from Damien Echols today.

“…for the past two weeks I’ve been writing non stop. I had started writing my memoirs several months ago, but haven’t worked on it since. I picked up my pen a couple of weeks ago and it began to flow. I’ve been writing up to eighteen hours a day. Even when I’ve tried to take a day off, I just can’t do it. One night I kept going until my fingers cramped up and I could no longer hold the pen. I’m absolutely amazed at how it’s coming out. If I keep up at this rate, I would be finished in two weeks. It’s having a really strong affect on me, because it forces me to remember so much. Margaret, I truly had forgotten what it felt like to be free. That scares the hell out of me, but it’s true. I’ve been in a cage for eleven years, and in that time, I had lost all memory of what it was like to be free. I could remember a time when I could do as I pleased, but it was only a mental image – I had forgotten the FEELING of what it is like to be free. And how can you want something that you really don’t remember? THAT’S why it scares me.”

“The effect my writing has had on me is to force me to feel it again. I relive everything I write, and it is like being back there again. I’ve written about the very first time Jason and I decided to sneak out at night, and I’m there, feeling that first taste of freedom. I’ve been living in the past, not seeing these piss stained walls. I can feel the pain, heartache and misery of my youth – but there’s also so much magic there. I want out, out, OUT! I only thought I did before, but now my blood is SCREAMING for freedom. This place is suffocating me.”

“I can’t wait for you to read it all… I’m putting all of myself into it. I’m going to handcopy parts of it and send it to you so you can get a feel of what it will be like. I must go for now, my wrist is killing me. That’s why my handwriting is so bad. More later. Sending love to you both, D”

Can you imagine forgetting what it would be like to be free? None of us are free until he is free, as I have said. But he is in a cell, has been for a long long time. He has to live this way day in day out. He is innocent. He has a wife and a child. And he has forgotten what it is like to be free.

Damien Echols is hoping to use new legal representation and he desperately needs the help of those fortunate enough to be able to enjoy freedom. He, along with two other boys, The West Memphis Three, have been in jail for over a decade for the murders of three little boys, a terrible crime that they did not commit. While the true killer or killers go unpunished, these three boys who have become men in jail, have been made to pay for a crime that they did not commit.

I have decided to commit. Not a crime, but a plea. For – that’s right, money. Whatever you can give is the best I could ask for. The best anyone could ask for. Go to wm3.org and Give. For their lives. For yours, whether you are for or against the death penalty.

I won’t ask again, because I won’t have another chance.
He won’t have another chance. Please give. Thanks.

2 thoughts on “Damien Echols II

  1. I just finished reading Damiens book ALMOST HOME. VOL 1 it was so well written,he is a great writer! It just broke my heart all what he has gone thru and still going thru. All because he dressed different, it’s unbeleivable that things like that still happen in this country. When is someone who can change the laws going to stand up and do something. It is a wrong that needs to be corrected and fast!!! Don’t loose faith Damien!!!!

  2. I was eleven years old when this went down and even then I believed in their innocence. I lived in Memphis at the time. Then I’m 1995/96 my mother moved us to Cherokee Village AR. That’s where I met Mark and Melissa Byers. He was an extremely terrifying man who had introduced us to drugs at a very long age. We were good friends with Ryan Clark, [marks stepson) I am so happy that Damien, Justin,and Jesse are out and free.

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