Lush Fest 2011

Reprieve's campaign to raise support for British grandmother Linda Carty continued last week when we were invited to Lush's first festival in the beautiful surroundings of Holton Lee, Dorset.

Lush has long been an ardent campaigner for justice throughout the world, and has previously called for the rule of law for those suffering in Guantanamo Bay by helping us promote the Fair Trial My Arse campaign throughout their shops in the UK.

Yesterday was all about informing the public on the plight of Linda Carty by using the famous 'mock cell' -- a replica of a typical cell on death row in the US. Linda was sentenced to death by the US Supreme Court in 2002 in what can only be described as a shambolic trial, after being forced to accept local court lawyer Jerry Guerinot (20 of his clients have received the death penalty and he has the highest failure rate in the US). Had the British Embassy been informed at the time they would have found Linda decent representation from their own list of approved lawyers, of which Guerinot is not and has never been on or near (he would though, surely top the list of lawyers least approved to be of any use in a court room). It became a case that was bereft of any passion or interest from Guerinot at any stage and the outcome became inevitable from day one.

In the idyllic settings of Holton Lee we re-staged the Death's Waiting Room event of last year, where we had placed the life sized death row cell in the courtyard of St. Martin-in-the-Fields over a 5 week period encouraging visitors to spend 15 minutes in the cell to get a sense of what it feels like to be locked up for 23 hours a day on death row. Mountain View Prison in Texas is a long way from Dorset, England and the two environments could not be more different. The peaceful location is a far cry from the hellish atmosphere that Linda is surrounded by every second of her life while she contemplates what will happen next to her. The support from everyone we met was fantastic and people were extremely concerned about Linda's welfare, asking what they could do to help. In this situation we provided everyone with the opportunity to sign the clemency petition letters that will then be sent to the office of Governor Perry in Texas. We also allowed the public to sit inside the cell whilst a short film about Linda looped on a small tv screen next to the bed. It was evident from people’s reactions that it was an unnerving experience; even sitting in the cell, which was surrounded by beautiful oak trees, a lovely clear blue sky and delicate butterflies floating through the grounds, still created a haunting feeling and stirred up a many emotions.

Lush TV also took the opportunity to interview one of our volunteers, Chaitanya Patel, who explained what we were doing and how this representation has been creating global awareness for Linda's case. Lush were clearly thrilled at the chance to show their employees the cell and this was highlighted by the amount of people who took the time out to talk to us and raise their concerns. It was amazing to have the chance to speak to people who had come from as far as Australia and California, and even more unbelievable was the amount of knowledge that people brought with them already about the case. This made it a great experience and one that we expect will stay in the thoughts of all those we spoke to during the festival for a long time to come.