CLEVELAND Woman on death row denounces her conditions

The Marysville warden said she was surprised to hear Roberts' complaints.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- The only woman on Ohio's death row said she lives a miserable existence in a windowless closet-size cell and has to bang on its door "like an animal" to get food or medical attention.
Donna Roberts, 59, of Howland, convicted of murder in a conspiracy to kill her ex-husband, complained in an Oct. 13 letter to Ohio S.O.R.T., a prisoner advocacy organization in the Cleveland suburb of Berea.
Warden Deborah Timmerman-Cooper of the Ohio Reformatory for Women said some of Roberts' complaints were justified, but that most had been addressed.
Ohio's death row at Mansfield Correctional Institution has no facilities for women, so Roberts is in the segregation wing at the women's prison in Marysville. The solitary-confinement cells in the wing -- called "The Hole" -- are normally reserved for inmates who break prison rules.
"Because I am back in this corner, I must bang on my door like an animal to get my tray, turn in trash and even for the nurse to bring me meds," Roberts wrote.
Cindy Mollick, director of the 300-member group, said Saturday she respects that Roberts must be punished for her crime but that she shouldn't be treated differently from men.
"Certain hygiene products, she's not allowed, but the men on death row are," Mollick said. "Why are women treated worse than men?"
Roberts' conditions
Roberts' cell measures 6 feet by 8 feet, 10 inches, compared with cells for men on death row that are 8 feet, 9 inches, by 10 feet, 10 inches.
She spends her five hours of weekly recreation time by herself. Until recently, she had no hot water in her cell and had a light shining on her 24 hours a day that was "so bright that I see spots when I close my eyes," she wrote.
"I am respectful and courteous to a fault, even to those who did not deserve it," she wrote. "I do not speak profanity. It is very frustrating to have so many negatives all at once and all of the time."
Roberts was convicted of aggravated murder in June by a jury Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. Judge John Stuard accepted the jury's recommendation and gave her the death penalty for the 2001 murder of Robert Fingerhut.
Nathaniel Jackson, 31, of Youngstown, also was convicted of aggravated murder, but is appealing his death sentence. Prosecutors say he shot Fingerhut.
Prison improvements
The Marysville warden said she was surprised to hear Roberts' complaints.
"I talk to her when I go on rounds," Timmerman-Cooper said. "Every time that I've talked to her she's been fine and happy.
"I talked to her on Wednesday. I said, 'You doing OK?' She said, 'Yeah, fine. No problems.' She was smiling, laughing."
Roberts has privileges that inmates in other segregation cells do not, Timmerman-Cooper said. Roberts is allowed to have a TV, an electrical outlet, a hot-water tank and a light switch for reading, she said.
The prison has repaired a valve on Roberts' hot-water tank, replaced the security light with a less-bright, frosted 7-watt bulb and ordered that a window be purchased and installed in Roberts' cell, the warden said.
Prison officials are considering whether to allow Roberts to spend her recreation time with other inmates, she said.
Mollick said she was pleased with the efforts, but she added Roberts has been waiting several months for the window.
A prison committee is discussing whether to move Roberts, Timmerman-Cooper said, but she can't be housed with the 130 women serving life terms "because she's on death row and for security reasons."
Before Roberts, no women had been on Ohio's death row since 1991, when former Gov. Richard F. Celeste commuted the sentences of the four women awaiting execution to life in prison.
Ohio has not executed a woman since 1954, when both Dovie Dean and Betty Butler were electrocuted, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.