Georgia State Sen. Urges Prison Employees to Strike and 'Refuse to Kill Troy Davis'

By Ray Downs, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, September 20, 2011

A Georgia politician is calling on prison employees given the task of executing Troy Davis to refuse carrying out their orders, telling them, "Refuse to carry out your tasks tomorrow! You have the power to stop this immoral execution."

"I am calling for a general strike or sick-out by all but a skeleton staff of the Georgia Diagnostic Prison on September 21, 2011," State Senator Vincent Fort (D) said in a statement. "I say to the prison staff: If you work on that day, you will enable the prison to carry out the execution of a possibly innocent man."

Fort’s statement reminded prison staff that orders can always be disobeyed and he urged them to do so.

"Troy Davis' execution cannot take place unless human beings at the Georgia Diagnostic & Classifications Prison make it happen. They can refuse to kill Troy Davis," he said.

"Refuse to carry out your tasks tomorrow! You have the power to stop this immoral execution. Call in sick!” he told corrections officers given the task of strapping Davis onto the lethal injection table.

Fort also called out Dr. Carlo Musso, the CEO of Rainbow Medical Associates and CorrectHealth, Inc., the private medical companies that will be in charge of Davis’ execution tomorrow.

“Remember your humanity and that your oath is to facilitate healing, not killing!” Fort said.

At the heart of Fort’s call to action was the possibility that citizens of Georgia would have innocent blood on their hands.

"When someone is executed by the state, when someone is in effect murdered by the state, it is done in the name of all citizens," Fort told Raw Story. "We don't want Troy Davis killed in the name of all citizens of the state of Georgia."

The Georgia Diagnostic Prison, Rainbow Medical Associates, and CorrectHealth, Inc. could not be reached for comment.

"At the heart of what the Civil Rights movement was about, was individuals standing up and saying no to injustice," Sen. Fort added. "That's what Dr. King did at the Birmingham jail, saying we're not going to abide by an immoral law. I believe what they're doing to Troy Davis, if they execute him, is unjust and immoral. Thus, as individuals, as moral human beings, we have to stand up and say, 'Not in our name.'"

Over the past four years, the Davis case has gained international interest with an overwhelming amount of people believing there is simply too much doubt to execute him. However, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles declined clemency for the 1989 murder of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail and ordered the execution to be carried out.

Davis is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday, September 21 at 7:00 p.m. at Georgia Diagnostics & Classifications Prison in Jackson, Ga.