NCJ Number
208864
Editor(s)
Jan Arriens
Date Published
1991
Length
293 pages
Annotation
This book lends a voice to some of the people on death row in the United States by offering excerpts from their letters.
Abstract
This is not a book about a crime. The main goal of this book is to provide a human face and a voice to the men and women languishing on death row; voices rarely heard and human lives rarely acknowledged. Many of the letter excerpts contained herein are the product of a program called Lifelines, in which death row inmates are paired with pen pals in England and Ireland. Death row is described in this book as “hell,” and it does seem to resemble hell when a human being is confined to a cell measuring 6 feet by 9 feet for 23 hours a day, cut off from most other prisoners and the outside world. While some of the individuals on death row admit their crimes, which are among the most heinous one could imagine, others profess their innocence. Many of the individuals on death row have survived childhoods marked by severe child abuse and neglect; many lived fairly routine lives until the one moment they lost control, forever changing their lives. Most would never repeat their crimes and would give anything to change what happened. Some of the individuals on death row have learned to read and write for the first time and found many hidden talents; talents that were latent in their previous lives of abuse and crime. The death row inmates who successfully have their sentences overturned and converted can only look forward to life in prison, a fate many regard as a dubious victory at best. The appendix leaves the reader with an overview of the appeals process in the United States; most death row inmates whose cases are under appeal must reply on the services of legal aid, most of whom make even less money than the State’s trial lawyers. Exhibits