Weekly Report from the Board Meeting at Holman Prison 1.31.24
There is no doubt that we are all still in shock from Kenny’s execution last week. Naturally the state is white washing what happened but the following are quotes from actual witnesses who have seen other executions: “I’ve been to four previous executions and I’ve never seen a condemned inmate thrash in the way that Kenneth Smith reacted to the nitrogen gas,” Lee Hedgepeth, a journalist who witnessed the execution, told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
Jeff Hood, Smith’s spiritual adviser, was in the death chamber when Smith was killed. In a tearful television interview with CNN, he said Smith “popped up on the gurney over and over and over again. He shook the whole gurney.”
“I have never, ever seen anything like that,” he said. “That was torture.” Yes, it was and even the State should tell the truth sometimes!
The world saw it and listened and national and international airways were flooded with outraged reactions to the horrific execution. Friends reached out to us from Denmark, Sweden, the U.K. and Austria, and Germany where this news was on the front page and television. “According to leading experts, this method is a particularly cruel and unusual punishment,” the diplomatic service of the EU said in a statement.” Foreign firms please remember this when you plan to locate to AL because of tax breaks! After all, AL broke 2 international human rights treaties against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment!
Alabama offered assistance on Friday to other U.S. states seeking to carry out executions using asphyxiation by nitrogen gas, a few hours after pioneering the new method to kill Kenneth Smith,
The state also promised more to come in Alabama: Attorney General Steve Marshall said 43 other people on death row had chosen asphyxiation over lethal injections since lawmakers approved the method in 2018. And at Holman the empty gas canisters have already been replaced by 2 new ones!
We appreciated the statement from the White House that ““The president has long said and has had deep deep concerns with how the death penalty is implemented and whether it is consistent … with our values.” Certainly not if we aspire to be a civilized nation!
The Attorney General has asked for an execution date for Jamie Mills by lethal injection.
We thank all who are working so hard and diligently to stop all killing in Alabama! And as always in closing, we thank all our generous donors who either gave by going to our website and using the “donate” button or who gave directly. Thank you also to all who took the time to read our notes, commented, liked and shared them on Facebook.. Stay safe and be kind to each other!
Esther
