Weekly Report from the Board Meeting at Holman Prison 2.24.21

At this point we are hard at work to meet two deadlines. One of them is our lengthy research article for the Mississippi Quarterly which we are mailing in increments to our Advisory Board Member Dr. Katie Owens-Murphy for editing. There is no doubt that we are gaining a better understanding and a clearer picture of events which we were part of by having to formulate them so the general public can comprehend their injustice. As there are different segments to this 6,000 word article it is also a learning experience for those of us who came to death row after events that predated our arrival, like for example the 4 botched executions. So yes, we are hard at work but yes, we are grateful for the focus which it gives us.

The other deadline is the next edition of our newsletter Wings of Hope which we publish 4 times a year. It too presents a challenge but with it comes a great deal of satisfaction when we have successfully met it one more time. Not to be a spoiler but there will be an article in it concerning last week’s events which we believe will have unique insights.

We were pleased to be able to provide Alabama Arise with the current number of people who were sentenced via judicial override and the number who were sentenced non-unanimously: 31 override, 32 unanimous; 83 non-unanimous; 6 unknown.

The Death Penalty Information Center announced that 11 people were added to the official innocence list. This brings the total number of prisoners exonerated and freed from death-row in the United States since 1973 to 185. 

We had a very productive phone call with a student at Northwestern University who is a member of the Death Row Support Project. Ryley Boddeker-O’Connor, using information from our website and from our exchange, put together a great statement which will be going out to members of the Death Row Support Group who have connections in Alabama. We thank Ryley and look forward to the assistance we will be receiving.

In closing and as always, we continue to 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. You encourage us and make all the difference. Stay safe!         

                                                                                                          Esther