Weekly Report from the Board Meeting at Holman Prison 9.6.23

The very bad, shocking and outrageous news that the Alabama attorney general’s office asked the state Supreme Court to set an execution date for death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith continues to fill the airways. We discussed among other articles “Astonishing cruel” Alabama seeks to test execution method on death row “guinea pig” the article in the Guardian by Ed Pilkington who reached out to Esther after Darrell Grayson’s execution where he had also been a witness.” Maya Foa, a joint executive director of Reprieve, the human rights group, said that Alabama was doubling down on a policy of human experimentation.

“Alabama has tortured Kenneth Smith once already, strapping him down and stabbing him with needles for more than an hour in a failed attempt to kill him. It is astonishingly reckless and cruel to try again using an untested execution method that has every chance of causing terrible suffering,” Foa said.

Foa added that Alabama’s new published protocol for death-by-nitrogen was “alarmingly vague – officials evidently don’t know what they are doing and are hoping for the best. The state is treating a human being like a guinea pig in a laboratory and calling it justice.”

The State has also asked for an execution date for Casey McWhorter. We are reaching out to Casey and he is very appreciative. We will keep you posted.

John Ward died last week. He had been suffering from terminal cancer and so we hope death came as a friend. To quote Robert Dunham@RDunhamDP “he was convicted and sentenced to death in another child-death case in which no crime occurred.” Leah Nelson, his attorney wrote the day after Ward’s death: “Friends, we need to talk about the death penalty in AL. Not about the execution protocol which is horrific but about the innocent man who died yesterday on death row waiting for justice he will never see….”He was not the first and he will not be the last to wait in vain for justice in this state!

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. And if you would like to order our book “Ghosts Over the Boiler” you can do so at Amazon.com. Stay well and be kind to each other,                                                                  Esther