Weekly Report from the Board Meeting at Holman Prison 10.30.19

                      Weekly Report from the Board Meeting at Holman Prison 10.30.19

Journalist Lauren Gill just had another article published in The Appeal last week. “Using Nitrogen Gas for Executions is Untested and Poorly Understood. Three States Plan to do it Anyway.” Alabama is one of these states. As with all articles by Lauren Gill this article is well researched and comprehensive and so we quote from it extensively:

“Alabama will follow Oklahoma’s lead in carrying out nitrogen executions, state Senator Cam Ward, chairperson of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told The Appeal. “What I keep hearing is that the new states that have looked at doing this are kind of waiting to see how Oklahoma implements theirs first before just cutting new ground,” he said in a phone interview. “In other words, copy somebody else that’s already done it. I think we’re on hold until that happens.” 

“John Palombi, a federal public defender for the Middle District of Alabama, told The Appeal that some of the people he has represented experienced grisly deaths by lethal injection. He advised his clients—39 of whom opted in—to choose to be killed by nitrogen last year because “it would guarantee that they were not executed by a torturous method and protect their right to challenge any new protocol.”

And the final quote comes from Dr. Katie Owens-Murphy regarding this article: “Lauren Gill is continuing to do excellent and important journalism on the death penalty in Alabama and in the nation. Please read!!” We couldn’t agree more!

It is the time of year when we renew our membership with Arise as one of the 150 faith communities and organizations and we would like to encourage our friends to do the same with individual memberships. As a group to quote Robyn Hyden we carry a strong message to legislators to make a better Alabama. We have been a member for years and even when there is no legislation which affects us directly it is important to us to stand for change.

We continue to thank anonymous donors who gave by going to our website and using the “donate” button and of course also those who gave directly. We also thank all those who recently joined our Facebook page.  Our thanks to all who believe in what we do and stand with us. You make a difference!

                                                                 Esther