NCJ Number
175799
Editor(s)
J Arriens
Date Published
1997
Length
272 pages
Annotation
Consisting of letters and other writings by death row inmates, this book vividly conveys daily life on death row through emotionally powerful statements by inmates who are facing execution.
Abstract
The book attempts to give a voice to the 3,000 men and women on death row in the United States through the letters they have written to people on the outside and to show the human face of death row inmates. The inmates provide glimpses into their childhoods and a pattern of physical and sexual abuse, poverty, neglect, lack of love, lack of education, and unemployment, followed by petty crime, alcohol and drug abuse, and more serious crime. The book consists primarily of excerpts from inmate letters that range from simple descriptions of cockroach races and a typewriter repaired with rubber bands and a toothbrush to rather eloquent and emotionally charged statements about the feelings associated with being on death row. Information on the appeals process in the United States is appended. 13 photographs