Firing up the chamber of death
It has always struck me as odd that our ministers preach the Beatitudes (“Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy”) while our prosecutors promote revenge.
Category
Criminal Justice
The death penalty as seen by Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford taught me that every chance for life matters. It was easy to see why: prosecutors told the court Glenn was innocent 30 years after he was wrongly convicted of murder and sent to Death Row. Despite being sentenced to death, Glenn and others on the Row refused to forget their humanity.
Operating capital
As Louisiana restarts executions, stories about the state’s death penalty — from condemned men, victims, families, and those who work in the death chamber.
The Louisiana legislature’s plans to cage our future: the March 29 ballot amendments
Early voting for this crucial election starts on Saturday. The four constitutional amendments on the March 29 ballot are designed to mislead you as a voter and stand in the way of a safe, more healthy Louisiana.
Redemption and the Ultimate Punishment
"I remember feeling a flush of anger that the State of Louisiana was giving Bordelon what he wanted, relief from his guilt," writes the author, who visited Angola with a film crew in 2010 as Louisiana was preparing to execute Gerald Bordelon. "My husband had died a few years before that, leaving me a widow and mother to two small children. Death, for me, was not something a governor should casually enter into with a signature — or that Bordelon could chase, to relieve his personal agony."
Scattershot statutes
Is it illegal to carry a concealed gun while watching a parade in Louisiana? Depends who you ask.
Vote to reject the state’s costly push to fill Louisiana jails and prisons
Voters have a chance on March 29 to turn the tide against Gov. Jeff Landry and his legislature’s extensive, expensive plans to expand the criminal-justice system in Louisiana, which already incarcerates more people per capita than any other state
Ensuring we all feel safe and are stably employed
“We have much work to do,” Hunter writes, “to ensure that an anti-terrorist component is part of the planning process for every special event that attracts thousands – Mardi Gras, festivals and holiday celebrations, even our Sunday second-line parades.”
‘A make-believe person in a make-believe world’
"I keep paper and pen with me at all times because, like the most dynamic dreams, creativity is as wispy as Louisiana mist and dissipates quickly if not seized,” writes John Corley, associate editor of the Angolite, who says that, in his mind, he still lives in 1989, ‘the year I fell.’
Kaleidoscope Reprise
This poem received second prize for poetry in the 2024 PEN Prison Writing Awards.
