Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty and the Execution Intervention Project convened to raise alarms about Alabama’s continued use of nitrogen gas as a method of execution, calling the practice inhumane, experimental and rooted in secrecy.
Esther Brown, executive director of PHADP, opened the discussion by emphasizing the role the prisoner-run organization plays. Founded in 1989 by men incarcerated at Holman Correctional Facility, PHADP is the only prisoner-led abolition group in the country.
“I’m here not for myself, but here for the men. I know they would want me to say how much we appreciate the Reverend for being more than a spiritual adviser, for being a friend… and then he has to witness them being tortured to death. If you can imagine what that’s like,” said Brown…