Facing the Death Penalty: Essays on a Cruel and Unusual Punishment

8. Ministering to the Condemned: A Case Study

8 Ministering to the Condemned A Case Study JOSEPH B. INGLE I am firmly convinced that if the citizens of the United States fully understood the nature and effects of the death penalty, we would no longer allow the punishment to be imposed. Unfortunately, however, many people have been misinformed or have closed their minds about this issue, and the media coverage of executions, if present at all, is steadily shrinking. Furthermore, the media that still provide coverage have continually failed to describe what the inmate is actually like and what he and his family experience during his final hours. We learn about the final meal, the last statement, and the body's reaction when it is electrocuted, but not about the actual ways in which people experience their own or their loved one's planned death. For the last 13 years, I have traveled throughout the South ministering to inmates condemned to death. This work led to the establishment of a prison reform organization called the Southern Coalition on Jails and Prisons, with affiliate offices now located in eight states. In the course of this work, I have formed several close relationships with condemned inmates and their families. 112 MINISTERING TO THE CONDEMNED 113 In this essay, I would like to describe David Washington, a man I came to love and respect, and the events surrounding his execution in Florida in July 1984 (Magee, 1980:149-61). David's crimes were horrible, and I am no less appalled by them than are the strongest death penalty advocates. I do not believe, however, that the Christian command to forgive is a conditional directive; nor does the commandment "thou shalt not kill" add "except in retribution." David Washington would be happy to know that others, with varying stands on the question of capital punishment, might learn more about death (and life) by hearing a little bit about his final days. The Person We called him Pee Wee. It was a nickname coined on the streets of Miami, and one that David Washington brought with him to Florida State Prison's death row. It was an odd nickname, as he was not a small man~he stood six feet tall and was acknowledged to be one ofthe best basketball players on death row. His smooth, caramel skin and dark eyes were regularly accompanied by a warm smile. As his many friendships in Miami confirmed, Pee Wee radiated a genuine charm. The events that sent David to the electric chair involved the deaths of three victims. A product of Liberty City, the black ghetto in Miami, David was a street-wise youth, but he never used his social background as an excuse for his crimes. Rather, he readily admitted his full responsibility to the police and to the courts. He turned himself in to the police, fully cooperated with their investigations, and pleaded guilty. Pee Wee threw himself on the mercy of the court, waiving his right to a jury trial. But the court had no mercy, and in 1976 David was sentenced to three consecutive death sentences. In my visits with David over the years, I found a deeply troubled soul. He was so distressed over his crimes that occasionally he would sit in his cell in a nearly catatonic state, refusing any outside contacts. If my visit coincided with one of these retreats, he would refuse to come out to see me, and would instead remain in the solace of his cell, reflecting over his crimes and the lives of the people he had murdered, seeking an understanding and forgiveness that could only come from within. In a real sense, David carried these victims with him until the hour of his death. They were his burden to bear, 114 JOSEPH B. INGLE and like most other death row prisoners I have known, David felt remorse and pain in living with the responsibility for his crime. When Pee Wee was sociable, his kindness and concern were second to no one else's in the prison. In every meaningful sense, he was not the same person who committed those horrible crimes on the streets. Indeed, though many will choose not to believe this, I found that David resonated a sweetness of character and true humility . David was not some rabid dog; like the rest of us, he was a unique individual who had both good and bad parts. David, unlike many...