Inadequate testing, resistance to contact tracing, and poor social distancing practices likely made the thirteen federal executions in 2020-2021 COVID-19 superspreader events, the
Associated Press has concluded. In the ten days after the December 10, 2020 execution of Brandon Bernard, 70% of prisoners on federal death row and hundreds of others incarcerated in the
Terre Haute Correctional Complex where the executions took place tested positive for COVID-19. At least a dozen others who participated in the executions, including media witnesses, a spiritual advisor, and correctional staff who traveled from across the country for the executions, also contracted the disease.
The protocols surrounding the executions ignored public health advice for reducing the spread of the virus and warnings from medical experts about the risks. “These are the type of high-risk superspreader events that the [American Medical Association] and [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] have be
Dear President Biden,
On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 220 national organizations to promote and protect civil and human rights in the United States, and the 82 undersigned organizations, we write to urge you to act on your promise of ensuring equality, equity, and justice in our criminal legal system by immediately commuting the sentences of all individuals under federal sentence of death, and reinstating the federal moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Any criminal legal system truly dedicated to the pursuit of justice should recognize the humanity of all those who come into contact with it, not sanction the use of a discriminatory practice that denies individuals their rights, fails to respect their dignity, and stands in stark contrast to the fundamental values of our democratic system of governance. If we are to truly forge a nation as good as its ideals, the federal government mu
Johnson, 52, was sentenced to death in 1993, when he was in his early 20s. Tried as a âdrug kingpinâ alongside two other men under the 1988 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, he was convicted of seven murders â a shocking body count that many would associate with the âworst of the worst.â Yet the case would not likely end in a death sentence today. There was significant proof that Johnson had an intellectual disability, which should have forbidden him from being sentenced to death. But reviewing courts refused to consider the evidence.
Regardless, Breedenâs task was not to judge Johnson for his crimes. As Johnsonâs spiritual adviser, his job was to prepare him to die. âI donât care who you are or what youâve done,â he said. âI think when youâre dying, life should give you the gift of being in the presence of somebody who cares, instead of just people who are paid to kill you.â Breeden knew that many on death row had little s
The Bureau of Prisons admitted that after a reporter informed officials about their diagnosis, it didn’t contact any other media witnesses or conduct any.