A Prison Chaplain Speaks out Against the Death Penalty

Rev, Carroll "Bud" Pickett talks about how working with death row inmates has changed his opinion of the death penalty.

Pickett watched almost 100 men die this way, deaths completed in a matter of minutes, but ones that have stayed with Pickett for years. His experiences changed his views on capital punishment, making him an outspoken critic of the practice he says can punish the innocent, the mentally handicapped and the reformed for no good reason.

“Practically every one of the men I saw die had been restored. They’d changed. I saw so many people who’d made mistakes, but they didn’t deserve to die,” Pickett said. “It’s not a deterrent. It’s a deterrent for one person.”

His book, Within These Walls: Memoirs of a Death House Chaplain, tells his story. He is also the subject of a documentary, At the Death House Door, which is now available on DVD.

The death penalty, Pickett said, often does not bring comfort to those who have lost loved ones to violence. Instead, it widens the circle of pain.

“The warden was a victim. The guards became victims. The families are both sides became victims,” Pickett said. “The whole state is a victim.”

What Good Has Death Done - A prison chaplain changes his mind - by Natalie Pompilio - Obit Magazine