Interfaith leaders call for clemency for death row inmates

On Oct. 10, faith leaders met with Governor John Bel Edwards to present him with a letter signed by 100 faith leaders and asked him to intervene so hearings can begin for 56 death row inmates seeking clemency.

The meeting, which was held on World Day Against the Death Penalty, was followed by a prayer vigil outside of the governor’s mansion.

In June, Edwards, who is ending his term in office on Jan. 8, 2024, directed the Louisiana Board of Pardons to reduce the death row inmates sentences to life in prison.

The Vatican had sent a letter to Edwards asking him to encourage the Board of Pardons to hear the inmates’ applications.



Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and several district attorneys in the state filed an injunction to halt the clemency hearings. An agreement was reached between the Louisiana Board of Pardons, the district attorneys and the Louisiana Department of Corrections that delays any potential hearings until Dec. 31.

Sister Helen Prejean CSJ, a well-known advocate for the abolition of the death penalty, noted the meeting with the governor and prayer vigil were about mercy. She was among the faith leaders who met with the governor.

“Every time in the past 40 years I have worked to educate and rouse the people about death and the death penalty, I’ve been before this mansion,” said Sister Helen. “It. has always been about death, it has always been about quoting the law about why should these human beings have to be killed. Without exception, sometimes it was at the end of a long march from Angola (prison), it was here before the mansion.

“Today was the only day where the talk was about possible mercy,” said Sister Helen.

She noted that the waiting time between a death sentence and execution is 17 years.

“How can people possibly be healed of their loss by watching an act of violence where the state imitates the crime?” asked Sister Helen. “The state kills the one who killed their loved one. They wait 15 years, 20 years to watch this act of violence that is supposed to heal.”



Bishop Michael G. Duca, who also met with the governor, spoke about the meaning of God’s merciful love.

“We’re very quick to say God is a just God, but he’s also a merciful one,” said Bishop Duca.

“God looks upon us. He knows our faults, he knows our weaknesses, he knows our sins better that we know our own, from the smallest to the greatest.”

“He knows the sins and difficulties and harm the men on death row have done. He knows it, but he cannot look on them and cannot also see that they’ve been made in his image and likeness, so he always continues to love them out of their sins. He loves us out of our sinfulness as well.”

The bishop noted that the mercy being sought for the death row prisoners isn’t about not paying the penalty, but about life-time imprisonment instead of death.

“We’re talking about dealing justice with the same kind of love God has. Yes, lifetime imprisonment, but during that time they have a chance to be forgiven, to seek God’s forgiveness and to pay for their sins in that way,” said Bishop Duca.

Tom Costanza, executive director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops, said LCCB has always stated that ending the death penalty is a pro-life issue because life is sacred from conception to natural death.



"LCCB met with Gov. Edwards in early February prior to the (2023) Louisiana Legislative session and asked him to end the use of the death penalty, and if not, to commute the sentences or dismantle the entire death row machinery, which costs taxpayers millions of dollars each year and is not a determent to crime. At the heart of the message of the church is mercy," Costanza said.  "The LCCB testified but was not successful in abolishing the death penalty during this past legislative session.”

Ending the death penalty is the most important teaching of the Catholic Church on restorative justice, according to Costanza.

“We must restore the victims, the offender, and the wider community. The message must be clear that we are advocating for life without parole and that the individuals will remain in prison, but their lives can remain open to redemption, mercy and the healing power of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Long time death row abolition advocate Bishop Joe Doss, a retired Episcopal bishop from New Jersey who has served parishes in Louisiana, said as a matter of law and faith, it is time for people to convert.

“Go back to your congregations and your churches, wherever you find people, it’s the people that we’ve got to convert.

“This governor is with us. The next one may very well not be. But if we convert the people, this will happen,” Bishop Doss said.

Allison McCrary, director of the Louisiana InterFaith Against Executions and spiritual advisor to Louisiana death row inmates, said Edwards expressed his appreciation of the work being done by people of faith to end the death sentence.

“He said he will be considering next steps and he and the first lady, Donna Edwards united with us in prayer as they discern and pray about their next steps on this issue,” McCrary said.

Photos by Debbie Shelley