From a donated typewriter that frequently breaks down, people on Alabama's death row have literally cut and pasted together a newsletter, On Wings of Hope, for the last three decades to educate the public about the death penalty. This newsletter, a labor of love, documents decades of work, wisdom, activism, and lived experience of those who have been executed, or are scheduled to be executed, by the state of Alabama. The writings also chart the changing policy and practice of capital punishment in the state that sentences more people to death per capita than any other in the US.
Ghosts Over the Boiler is a curated collection of poetry, visual art, photographs, essays, creative writings, and other archival materials that have emerged from Alabama's death row from the organization Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty (PHADP). This group was founded at Holman Correctional Facility and has been operating autonomously since 1989 toward its mission to abolish the death penalty in Alabama and in the nation.
By:
Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty
Edited by:
Katie Owens-Murphy
Imprint: Vanderbilt University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 228mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 18mm
Weight: 363g
ISBN: 9780826505293
ISBN 10: 0826505295
Pages: 344
Publication Date: 31 March 2023
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Introduction Editor's Note Interview with PHADP Part I: Beginnings (1990–2004) From the Editor's Desk Killing the Scapegoat Won't Solve the Problem Will I Be Remembered? To Remember is to Act! Thankful Season's Greetings Greetings from the Editor's Desk An Execution Feast? Moratorium Flyer Prosecuting Children for Murder is Barbaric Prosecutors Manipulate Victim Families to Hate Remembrance Day Flyer Closure: Reality or a Catch Phrase? Reflections Paradise To the Contrary Feelings from Death Row Closure Alabama Death Row Fact Sheet The Fiscal Distress Caused by Capital Punishment Will You Hear Me Now? Now I'm Gone Homicide? Suicide? Euthanasia? Volunteer Season's Greetings Part II: Will You Hear Me Now? (2005–2008) True Romance Faulty Logic Against Time Reductive Language Souls, Souls, Souls Ghosts Over the Boiler Poll Data The Killing Machine Dispute Resolution Welcome to My World Change The Continuing Journey Thoughts in Time Nobility's True Badge Greetings from the Editor's Desk A Time of Remembrance Greetings from the Editor's Desk Alabama Alone in Denying National Trend A Christian Perspective Greetings from the Editor's Desk Never Fails to Amaze A Christian Perspective Greetings from the Editor's Desk A Christian Perspective Greetings from the Editor's Desk Death Row Artwork SEBO You Have a Right to Know Season's Greetings from the Editor's Desk Faith vs. Fear Part III: The Killing Machine (2009–2010) Greetings from the Editor's Desk Time in a Box School vs. Death A Newcomer's Perspective on Holman's Death Row Twenty Years of Hope Greetings from the Editor's Desk Waiting to Exhale A Christian Perspective A Blessed Long Journey Greetings from Editor's Desk The Kentucky Derby One Plus One? It's the Southern Way Greetings from the Editor's Desk Thanksgiving My Everyday From the Editor's Desk The Prodigal Son Out to Pasture The Reason I Joined An Apology PHADP vs. VOCAL Change Greetings from the Editor's Desk I Have Fallen Untitled Generations The Six Million Dollar Man Strength-Maturity-Hope Greetings from the Editor's Desk PHADP- On the Inside Untitled How I See Tomorrow Part IV: It's the Southern Way (2011–2015) Greetings from the Editor's Desk PHADP on the Inside, Part 2 Stop the Madness Don't Think About a Zebra! Mansion of Good and Evil Greetings from the Editor's Desk AL vs. USA Executions Execute Justice Not People! From the Editor's Desk The Heart and Soul of Death Row Season's Greetings! Untitled A Friend is Gone but Will Never Be Forgotten Greetings from the Editor's Desk Doing What You Can Untitled A Christian Perspective Greetings from the Editor's Desk Greetings from the Editor's Desk Untitled Season's Greetings from the Editor's Desk Historic Event Greetings from the Editor's Desk A Christian Perspective Greetings from the Editor's Desk Season's Greetings Greetings from the Editor's Desk PHADP Lost a Good Man Untitled Greetings from the Editor's Desk A Christian Perspective Untitled Untitled Greetings from the Editor's Desk Guerilla Warfare Alabama Chooses Death Supreme Ruse: The Botched Ruling Part V: Botched Rulings and Botched Executions (2016–2020) From the Editor's Desk Untitled Alabama (Un)Just Being Alabama A Christian Perspective Win, Lose, or Draw? Greetings from the Editor's Desk Political Put-away Greetings from the Editor's Desk Greetings from the Editor's Desk: The U.S. Supreme Court Judicial Nominee Neil Gorsuch: New Shadow of Death It Speaks for Itself Change is Consistent Lethal Injection: Have We Become the New Guinea Pigs? Ron Smith as Remembered by Bart Johnson Rush to Kill: Troubling Way to Die Do You Remember Where the Line is S'pose to Go? Life Row The Arkansas Effect: 8 in 11 Greetings from the Editor's Desk War Against Hope Sight to the Blind Last Words and Testament Travesty of Justice Untitled From the Editor's Desk Greetings from the Editor's Desk Evolving Standards of Decency Untitled A Divided People Milk to Meat: Choose Meat From the Editor's Desk Greetings Fight or Flight The Coming, Birth, and Longevity of PHADP Letter to Alabama Media Group Surviving Death Row Christmas Edition The Man He Killed Epilogue: Keeping Hope Alive Thorns of Hope We Will Continue to Be the Other Voice
"Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty is the nation's only 501c3 founded and run by people on death row. They have published the newsletter ""On Wings of Hope"" for more than thirty years. Katie Owens-Murphy is an associate professor of English at the University of North Alabama and state coordinator for the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program."
Reviews for Ghosts Over the Boiler: Voices from Alabama's Death Row
"This most necessary book, Ghost Over the Boiler: Voices from Alabama's Death Row, contextualizes and places into historical context the work the organization Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty has done, and its evolution to expose and bring to the forefront the inhumanity that occurs within taking a life on death row. The amplification of voices from within the carceral state of Alabama in this archive of past writings are at once chilling, and yet—eye-opening. This living document that breathes from the blood of the dead and those soon to be gone, if one reads it carefully, reflects a judicial system that bases its morals or morality at the expense of humans. These human beings are and have been entangled in a carceral state in which checks and balances never favor the convicted, and the pathway to redemption and forgiveness often does not exist. It reminds me of the hypocrisy of change and forgiveness, and how killing a person eliminates any chance of either. Ghosts Over the Boiler may or may not change your position on the death penalty, but it will make you rethink everything you thought you knew in the taking of a life.""—Randall Horton, author of {#289-128}: Poems, winner of the American Book Award ""This collection is one of the most important archives of the modern US death penalty, giving voice to the brilliant and dedicated men on Alabama's death row—to their essays, editorials, and poems; to their interviews, scanned documents, and letters; to their photographs, remembrances, and reflections. Beautifully and faithfully curated by Katie Owens-Murphy, this archive is a glorious tribute to the human spirit.""—Bernard E. Harcourt, author of Critique and Praxis ""[Ghosts Over the Boiler] helps put a human face on capital punishment. This book traces the development of the death penalty abolition movement, the history of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, and the evolution of the capital punishment system in Alabama since 1989.""—Andrew Baer, author of Beyond the Usual Beating: The Jon Burge Police Torture Scandal and Social Movements for Police Accountability in Chicago"
