“The Death Penalty protects no one – Abolish it now!” (World Day Against the Death Penalty 2025)
Hello dear readers,
my name is Charles L. Burton Jr. and I am on death row in Alabama. I have been here for several years. I have heard a lot about the World Day Against the Death Penalty, whose slogan is: “The death penalty protects no one. Abolish it now.” I agree with this slogan.
I am delighted to have this opportunity to give you an insight into my world (the real world). Over the past 35 years, I have witnessed the execution of more than 30 men.
However, the sad and cruel thing about the execution of a man in Alabama is the cruelty and torture that precedes and follows it. Under our new prison warden, as soon as a man receives his “death warrant,” he is immediately placed in solitary confinement and stripped of all the privileges enjoyed by other death row inmates.
He has no television and no contact with other inmates. This is mental and emotional isolation that prepares a man for the torture before his death (the execution).
All previous prison directors allowed men whose execution date had been set by the Alabama Supreme Court to have contact with friends and other death row inmates until three days before their execution.
This prison director, however, locks the condemned in solitary confinement as soon as the court sets a date for them. In some cases, this can be two to three (2 to 3) months before the execution, during which time they are separated from other inmates.
For three days, the condemned man has no privacy whatsoever; he must use the toilet under the watchful eyes of security guards. As if he were not human.
“The death penalty protects no one. Abolish it now.”
Further evidence that the death penalty protects no one comes from those states of the USA, where there is no death penalty. Crime and murder rates there are lower than in states where the death penalty exists.
“The death penalty protects no one. Abolish it now.”
I would like to thank my readers for allowing me to give them a glimpse into my world, where I have lived for 35 years, every day a nightmare for body and mind, full of agony before death. This is a proven fact in Alabama.
Charles “Sonny” Burton
Z-537
Alabama
https://www.charlessonnyburton.com