DDB Mitigation

05/02/2025

Yesterday, May 1, marked the beginning of Military Appreciation Month and Mental Health Awareness Month. Also yesterday, the State of Florida murdered a mentally ill veteran. I want to shout about the hypocrisy from the rooftops. I’ll be honest, of all of the executions since I took over as Execut...

02/14/2025

From Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty:

Tonight, we the people of the State of Florida, killed 64 year old James Ford. We killed a man who had the emotional and intellectual capacity of a teenager. We killed the father of three daughters, whom he loved and who loved him back. We killed a man who was no longer a danger to anyone, who could have and should have lived out his remaining days in prison.

When the Governor signed James’ warrant last month and the guards came to pull him from his cell to take him to death watch, James was doing his weekly bible study with his death row neighbors. With tears in his eyes as he was hauled away, he thanked one of his neighbors for teaching him so much of the Lord’s word over the years.

The State wants you to believe that everyone on death row is a monster. That they are subhuman, or less than, or somehow “other.” It’s simply not true. We ripped a man away from his bible study and led him to his death.

These are the people we are killing. James is more than the worst thing he has ever done. We grieve for James’ victims, and we acknowledge and grieve that his crimes left another child parentless. We grieve for his daughters, who are now also without their father. But this case could have ended 30 years ago with a life sentence, and the healing for the victims could have started then.

There is so much misinformation and fear-mongering in the State of Florida right now. Today, as the State prepared to kill James, our legislature hurriedly passed, and the Governor signed, sweeping anti-immigrant legislation. This legislation included an “automatic” and “mandatory” death penalty for immigrants who are convicted of capital crimes. No jury, no individualized sentence, just automatic death. This is of course blatantly unconstitutional, a fact which our lawmakers knew and boasted about. When the respect for the rule of law is lost, we are all in grave danger.

The death penalty debases us all. The hatred debases us all. We have to do better.

Onward,
Maria DeLiberato
FADP Executive Director

12/23/2024

09/25/2024

https://theintercept.com/2024/09/24/alabama-execution-team-misconduct-death-row/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter

As Alabama keeps details around the death penalty hidden, an investigation raises questions about how prisoners are treated in their final moments.

09/24/2024

Please attend if you can!

12/29/2023

Since 1992, the Innocence Project has helped free over 200 innocent people from
prison and reform the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment.

12/21/2023

For more than 15 years, SCI Waymart has partnered with Keystone College to offer the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program for students from both organizations. Students from Keystone attend class once a week at Waymart to learn with and from incarcerated students.

One of the course requirements is a group project which includes a proposal to improve some aspect of the justice system. The latest group of Keystone and incarcerated students worked together and proposed forming a group led by inmates to prepare better for reentry opportunities and challenges.

The class held a closing ceremony earlier this month to reflect on the program and celebrate their joint achievement.

02/11/2023

Big news out of IL last night. The MAJORITY of states now ban life without parole for children! 🎉

Congrats to our friends at !

01/02/2023

An investigation finds that corrections officers in Pennsylvania use physical force on people who may be unable to comply with orders due to a mental health condition.

07/22/2022

A Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that it's unconstitutional to automatically sentence people under the age of 21 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The ruling must still be confirmed by the state Supreme Judicial Court. The court has already barred such sentences for people u...

07/02/2022

Innocence Project staff attorney Alexis Agathocleus breaks down why eyewitness identification endangers innocent people and is the leading cause of wrongful convictions.