Peace in Prison

Peace Talks Radio, the series on peacemaking and non-violent conflict resolution, features Jane Davis of Hope-Howse. In December 1993, Jane was asked to be a media witness at an electric chair execution in Georgia. She says witnessing the execution made everything inside her go "haywire." She writes, "This isolated act of killing another human being...left no alternatives. It took away all hope." Since then Jane has been travelling to death rows and prisons around the country and around the world, counseling inmates to help them find the goodness inside them and help them achieve some inner peace. She has worked with at-risk youth as well and has advocated against the death penalty. "Hope-Howse" stands for "Help Other People Evolve through Honest Open Willing Self Evaluation." She talks about her work with Carol Boss. In part two of the program, we rebroadcast our visit with musician and death penalty opponent Steve Earle from 2005 and hear some voices in support of the death penalty from the debate in the New Mexico State Legislature that year. New Mexico ultimately abolished the death penalty in 2009.