Compassion on Death Row

Welcome to Compassion.

Compassion newsletter is written by death row prisoners in the United States and distributed without charge to all 3100+ inmates in this country currently under the sentence of death. Subscriptions are also available to those on the outside.

Compassion focuses its efforts on publishing compassionate and introspective articles written by death-row prisoners. Within its pages it also works to develop healing communication between capital punishment offenders and murdered victims’ families.

Under its self imposed guidelines Compassion directs a portion of all its subscription and donation funds be awarded as college scholarships to family members of murdered victims. To date $46,000 in scholarships have been awarded to seventeen individuals from around the country.

Compassion urges prisoners to set a new moral decency for themselves. Through its pages, death row prisoners take an active role in restorative justice and reconciliation. Prisoners are encouraged to genuinely foster reconciliation between themselves and immediate family members of murdered victims.

The current co-editors of Compassion, are Marcus Wellons on Georgia's death row and Abu Ali Abdur Rahman on Tennessee's death row. They are working together to gather articles and poems from death row prisoners throughout the United States. It is their hope to continue the work of prior Compassion's prior editor Dennis Skillicorn, executed on May 20, 2009, in giving death row prisoners a voice and way "to work toward restoring some of what we've torn down."

We have artwork, done by the prisoners, available for sale... click for a listing and prices ART FOR SALE

Death row prisoners have published a book, Today's Choices Affect Tomorrow's Dreams. It contains approximately 100 essays on choices inmates made in their lives that brought them to where they are today. It is being distributed without charge to juvenile detention facilities in the United States.

You can order your copy here... Today's Choices Affect Tomorrow's Dreams

Interested in learning more about Prison Ministry?

Please visit INPM (International Network of Prison Minstry) at Prison Ministry Net