Kirk Bloodsworth and Kwame Ajamu Featured on Great.com Podcast
These People are the Living Proof that We Send the Innocent to Die
May 1, 2021
Capital punishment is still legal in 28 U.S. states, yet the figures show that one in every eight prisoners sentenced to death is later exonerated. In fact, since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 185 people have been exonerated and freed from death row. How many more innocent people will we send to die before this unjust system is entirely revoked? In this episode, we hear the powerful stories of two exonerated death row survivors, Kirk Bloodsworth and Kwame Ajamu, who now form part of the Witness to Innocence team - working to gain justice for those wrongfully convicted to death and to abolish the death penalty once and for all.
Kwame and Kirk’s stories are not unique: they speak for myriads of wrongly convicted people
Witness to Innocence is the only national organization in the U.S. which is composed of and led by exonerated death row survivors, with a mission to abolish the death penalty. Not only do they support survivors rebuilding their lives after being released, they also work to empower them by guiding their journey into becoming active members in the fight to abolish capital punishment in every state. Kirk narrates his wrongful conviction and subsequent death sentence in Maryland, where he spent almost nine years in prison - two of which were on death row. Since his exoneration he has been extremely active in the ongoing campaign to end federal punishment, working in eight of the nine states that have abolished the death penalty in the last 25 years.
Kwame explains that neither his nor Kirk’s personal experiences are unique - rather they speak as an example of the severely flawed justice system which the U.S. operates within. There are currently 2.3 million people incarcerated in the U.S., and if we consider the statistics then we are yet to lose many more innocent lives through wrongful convictions if the death penalty remains intact.
Listen to the whole interview to hear Kwame and Kirk’s touching and remarkable stories and to find out how you can join the campaign to put ‘justice’ back into the criminal justice system. You can also visit their Take Action page, support their current abolition campaigns and donate directly to their cause. Help put an end to state-sanctioned murder today.
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