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U.S. | 'I comfort death row inmates in their final moments - the execution room is like a house of horrors'

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Reverend Jeff Hood, 40, wants to help condemned inmates 'feel human again' and vows to continue his efforts to befriend murderers in spite of death threats against his family A reverend who has made it his mission to comfort death row inmates in their final days has revealed the '"moral torture" his endeavor entails. Reverend Dr. Jeff Hood, 40, lives with his wife and five children in Little Rock, Arkansas. But away from his normal home life, he can suddenly find himself holding the shoulder of a murderer inside an execution chamber, moments away from the end of their life. 

Japan executes first three prisoners since 2010

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Execution chamber
at Tokyo Detention Center
Japan has hanged three death row inmates in its first executions since July 2010.

Reports said the unnamed prisoners, hanged in separate prisons, had all been convicted of multiple murders.

Japan is one of the few advanced industrialised nations to retain the death penalty. It is usually reserved for multiple murders.

Though the majority support the death penalty, rights groups say Japan's death row is particularly harsh.

"Today, three executions were carried out," Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa said. "I have carried out my duty as a justice minister as stipulated by law."

There are currently more than 100 people on death row, including Shoko Asahara, the mastermind behind the 1995 sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway. No executions were carried out in 2011.

Official figures in Japan as of 2011 put support for capital punishment at over 80%.

But rights groups like Amnesty International have called for it to be abolished, saying the condemned have few visits, little exercise and are forced to spend almost all of their time sitting down in their cells.

Sometimes held for decades, they are not warned in advance of when they will be put to death, meaning they fear every day is their last, the BBC's Roland Buerk reports.

Source: BBC News, March 29, 2012

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