Oklahoma | Death row spiritual advisor says the trauma is worth the work

The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood said his work as a spiritual advisor for death row inmates is more than getting them saved “wrap it up in a bow and send them to heaven.”

“My work has never been like that,” Hood said. “I’ve always felt like there is a deep connection between the soul and the body and that you can’t claim to be working for the benefit of someone’s soul and not care about their body.”

Hood is a spiritual advisor for several death row inmates across the country and has been present inside the execution chamber three times this year — Scott Eizember and Anthony Sanchez in Oklahoma and Arthur Brown Jr. in Texas.

The Associated Press reported in September the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty placed the blame on Hood for decisions made by death row inmates and that Hood is driving a wedge between inmates and their legal teams.

The spiritual advisor said he works to humanize the inmates he works with and force society to see how they are connected and that the inmates have every ability to make decisions for themselves.

“My firm belief is that it is my job to stay in in between the guy on death row and the execution chamber and scream, ‘this is wrong for as long as I possibly can,’” Hood said. “And as I do that, it empowers the person to scream and speak for themselves. And I think when that happens, that’s when you know people begin to kind of get uncomfortable, because they’re not used to hearing from someone on death row. They’re not used to someone on death row being empowered to speak like that.”

Hood said he advocates as much as he can to save their lives and if it’s not possible, he wants them to feel as much courage, tenacity, and freedom as they can.

He said even after the three men have passed, they don’t ever leave his memories and are “with him forever.”

The spiritual adviser said Alabama death row inmate Casey McWhorter reached out to him following his work with Anthony Sanchez and he has agreed to accompany McWhorter in the death chamber in November, which would be the fourth execution Hood will witness in a year.

“And the number one thing he said is, ‘Jeff, I want to make my own decisions and I want to tell my own story,’ Hood said. “I don’t think it gets more some more spiritual than that.”

Hood said with all the work he has done over the past year, there is a price paid for the work he does and the way he does it differently.

“I have been more than willing to pay that price for the guys that I work with,” Hood said. “And the trauma associated with this, with seeing people that you love executed over and over again, is something that I just attribute to God’s grace that I’ve been able to keep going. Because I think in of myself, I would have quit by now.”

Source: mcalesternews.com, Derrick James, October 25, 2023

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