A prison sentence is a deprivation of liberty. That deprivation of liberty is the punishment. But elsewhere it’s different. In America, things vary a good deal state to state but 29 states still have the death penalty though some of these have a moratorium on implementing it. ‘No longer held’ Over the years, I have supported men on death row. The 1st was a ‘country boy’ in North Carolina. Early on in his letters, he explained that capital punishment too often meant that if you hadn’t the capital, you got the punishment! Smart lawyers there are expensive and without them, many men end up on death row. They can be there for years. Those states still using the death penalty seem impervious to circumstance – recently, a prisoner who had gone totally blind was executed regardless. When my letters are returned overwritten ‘no longer held at this establishment’, it signals the penalty has been carried out.
Striving for a World without Capital Punishment