BOOKS: ​“Crossing the River Styx: The Memoir of a Death Row Chaplain”

In Crossing the River Styx: The Memoir of a Death Row Chaplain, (March 2023), author Russ Ford recounts the abus­es he wit­nessed as the head chap­lain of Virginia’s death row and the strong rela­tion­ships he formed with more than a dozen con­demned pris­on­ers. Through sto­ries, he describes the core of human dig­ni­ty he expe­ri­enced among death row pris­on­ers, as well as the treach­er­ous con­di­tions these indi­vid­u­als faced dur­ing their final days.

Ford vivid­ly describes the inhu­mane treat­ment expe­ri­enced by many pris­on­ers, adding that, while work­ing as the prison chap­lain, he also ​“served more than the spir­i­tu­al needs of the inmates. [He] worked to ensure that the men were guar­an­teed humane con­di­tions of con­fine­ment,” despite fre­quent resis­tance from some prison admin­is­tra­tors. In addi­tion to the poor liv­ing con­di­tions, death-row pris­on­ers faced insuf­fi­cient med­ical assis­tance and poor man­age­ment. His expe­ri­ences work­ing on death row led Ford to the con­clu­sion that exe­cu­tions can­not be humane, regard­less of how they are car­ried out. He also point­ed to the risk of exe­cut­ing an inno­cent per­son and the per­sis­tence of botched exe­cu­tions, which were some­times the result of unprofessional personnel. 

From 1985 to 1997, Ford min­is­tered to all the Virginia death row inmates. Not only did he lead group wor­ship, he also made sure to vis­it the men in their cells in an effort to help them under­stand their crimes and how they could bet­ter them­selves. Ford stood death watch with each man fac­ing exe­cu­tion, pray­ing with them and read­ing them their last rites. 

Virginia would even­tu­al­ly be the first for­mer-Confederate state to abol­ish the death penal­ty in 2021.