Joseph Giarratano, Former Death Row Prisoner and Prison Reform Advocate, Has Died

Joseph Giarratano (pictured, center) died on October 6, 2024. He had spent nearly forty years in prison, many of them on death row, for a crime he maintained he did not commit. During his time behind bars, he sought to improve prison conditions and secure access to attorneys. After being paroled in 2017, he worked at the University of Virginia’s Innocence Project, continuing his work to assist incarcerated people. 

Mr. Giarratano played a pivotal role in saving the life of Earl Washington, an intellectually disabled man who was wrongfully sentenced to death in Virginia. When the state set an execution date for Mr. Washington, who had no attorney, Mr. Giarratano filed a class action lawsuit demanding representation for death-sentenced prisoners during the state post-conviction phase of their appeals. Thanks to Mr. Giarratano’s filing, a law firm became involved pro bono and obtained a stay of execution for Mr. Washington, who was formally exonerated years later.