Entries tagged with “Brian Dorsey”

Mental Illness

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Conditions on Death Row

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Dec 05, 2024

Hidden Casualties: Executions Harm Mental Health of Prison Staff

In March, Oklahoma offi­cials asked the state’s high court to increase the time between exe­cu­tions from 60 to 90 days, cit­ing the ​“last­ing trau­ma” and ​“psy­cho­log­i­cal toll” of exe­cu­tions on cor­rec­tions offi­cers. But Judge Gary Lumpkin dis­missed these con­cerns, telling offi­cials that prison staff need­ed to ​“suck it up” and ​“man up.” A few weeks lat­er, Brian Dorsey was exe­cut­ed in Missouri after the gov­er­nor ignored the pleas of an unprece­dent­ed 72 cor­rec­tions offi­cers to grant him clemen­cy. ​“We…

Facts & Research

New Voices

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May 02, 2024

Articles of Interest: Missouri and Oklahoma Corrections Officials Describe Psychological Toll of Performing Executions

An April 28, 2024 report by Ed Pilkington in The Guardian chron­i­cles the trau­ma expe­ri­ences by prison offi­cials assigned to car­ry out exe­cu­tions. Oklahoma cor­rec­tion­al offi­cers asked Attorney General Gentner Drummond to slow the pace of exe­cu­tions, cit­ing ​“last­ing trau­ma,” Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and alco­hol abuse among staff due to fre­quent exe­cu­tions in the state. Former cor­rec­tions direc­tor Justin Jones told Mr. Pilkington, ​“It affects your men­tal state when it becomes so routine,”…

Policy Issues

Human Rights

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International

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May 01, 2024

Worldwide Wednesday International Roundup: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Uganda, United States, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe

Missouri’s April 9th exe­cu­tion of Brian Dorsey, despite wide­spread sup­port for his clemen­cy, once again gar­nered con­dem­na­tion from the European Union, which described it as a ​“inhu­man and degrad­ing prac­tice.” The EU’s state­ment high­light­ed the lack of the death penal­ty as a deter­rent and the irre­versibil­i­ty of the pun­ish­ment, not­ing that 197 death-sen­tenced pris­on­ers have been exon­er­at­ed. ​“The EU con­tin­ues to call for the uni­ver­sal abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty and for States, that maintain…

Facts & Research

Clemency

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Upcoming Executions

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Apr 05, 2024

Missouri’s First Execution of 2024 Scheduled for Man Whose Trial Lawyers Had Conflicts of Interest and Who Has Unprecedented Support for Clemency

Brian Dorsey (pic­tured), a Missouri death row pris­on­er sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on April 9, 2024, has gar­nered wide­spread sup­port for clemen­cy from more than 70 cor­rec­tions offi­cials, a for­mer Missouri Supreme Court Judge, mul­ti­ple jurors, Democratic and Republican state leg­is­la­tors, faith lead­ers, and his fam­i­ly mem­bers — sev­er­al of whom are relat­ed to the vic­tims, Sarah and Ben Bonnie — all of whom have called on Governor Mike Parson to com­mute his sen­tence to life in prison without the…