For Immediate Release
Jan. 11, 2022
Contact: Jennifer R. Farmer, jenniferr@spotlightpr.org
LIVE FREE Joins Death Penalty Action in Urging President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland to End the Death Penalty and Destroy the Federal Death Penalty Chamber
WASHINGTON – LIVE FREE, a 10-year-old entity dedicated to ending gun violence and mass incarceration, today joined Death Penalty Action (DPA) in urging President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland to end the death penalty and destroy the federal death penalty chamber. The group will travel to Washington over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend to ask Biden to halt the Trumpian federal execution spree and end capital punishment.
“There is a connection between gun violence, mass incarceration and the death penalty,” said Rev. Michael McBride, executive director of LIVE FREE. “The people most likely to be impacted by gun violence, mass incarceration and the death penalty are overwhelmingly Black, Latino, male and poor. Policymakers can help create the beloved community but only after abandoning their obsession with crime and punishment.”
While in the nation’s Capital, Rev. McBride will participate in a prayer vigil on Jan. 16 at 6:00 p.m. ET at Lutheran Church of the Reformation, 212 E Capitol St., NE.
LIVE FREE and DPA’s specific ask of President Biden is to:
- Immediately commute the sentences of those currently on federal and military death rows;
- Order a halt to the seeking of new death sentences in federal prosecutions;
- Demolish the federal execution chamber and the building it is housed in at FCI Terre Haute;
- Replace the FCI Terre Haute facility with living things, such as a grassy area and/or a garden that may be enjoyed by all at FCI Terre Haute, including the prisoners and those who work at the prison;
- Pledge to support and sign HR 262/SB 582, the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act of 2021, which abolishes federal and military death penalty laws, removes the possibility of death sentences, and resentences those currently on federal and military death rows (without specifying life without parole as the only alternative sentence).
A petition on the requests of Biden is here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/biden-demolish-the-death-chamber.
While acknowledging that Attorney General Garland has already halted many federal executions, LIVE FREE and DPA are also urging him to:
- Declare that federal prosecutions will not seek the death penalty;
- Order the withdraw of all remaining “death notices”;
- Support efforts in Congress to pass the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act of 2021.
A petition on the matter is here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/urge-garland-stop-seeking-death-sentences.
DPA provides resources, leadership, support, educational resources, direct actions and activities within the broader anti-death penalty movement. DPA assists local, state, and national groups in their work to end the use of the death penalty.
###
