Conference Report 2025

11th October 2025

Members from the UK travelled to London and guests from overseas flew in for our annual Human Writes conference in October. Caroline Hayward opened proceedings, welcoming everyone to this special event, marking the 25th anniversary of when Human Writes was founded.

Our first speaker was Pablo Stewart, a forensic psychiatrist and long-time friend of our organisation. Pablo began by reminding us of the impact that Human Writes has throughout the US death rows, citing a recent first visit he had made to an inmate on Texas Death Row who said he knew him as he was a friend of Sue Fenwick and recognised his photo from one of our past Human Writes magazines.

Pablo took us on an informative journey about death penalty developments across the US over the past 25 years, mentioning how federal jurisdiction has recently been looking at cases in some states. He also talked about the application of the death penalty to groups of defendants and how the race of the inmate and the victim play into some court verdicts that are given.

Pablo then spoke about his work as a consultant psychiatrist in capital defence cases, pointing out that because there is so little money in this line of work there are few people who actually do it. He feels fortunate to have two associates to help him with his work. He concluded by expressing a sentiment that encapsulated the feelings of us all - “We need to look for that particle of love and mine it for all it’s worth”.

For our next session we welcomed Lee Crampton and Jenny Wilson to talk about their ‘Personal Insights of a Human Writes Penfriend’. Lee has been writing to his penfriend in Florida for two years and joined our co-ordinator team in August 2024. He talked of some of the key milestones in his own life and how the long timeline between them equated to roughly the same amount of time that can be spent on death row on the journey through the appeals system. He spoke of the understanding and rapport he and his penfriend have since they started writing and the friendship they have established.

Jenny joined Human Writes in 2001 and in her 24 years of writing she has sadly lost three of her penfriends to the Texas execution system. She spoke briefly of each of them, all from very different backgrounds, each with their own personalities and issues, and the impact each of their executions had on her. After a break Jenny had come back to Texas and she spoke warmly about her penfriend and how they enjoy talking about all kinds of topics and ‘putting the world to rights’ with good humour. They have now shared a great friendship for the past seven years.

Our next speaker was Sue Fenwick, founder of Human Writes, who spoke about the early years of the organisation and its development and growth over the past 25 years. She clarified how advice from respected US friends and contacts had been an important initial milestone before the organisation was launched. Acceptance by US prisons had also been an important factor with our assurance of the friendship remit of our organisation and working within the parameters of their systems.

Initially Human Writes had covered eight US states but within a year the encouraging growth had resulted in every state with the death penalty having a co-ordinator and penfriends in place. Our first conference was held in 2002 and keynote speakers in subsequent years have included US lawyers, a US prison warden, family members of our DR friends, exonerated prisoners, victims' family members, HW Patrons Clive Stafford Smith and Erwin James, and Pablo Stewart whose defence work as a forensic psychiatrist spans across many states.

Today Human Writes is well known internationally and many prominent public figures actively encourage and support the work that we do. Sue reminded us however that since HW began in 2000 there have been 1041 executions in the United States and reiterated that as long as the death penalty exists, Human Writes will continue its work in befriending and supporting our US friends on death row.

Attendees then divided into state groups to meet with their co-ordinators and fellow writers, prior to the scheduled break for lunch.

The afternoon session began with a warm welcome for our patron, Clive Stafford Smith, and his former death row client, Shareef Cousin. Shareef was a former death row inmate in Louisiana who was acquitted after Clive found severe deficiencies in his original trial and with his defence representation. Shareef attended the conference via video link.

Over the course of a riveting hour, Clive and Shareef each explained the case from their points of view. We heard how Shareef had received three different defence lawyers who had simply made material mistakes and also not investigated very basic aspects of the case. They also explained some of the reported facts about the conduct of the prosecutor, who was eventually censured by the Bar for his role.

Perhaps the most moving part of their talk was when Shareef mentioned that, some years after he was acquitted, he ran into the prosecutor in the halls of a courthouse - as Shareef was doing work to help former inmates reintegrate into society. He said he had felt a surge of anger and was about the give the man a piece of his mind. However, as the prosecutor began to apologise to him, Shareef cut him off and said he forgave him.

Clive and Shareef then took questions about Shareef’s life today and about prison life more broadly. There was a discussion about the need for studies to look at the impact that a death sentence has on the convicted person’s family. The subject of the cost to the family of the incarcerated person for healthcare and other items was also raised - this varying from state to state. The close rapport and bond between Clive and Shareef was lovely to see and share.

The afternoon break followed during which we all shared a celebration ‘25 years of penfriendship cake’ and prosecco (kindly arranged by Caroline).

The conference concluded with general questions followed by our traditional lighting of candles, one in memory of our US friends executed in 2025, the second in memory of victims and their families. Sue then thanked all our speakers, our HW team, and Caroline Hayward who had arranged and chaired a very memorable day for us all. Thanks were expressed to Sue for leading us through the past 25 years and finally warm appreciation was given to all our members for their continued support to Human Writes and to their US penfriends.

Report by Luke Templeman