Hell’s Front Gate
The house that I was born into was not a home, because a house that is a home is a harbour, a refuge and a very safe place for a child to be. A place where a child doesn’t have to live in constant fear and agony. What deterred this house from being a home was a miserable drunk who would fly into blind violent rages, spawned from his child’s most innocent mistakes. You know the kind of mistakes I’m talking about, the kind that every kid makes!
Punishment and discipline were swiftly meted out for these innocuous mistakes - with strong slaps across the kid’s face, his head slammed against walls at a quick pace and ultimately the kid was thrown in front of hells’ gate! This shameful indignation, belittling and outright hate did not stop there. Hours and hours were mandated to be spent for this child’s innocent mistakes in quiet contemplation in the dark and lonely recesses of a secluded closet, bitterly known to this child as hell’s front fate.
This shameful palpable cruelty was administered in this house, not as a secret - and yet absolutely no-one ever so much as attempted to intercede, to stop or rescue this poor desperate child placed in desolation for a child’s meagre mistakes!
No child should have to face and bear such punishment and solitude. Why did this miserable drunk hate this child so much and continue to hurt him so badly I asked myself? No answer has ever been tentatively found and these questions will hound me to my grave. Such punishment and treatment spawn and cultivate enormous deep-rooted seeds of hate.
And no matter the vast amount of years that have passed, they cannot begin to erase, eradicate nor abate these soul-wrenching childhood memories that are permeated in hate, that were experienced at the hands of that miserable drunk at hell’s front gate.
Wesley Purkey, Federal
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In a Death Row prisoner‘s own words:
“I thanked God this morning for the lovely People in my life and for the overflowing gift of love that is in my heart for you and my penfriends. It‘s a very far step from the heart of ill emotions that I used to have years ago.”
“I thanked God this morning for the lovely People in my life and for the overflowing gift of love that is in my heart for you and my penfriends. It‘s a very far step from the heart of ill emotions that I used to have years ago.”
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"The very essence of the death penalty is to tell people that they are somehow sub-human, not fit to live. Yet even those people I have represented who did what they were accused of - a surprisingly limited number - have always been much better people than their worst fifteen minutes, as are we all. Those who recognise this by reaching out to the men and women on death row are true heroes, though I suspect they gain as much as they give to the relationship."
Clive Stafford Smith OBE, Founder of Reprieve and Patron, Human Writes
"As a journalist who has lived and worked in the United States, the horror of death row is one of the issues that never leaves you. The thread of humanity that Human Writes manages to sustain with men and women on death row is a profound contribution to keep alive the hope of life. Capital punishment is now on the retreat in America, but the numbers awaiting their fate are still very considerable. I am very honoured to have become a Patron of Human Writes and will hope to do my best to put my shoulder to the wheel".
Jon Snow Broadcaster and journalist, Patron, Human Writes
"I know what it is like to live in a cell for decades and feel that the whole world hates you. I never expected to be able to live again as a contributing member of a community. Prison life was precarious and unpredictable but I met people who worked there who wanted to help me and people like me - and I'm lucky that I live in a society graceful enough to offer me a second chance. At least I had hope. Hope for many of the people supported by Human Writes has all but been extinguished. Letters to people on Death Row let them know that however low they may have fallen, they are still human beings. They still have value and are worth caring about and letters might just help to keep hope alive. That is why I am honoured to have been invited to be a patron."
Erwin James 1957 - 2024, author and Guardian columnist, Patron, Human Writes
Prisoner Art and Writing
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