Report - Reprieve film night

21 November 2008

On Thursday 20 November a number of Reprieve supporters gathered for the Australian premiere of "At the Death House Door". Recently shortlisted for an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary, the film was screening as part of the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival in Melbourne. It is the moving story of Rev. Carroll Pickett who served as the death house chaplain to the Walls prison unit in Huntsville, Texas. Spending time with the accused in their last hours, Rev Pickett presided over 95 executions, including the first lethal injection to be administered anywhere in the world. The film not only tells the personal story of Rev Pickett and the distress he felt over his own role in the death chamber, it is also an accurate portrayal of capital punishment in Texas, covering many of the issues that our interns grapple with: racial bias, poverty, poor legal representation, innocence, and dealing with our own sense of morality.

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