For Rolling Stone, Brenna Ehrlich profiles the Reverend Jeff Hood, a man who ministers to men on death row. Part priest, part activist, Hood has received death threats because some believe his “guys” are unworthy of compassion because of the crimes they’ve committed. Despite it all, he remains dedicated to helping the condemned find redemption. Hood isn’t in it for fame or for money as his critics suggest. He’s simply “more interested in the man than the crime.”
While Hood packs his bags for Oklahoma, Littlejohn heads to Death Watch, a cell not far from the chamber where the fluorescent lights never go out. He feels dead already, he tells Hood, even though Gov. Stitt could call off his execution any minute. It’s happened before in Oklahoma. Julius Jones was spared four hours before he was scheduled to die. Still, Littlejohn is basically in limbo, left to think back on better days — like when he got a Big Wheel for Christmas as a kid — and what he wanted his life to look like then. “I just wanted to have a good life,” he tells me during a brief phone call, before the line cuts out. “It didn’t matter what I was doing, as long as I was having a good life.”
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