Pam
12-26-2002, 08:44 PM
Death-row inmates
honor Johnson
By Eric Fleischauer
DAILY Staff Writer
efleischauer@decaturdaily.com
340-2435
Keith Johnson's execution Dec. 12 for a Hartselle crime that left a man dead in 1984 had a profound impact upon other death-row inmates, according to a prison ministry member.
Neil Segars, a member of Kairos Prison Ministry from Birmingham, said the first monthly Kairos meeting after Johnson's execution was one of two full-day meetings that prison officials permit each year for death-row inmates. This year the meeting focused not just on Christmas, but on a remembrance of Johnson's life.
Preparation for the Saturday meeting began Friday when members of First United Methodist Church of Tuscaloosa made a Christmas meal as part of their Cooking for Christ program.
The banquet — set before inmates accustomed to prison food — included turkey and dressing, giblet gravy, corn on the cob, ham, sweet potatoes, casseroles "and homemade cakes and pies like you have never seen," Segars said.
But all was not fun, Segars said.
Every inmate knew that officials had transferred Johnson from Donaldson Correctional Facility at Bessemer to Holman Correctional Facility at Atmore to die. And they knew that their turn might be next.
"The worst day is the day the inmate is taken from his cell, shackled, and taken away for the ride to Holman prison," Segars said.
"After receiving an execution date, an inmate is very soon locked up there on death row and no longer able to get out with the other men and socialize," Segars said. "They come to his cell to visit. These men grow pretty close within this bond of the death penalty and all the many years they are together in such close quarters. When one is taken away and executed, there is an emotional impact on the others."
The loss of Johnson caused pain, but Kairos members sought to put that pain in a religious context.
"We entered Donaldson with the objective of filling death row with love and joy. Music, brotherly love, coffee, cookies and Christian fellowship. … What a glorious day. It was another positive testimonial to Keith Johnson. We truly are brothers," Segars said.
"You would just have to be present to see the happiness and joy break out on both sides. We love these brothers, they know it, and they return that brotherly love. Any gloomy spirits are wiped away and life goes on."
According to Segars, who has worked with the volunteer organization for 10 years, Kairos members played a small part in the joy that death-row inmates felt at Saturday's meeting. Segars attributes Johnson for the optimism on death row.
"The gloom is fairly short-lived. The main reason has to do with the attitudes of the men executed," Segars said.
Billy Wayne Waldrop, whom the state executed in 1997, played a significant role in influencing Johnson and others on death row to accept Christianity, according to both Johnson's family members and Segars.
"Keith is the fourth of four super-strong Christian men I have known personally at Donaldson who have been executed. They are Billy Wayne Waldrop, Stephen Thompson, David Duren and Keith. These men led the internal Christian life on death row at Donaldson. Billy brought the three others to Christ as well as other inmates," Segars said.
"Saturday was especially meaningful because of the timing of Keith's execution and the wonderful stories we were able to tell about the memorial to Keith and the love poured out to Keith's family," said Segars, who attended Johnson's funeral in Morgan County at Oak Ridge United Methodist Church, along with several other Kairos members.
Just before Johnson's funeral began, a man brought a severely handicapped child into the church on a wheelchair. Loud noises made by the child as he sought to catch his breath briefly disrupted the service. Displaying an attitude that may go a long way in explaining the affection that inmates have for the organization, Kairos members saw the child and his father not as a disruption, but as a blessing.
Referring to the Rev. Tom Duley, a Kairos minister who spoke at Johnson's funeral, Segars recalled a discussion at Saturday's get-together.
"Tom Duley illustrated to the death-row men at our party what that meant to him, and to each of us there — how gently and lovingly that father took care of his son, even lifting him gently out of the wheelchair and putting him in his lap during the service," Segars said.
"They were also told about Keith bringing his brother to Christ in the visitation yard at Holman. Each man there knew of Keith's concern for his brother.
"Something else they found out was Stephen Thompson's sisters were at the funeral and that they were deeply involved in the women's Kairos movement," Segars said.
Best meeting 'ever had'
Despite Johnson's execution — or maybe because of it — Segars said the Saturday party at Donaldson prison "was probably the best meeting we have ever had on death row."
Displaying something of the personality that keeps him from succumbing to depression after the state kills his "brothers" one-by-one, Segars recalls an interchange Saturday.
"One inmate pulled me aside and asked that when he had to make that trip to Holman, that Carolyn, my wife, and I be there for him. As I told him, we would be honored," Segars said.
"There was just too much good news to be anything but joyful. No gloom was on death row at Donaldson prison on Saturday."
honor Johnson
By Eric Fleischauer
DAILY Staff Writer
efleischauer@decaturdaily.com
340-2435
Keith Johnson's execution Dec. 12 for a Hartselle crime that left a man dead in 1984 had a profound impact upon other death-row inmates, according to a prison ministry member.
Neil Segars, a member of Kairos Prison Ministry from Birmingham, said the first monthly Kairos meeting after Johnson's execution was one of two full-day meetings that prison officials permit each year for death-row inmates. This year the meeting focused not just on Christmas, but on a remembrance of Johnson's life.
Preparation for the Saturday meeting began Friday when members of First United Methodist Church of Tuscaloosa made a Christmas meal as part of their Cooking for Christ program.
The banquet — set before inmates accustomed to prison food — included turkey and dressing, giblet gravy, corn on the cob, ham, sweet potatoes, casseroles "and homemade cakes and pies like you have never seen," Segars said.
But all was not fun, Segars said.
Every inmate knew that officials had transferred Johnson from Donaldson Correctional Facility at Bessemer to Holman Correctional Facility at Atmore to die. And they knew that their turn might be next.
"The worst day is the day the inmate is taken from his cell, shackled, and taken away for the ride to Holman prison," Segars said.
"After receiving an execution date, an inmate is very soon locked up there on death row and no longer able to get out with the other men and socialize," Segars said. "They come to his cell to visit. These men grow pretty close within this bond of the death penalty and all the many years they are together in such close quarters. When one is taken away and executed, there is an emotional impact on the others."
The loss of Johnson caused pain, but Kairos members sought to put that pain in a religious context.
"We entered Donaldson with the objective of filling death row with love and joy. Music, brotherly love, coffee, cookies and Christian fellowship. … What a glorious day. It was another positive testimonial to Keith Johnson. We truly are brothers," Segars said.
"You would just have to be present to see the happiness and joy break out on both sides. We love these brothers, they know it, and they return that brotherly love. Any gloomy spirits are wiped away and life goes on."
According to Segars, who has worked with the volunteer organization for 10 years, Kairos members played a small part in the joy that death-row inmates felt at Saturday's meeting. Segars attributes Johnson for the optimism on death row.
"The gloom is fairly short-lived. The main reason has to do with the attitudes of the men executed," Segars said.
Billy Wayne Waldrop, whom the state executed in 1997, played a significant role in influencing Johnson and others on death row to accept Christianity, according to both Johnson's family members and Segars.
"Keith is the fourth of four super-strong Christian men I have known personally at Donaldson who have been executed. They are Billy Wayne Waldrop, Stephen Thompson, David Duren and Keith. These men led the internal Christian life on death row at Donaldson. Billy brought the three others to Christ as well as other inmates," Segars said.
"Saturday was especially meaningful because of the timing of Keith's execution and the wonderful stories we were able to tell about the memorial to Keith and the love poured out to Keith's family," said Segars, who attended Johnson's funeral in Morgan County at Oak Ridge United Methodist Church, along with several other Kairos members.
Just before Johnson's funeral began, a man brought a severely handicapped child into the church on a wheelchair. Loud noises made by the child as he sought to catch his breath briefly disrupted the service. Displaying an attitude that may go a long way in explaining the affection that inmates have for the organization, Kairos members saw the child and his father not as a disruption, but as a blessing.
Referring to the Rev. Tom Duley, a Kairos minister who spoke at Johnson's funeral, Segars recalled a discussion at Saturday's get-together.
"Tom Duley illustrated to the death-row men at our party what that meant to him, and to each of us there — how gently and lovingly that father took care of his son, even lifting him gently out of the wheelchair and putting him in his lap during the service," Segars said.
"They were also told about Keith bringing his brother to Christ in the visitation yard at Holman. Each man there knew of Keith's concern for his brother.
"Something else they found out was Stephen Thompson's sisters were at the funeral and that they were deeply involved in the women's Kairos movement," Segars said.
Best meeting 'ever had'
Despite Johnson's execution — or maybe because of it — Segars said the Saturday party at Donaldson prison "was probably the best meeting we have ever had on death row."
Displaying something of the personality that keeps him from succumbing to depression after the state kills his "brothers" one-by-one, Segars recalls an interchange Saturday.
"One inmate pulled me aside and asked that when he had to make that trip to Holman, that Carolyn, my wife, and I be there for him. As I told him, we would be honored," Segars said.
"There was just too much good news to be anything but joyful. No gloom was on death row at Donaldson prison on Saturday."