Hope in the House of Death
Alabama is scheduled to attempt the gas execution of Anthony Boyd. Those living on the state's death row find it hard to anticipate the loss of one of their longtime leaders.
Anthony “Ant” Boyd has long exemplified hope in the house of death.
For years now, Boyd has served as the head of Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, the nation’s only death row nonprofit led by men on the inside. In that role, Boyd has earned the respect of his peers, becoming a consistent mentor and guide in an unstable and inhospitable environment, Holman Correctional Facility, a rural facility located among south Alabama’s towering pines.
A “revolutionary leader,” according to one of his friends on the row, Boyd has long spoken out where others may have hesitated.
He’s maintained his innocence. He’s criticized the criminal justice system in the U.S. generally and the death penalty specifically. He’s been a resource for others living on the row.
Now, as Boyd wrote in what may be his final letter to the readers of Project Hope’s newsletter, he’s in a last minute fight for his life, and it’s hard to be optimistic.
“I would love to tell all of you that I believe truth, justicе, and human dignity will prevail,” he wrote. “But we’re in Alabama where such things are few and far between.”
But Boyd’s not one to give up.
Instead, he’s still in the midst of a legal battle attempting to halt his execution, including a challenge to the use of nitrogen suffocation, a method employed for the first time by Alabama officials—the first in the nation to do so— in January 2024 to kill Kenneth Smith.
So far, courts have rejected that claim. That’s unlikely to come as a surprise to Boyd. Through his writings for Project Hope, he’s long expressed his view that the method (and capital punishment generally) is unethical and unconstitutional, and that the courts have been unwise in their unwillingness to rule it as such.
“The state of Alabama, prior to starting its experimentations in human guinea pigs, told the courts and the world that the gas would render unconscious in a matter of seconds, resulting in death in a matter of minutes…which has proven to be lies,” Boyd wrote of the nitrogen suffocation.
The state’s novel method of execution deprives the condemned individual of oxygen through the use of a gas mask strapped on his or her face, though state officials have not released the unredacted protocol for the process.
During the first ever nitrogen execution in the U.S., Alabama correctional officers and witnesses watched on as Kenny Smith, who’d survived an earlier lethal injection, jerked violently back and forth on the death chamber’s gurney. Afterward, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who has never witnessed an execution, called Smith’s suffocation “textbook.”
“They don’t even know when the test subjects go unconscious, nor do they know when they actually die,” Boyd wrote of the method in his latest letter. “Still, the courts allow this farce of justice to continue.”
Boyd’s strong views on the law and justice aren’t new.
A few years ago, Boyd sent UNA professor and death penalty archivist Katie Owens-Murphy a letter sharing a series of posters produced by men on the row highlighting, through vivid drawings and visualizations, the connections between slavery, mass incarceration and the death penalty.
“The gist of the whole thing is to show how the system went from slavery to criminal and is still robbing innocent men, women, and children of their dignity and freedom,” he wrote.
In his latest letter, he called state executions “barbaric experiments being conducted in their houses of death.”
Over time, Boyd’s writings reflect years of his life in Holman, better and worse, ups and downs, ins and outs.
Sometimes, Boyd’s writings were almost celebratory.
In a previous holiday issue of On Wings of Hope, Boyd wrote of a new “Sunshine” in his life.
“Things have only continued to get better, as my holidays came early,” he wrote. “Yes, I’m feeling quite festive again (Smile). I guess a certain four letter word can make you feel that way (Wink).”
Other times, Boyd is more reflective, literally.
“We stand in front of a mirror, and more than our reflections are exposed,” Boyd once wrote. “Maybe I could hide that wrinkle, that blemish or that scar… What if we stopped looking in the mirror for superficial things and started to take good, hard looks at ourselves for the people we truly are?”
In the end, he wrote, we’d all be better for it.
“The world would be a better place if we all started to look for things like forgiveness and understanding in those mirrors we know as our hearts,” he wrote. “That’s where the true reflection of who we are lies.”
The men of Alabama’s death row—Ant Boyd’s brothers—have found it hard to come to terms with the impending execution of their chairman, a man they’ve looked to for stability and guidance.
In his final week, they wrote the following, called “The Real Ant Man,” as a tribute for Boyd.
Will I Shed A Tear? No, Because the tears are shredding me, Cutting paths through the visions I had of you reuniting with your family, teaching and guiding them, as you did your fraternity of brothers you helped change, showing us the goal from long range, and each step taken towards it brought it closer because you remained true to your purpose a truth that couldn’t be contained Using your life to fight for life continuing to step even when drained laughing and smiling when you had every excuse to go insane giving claps and hugs in the midst of this spirit breaking terrain, You are my big brother in so many ways You are your big brother in so many ways We had some waves, close shaves joys pains all while trying to save lives The fight continues in your name amongst many Do we still have the heart to go on? Yes, plenty! I know what change is, because i saw it in you Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, we still got work to do So in the inspiring words of Anthony Boyd, Let’s get it!!! With love, Your brothers
In his latest letter, Boyd nodded to the power of solidarity, something he’s been building on death row for decades.
“Society has deemed itself better than death row inmates but Society is not acting better than death row inmates,” he wrote in part. “We are not outnumbered. We are not organized. Keep fighting and keep Hope alive.”
Tread’s Lee Hedgepeth is scheduled to serve as a media witness to Boyd’s planned execution. Should it occur, an eyewitness account will follow on Tread.
Thank you for always putting in the time and having the heart to humanize men like Boyd, who have been demonized by not only a flawed system, but a brutal, vengeful one. It is the system that lacks humanity, not Boyd! I stand with you, Boyd, and all others in solidarity ❤️
God bless Ant. Thank you, Lee.