Featured in The Guardian: Louisiana’s death row inmates make rare mass petition for commutation
PJI executive director Samantha Kennedy spoke to The Guardian about the mass clemency effort happening now to commute Louisiana's death row.
“This large clemency effort is historic and important,” Kennedy told The Guardian. “Commuting these death sentences would be a model for the south, and give a big push to the move away from capital punishment in the US.”
In June 2023, 56 individuals on death row in Louisiana filed clemency petitions asking Governor John Bel Edwards and the Board of Pardons to commute their death sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The Board's refusal to consider these clemency applications means it now rests on Governor Edwards to ensure these clemency applications are heard and fully considered. It rests on the governor alone to ensure Louisiana chooses life over death.