Ghosts Over the Boiler: Voices from Alabama’s Death Row

From a single ancient typewriter that frequently breaks down, Alabama’s death row inmates have literally cut and pasted together a newsletter, On Wings of Hope for the last three decades. This newsletter, a labor of love, documents the decades of work, wisdom, activism, and lived experiences of these prisoners. The writings display, alternately, the humanity, suffering, remorse, indignation, and most importantly, political agency of those who have been executed, or are scheduled to be executed, by the state of Alabama. These writings have never been available to the broader public until now.

Ghosts Over the Boiler is an anthology of poetry, visual art, essays, and other creative writings that have emerged from Alabama’s death row from the organization Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty (PHADP). This group was founded by inmates in Holman Prison and has been operating autonomously since 1989. PHADP, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2022, is a resident-generated self-advocacy group that works toward the abolition of the death penalty in Alabama and the nation.