After a 17-year break, federal executions resumed under the Trump administration. These executions took place while prisons were facing coronavirus outbreaks and, in a rare move, continued through the lame-duck period of Donald Trump’s presidency.

The recent executions have reignited the national debate about capital punishment and put President Joe Biden’s anti-death penalty views and Catholic faith in the spotlight. Religious beliefs have long been entangled with this contentious issue. Several faith traditions, including the Roman Catholic Church, oppose the death penalty while others, such as the Southern Baptist Convention, support it.

A 2015 survey from the Pew Research Center found that those who sit in the pews do not always agree with their denomination’s official position on the issue. Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr, a Catholic and driving force behind the Trump administration’s decision to resume federal executions, is a high-profile example of this divide.

But it is not just presidential politics complicating this and other criminal justice issues in the U.S. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic does, as well. From vaccines to prison ministry, the COVID-19 virus is spurring ethical dilemmas and religious issues that affect those living behind bars.

The latest edition of ReligionLink features experts that can help you report on the death penalty and other coronavirus concerns arising in U.S. prisons.

Death penalty debate reignites amid presidential transition

Background information

Trump administration
In a June 2020 interview with EWTN, Trump said, “I am totally in favor of the death penalty for heinous crimes.” Barr resumed federal executions in July 2019.

• Read “Federal Executions Pit The Trump Administration Against The Catholic Church” from NPR on Dec. 10, 2020.
• Read “Trump ratchets up pace of executions before Biden inaugural” from The Associated Press on Dec. 7, 2020.
• Read “Faith leaders blast Trump administration’s renewed use of death penalty” from Religion News Service on July 16, 2020.
• Read “A rabbi pleads with AG William Barr: Don’t bring the death penalty to Pittsburgh” from Religion News Service on Aug. 13, 2019.
• Read “Donald Trump’s Racially Charged Advocacy of the Death Penalty” from The Atlantic on Dec. 18, 2015.

Biden administration
The Biden campaign has pledged to work to pass bills to end the federal death penalty and incentivize states to do likewise.

• Read “’End This Cruelty’: Progressives Call On Biden To Work To Stop Executions” from NPR on Dec. 30, 2020.
• Read “Last-minute executions under Trump put spotlight on Biden’s death penalty views” from Yahoo News on Dec. 11, 2020.
• Read “Biden to work to end executions as government sets 3 more” from The Associated Press on Nov. 21, 2020.
• Read “Biden Once Championed the Death Penalty. Now He Wants to Stop Trump’s Execution Spree.” from Mother Jones on Nov. 19, 2020.
• Read “Biden appears to be softening his stance on the death penalty” from Politico on June 20, 2019.

Related research

• Read “The Death Penalty in 2020: Year End Report” from the Death Penalty Information Center on Dec. 16, 2020.
• Read “Record-Low 54% in U.S. Say Death Penalty Morally Acceptable” from Gallup on June 23, 2020.
• Read “States and Capital Punishment” from the National Conference of State Legislatures on March 24, 2020.
• Read “5 facts about the death penalty” from the Pew Research Center on Aug. 2, 2018.
• Read “Some major U.S. religious groups differ from their members on the death penalty” from the Pew Research Center on July 13, 2015.

Possible sources

• Kevin Cokley

  Kevin Cokley is an educational psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin who studies African American psychology. He wrote a 2019 piece titled “Why support for the death penalty is much higher among white Americans” for The Conversation.

• Robert Dunham

  Robert Dunham is the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

• Brandon Garrett

  Brandon Garrett is a law professor at Duke University. He co-wrote The Death Penalty: Concepts and Insights and is the author of End of its Rope: How Killing the Death Penalty Can Revive Criminal Justice.

• Jeffrey L. Kirchmeier

  Jeffrey L. Kirchmeier is a law professor at The City University of New York School of Law. He teaches about capital punishment and criminal law and wrote the book Imprisoned by the Past: Warren McCleskey and the American Death Penalty, which chronicles the history of the death penalty in the U.S.

• Russell Moore

  Russell Moore is director of the Public Theology Project at Christianity Today.

• Erik C. Owens

  Erik C. Owens is an associate professor of the practice in theology at Boston College, where he also directs the international studies program. He is the co-editor of three books, including Religion and the Death Penalty: A Call for Reckoning and Gambling: Mapping the American Moral Landscape.

• Helen Prejean

  Sister Helen Prejean is a Roman Catholic nun and author of Dead Man Walking, an account of her ministry with death row inmates in Louisiana’s Angola State Prison that was turned into an Oscar-winning film in 1996. Her most recent book is The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions. Prejean, whose office is in New Orleans, is one of the most popular and outspoken opponents of the death penalty.

• Stacy Rector

  Stacy Rector is the executive director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. She also is an ordained Presbyterian minister.

• Graham Reside

  Graham Reside is the executive director of the Cal Turner Program for Moral Leadership for the Professions at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee. He researches ethical leadership, religion and globalization and race, religion and poverty. He is also an expert on prison reform.

• Mathew N. Schmalz

  Mathew N. Schmalz is a professor of religious studies at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He specializes in global Catholicism, the papacy and Catholicism/culture issues in the U.S. His article “Scientology and Catholicism Do Mix: A Note on Teaching New Religions in a Catholic Classroom” appeared in the January 2006 edition of the journal Teaching Theology & Religion. He wrote a 2018 piece titled “Can you be Christian and support the death penalty?”

Who should receive the COVID-19 vaccine first?

The first doses of COVID-19 vaccines are being administered across the U.S., raising ethical questions about which populations should be among the first to roll up their sleeves and receive a portion of their state’s limited allocation. Prioritizing vaccinations for prisoners, who are serving criminal sentences in congregate settings susceptible to outbreaks, has already proved to be a controversial decision in some parts of the country.

Background information

• Read “As Covid-19 Surges in Jails, Guards Want Vaccine Early” from The Wall Street Journal on Jan. 4, 2021.
• Read “Early vaccination in prisons, a public health priority, proves politically charged” from The Washington Post on Jan. 2, 2021.
• Read “In Massachusetts, Inmates Will Be Among First to Get Vaccines” from The New York Times on Dec. 18, 2020.
• Read “Colorado revises COVID-19 vaccine plan to prioritize long-term care facilities and some health workers” from The Denver Post on Dec. 9, 2020.
• Read “Prisons Are Covid-19 Hotbeds. When Should Inmates Get the Vaccine?” from The New York Times on Nov. 30, 2020.

Related research

• Read the white paper “Recommendations for Prioritization and Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccine in Prisons and Jails” published on Dec. 16, 2020.
• Read “Interim Framework for COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation and Distribution in the United States” from The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security on Aug. 19, 2020.

Possible sources

• Galen Carey

  Galen Carey is vice president of government relations for the National Association of Evangelicals, an organization that has polled Americans on current event issues, such as gun control. Direct media inquiries to Sarah Kropp Brown.

• Karen Swanson

  Karen Swanson is the director of Wheaton College’s Institute for Prison Ministries.
  For media requests, contact the college’s media relations office.

• Eric Toner

  Eric Toner is a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. His areas of interest include hospital preparedness and pandemic influenza. He authored a paper on the ethical allocation of the COVID-19 vaccine. Direct media inquiries to Margaret Miller.

• Emily Wang

  Emily Wang is an associate professor at Yale School of Medicine. She studies health equity for vulnerable populations, including the incarcerated. She helped author a white paper on prioritizing vaccine distribution in prisons.

The coronavirus disrupts prison ministry

The COVID-19 outbreak also disrupted prison ministry. Corrections officials across the country limited or halted programming and visitors, creating challenges for those who serve people living behind bars. With access to correctional facilities restricted amid the pandemic, prison ministries have had to adapt, including turning to technology and the mail system to connect with the incarcerated.

Background information

• Read “During the pandemic, chaplains are a lifeline for inmates” from the Los Angeles Times on Dec. 16, 2020.
• Read “OKC church plans to livestream services into every Oklahoma prison” from KOCO-TV on Nov. 27, 2020.
• Read “Amid virus lockdowns, prison ministry groups had to adapt” from The Associated Press on Aug. 29, 2020.
• Read “Prison ministry programs struggling amid COVID-19 concerns” from WLOX-TV on Aug. 16, 2020.

Related research

• Read “Few Protestant Pastors, Churches Prioritize Prison Ministries” from LifeWay Research on May 24, 2016.

Possible sources

• James J. Ackerman

  James J. Ackerman is the president and CEO of Prison Fellowship, a Christian ministry that serves the incarcerated, the recently released and their families. Contact Ackerman through Prison Fellowship’s website.

• Karen Clifton

  Karen Clifton is an executive committee member for Catholic Prison Ministries Coalition. She also is the executive director of the Catholic Mobilizing Network.

• Matthew Perry

  Matthew Perry is an executive board member for Jewish Prisoner Services International. The organization’s mission is to help Jewish inmates, their families and those reentering society.

• Dawud Walid

  Dawud Walid is the executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Walid’s organization is providing video of sermons and prayer services for distribution in state prions.

Early release and other COVID-19 concerns

American prisons and jails are hotbeds for the coronavirus. The New York Times reports at least 1,960 inmates and correctional officers have died and more than 433,000 people have been infected. Policymakers did little to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in these confined settings, according to a Prison Policy Initiative report. The conditions have led to some early releases, but calls for more continue.

Background information

• Read “1 federal prison, 8 deaths: Report details COVID-19’s early march through the system” from USA Today on Nov. 17, 2020.
• Read “Anxiety, loneliness and spiritual isolation characterize life in prison during pandemic” from Religion News Service on Nov. 10, 2020.
• Read “San Quentin Ordered to Reduce Prison Population by Half Over Virus Fears” from The New York Times on Oct. 21, 2020.
• Read “Frail inmates could be sent home to prevent the spread of covid-19. Instead, some are dying in federal prisons.” from The Washington Post on Aug. 3, 2020.
• Read “Prisoners and guards agree about federal coronavirus response: ‘We do not feel safe’” from The Washington Post on Aug. 24, 2020.
• Read “Pastors pray outside Cook County jail for release of inmates to help protect them from the coronavirus” from the Chicago Sun Times on March 23, 2020.

Related research

• Read “Mass Incarceration, COVID-19, and Community Spread” from the Prison Policy Initiative published in December 2020.
• Read “Impact Report: COVID-19 and Prisons” from the Council on Criminal Justice on Sept. 2, 2020.
• Read “Failing Grades: States’ Responses to COVID-19 in Jails & Prisons” from the Prison Policy Initiative on June 25, 2020.
• Read “COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project” from UCLA Law.

Possible sources

• Sharon Dolovich

  Sharon Dolovich is director of UCLA Prison Law & Policy Program and the COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project.

• Martin Horn

  Martin Horn is a professor emeritus at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former corrections commissioner for New York City.

• Jason Lyndon

  The Rev. Jason Lyndon is the pastor at Second Unitarian Church of Chicago. In March, Lyndon joined other faith leaders outside the Cook County Jail to pray for the early release of prisoners amid the pandemic.

• Matthew Wynia

  Matthew Wynia is the director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado. His areas of interest include infectious diseases and public health.

Biden’s criminal justice platform

Biden brings a new slate of criminal justice positions and priorities to the White House. His campaign platform included establishing a grant program aimed at crime prevention, reducing incarcerations for drug use by diverting people to drug courts and treatment, investing in programs that fund community policing and ending cash bail.

Background information

• Read “Biden Made Big Promises On Juvenile Justice. Activists Worry It’s Not Enough” from NPR on Dec. 11, 2020.
• Read “Biden searches for attorney general to restore Justice Dept.’s independence, refocus on civil rights” from The Washington Post on Nov. 24, 2020.
• Read “What Biden’s Win Means for the Future of Criminal Justice” from The Marshall Project on Nov. 8, 2020.
• Read “Joe Biden Has Come A Long Way On Criminal Justice Reform. Progressives Want More” from NPR on June 10, 2020.
• Read “Biden criminal justice plan reverses part of 1994 crime bill” from The Associated Press on July 23, 2019.

Related research

• Read about Biden’s criminal justice platform.
• Read “From police to parole, black and white Americans differ widely in their views of criminal justice system” from the Pew Research Center on May 21, 2019.

Possible sources

• Dominique DuBois Gilliard

  Dominique DuBois Gilliard is the director of Racial Righteousness and Reconciliation for the Evangelical Covenant Church. Gilliard also wrote Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores.

• Vanita Gupta

  Vanita Gupta is the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Under the Obama administration, Gupta led the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

• Jonah Dov Pesner

  Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner is the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. The center’s advocacy work includes criminal justice reform.

• Keramet Reiter

  Keramet Reiter is an associate professor of criminology University of California Irvine. Reiter studies prisons, prisoner rights and the impact of prisons and policy.