A new book, “In this Timeless Time: Living and Dying on Death Row in America,” authors Bruce Jackson and Diane Christian explore the life of death row inmates in Texas and in other states. Jackson and Christian capture, through words and pictures, the daily experiences of inmates while also highlighting arbitrary judicial processes related to capital punishment. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, said, “With absolute fairness and profound honesty, Bruce Jackson and Diane Christian carry us into the tragic world of a group of prisoners living on a Texas Death Row. Through unforgettable stories and photos, we come to feel the suffering, guilt, and confusion of these men, as well as their inextinguishable human dignity.” Bruce Jackson is James Agee Professor of American Culture and SUNY Distinguished Professor of English at SUNY Buffalo. Diane Christian is SUNY Distinguished Teacher Professor of English at SUNY Buffalo.
Al Jazeera recently released a video of an interview with former Oklahoma death-row inmate Michael Selsor (pictured). Selsor was the most recent person executed in the U.S. and probably the inmate who served the longest time between conviction and execution of anyone in U.S. history. He was first sentenced to death in 1976 for murder and was imprisoned over 36 years prior to his execution on May 1, 2012. Although his sentence was reduced to life when Oklahoma's death penalty was overturned in 1976, he was re-sentenced to death for the same crime in 1998. The interview was conducted in 2010 and was the only interview Selsor granted. When asked about the difference between the death penalty and life without parole, Selsor said, “The only difference between death and life without parole is one you kill me now, the other one you kill me later. There's not even a shred of hope. There's no need to even try to muster up a seed of hope because you're just gonna die of old age in here....With the death penalty sentence I'm entitled to more appeals - the government's gonna pay for it. I don't have to do it myself if I don't have the money for a lawyer which I don't have. Instead I'm relying on public defenders to do my appeals." Selsor was also asked about how he was handling his inevitable execution: “I'm not gonna beg 'em to spare my life. I'll try to keep my head up with a little bit of dignity, and I'm gonna be buried out on Periwood Hill.” 
The latest edition of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's 
On February 29, Arizona is scheduled to execute Robert Moorman, who was sentenced to death for a 1984 murder. Moorman's representatives have said the crime was committed after years of sexual abuse by the defendant’s adoptive mother, whom he then killed and dismembered her body. Moorman was diagnosed with mental retardation and attended special education classes while in public school. His first stay at a mental institution occurred when he was 13. At a recent clemency hearing, Moorman said he did not remember the details of the murder. His health has slowly deteriorated while in prison. He had a stroke in 2007 and underwent a quintuple bypass last November. Moorman was born to a 15-year-old girl who drank heavily and engaged in prostitution, according to court records and testimony at his clemency hearing. His father abandoned him and his mother died at age 17. He then went to live with his maternal grandparents until he was put up for adoption because of his grandfather’s alcohol abuse. UPDATE: Moorman was executed on Feb. 29.
On February 15, Florida is scheduled to execute Robert Waterhouse, a 65-year-old inmate who was sentenced to death for a 1980 murder in St. Petersburg. Waterhouse has been on Florida’s death row for over three decades, longer than any inmate previously executed by the state. His original death sentence was overturned in 1988 after his appellate attorney argued that Waterhouse’s trial lawyer erred by not presenting the court with important mitigating information. A second jury reaffirmed his death sentence in 1990. Last week, the Florida Supreme Court rejected a petition to spare Waterhouse because of testimony from a newly discovered witness and the destruction of evidence that made it impossible to perform DNA testing that might exonerate him. Inmates spend an average of 10-20 years on death row between sentencing and execution. If the lethal injection proceeds, Waterhouse will be the 72nd person executed in Florida since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1972. It will be the 4th U.S. execution in 2012.