By Cheyenne Galloway
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Timothy James Young writes he is “a wrongly convicted prisoner” on “death row” in a piece in Knock.LA in collaboration with @empowermentave.
The incarcerated writer urges California Gov. Gavin Newsom to fulfill his commitment to the people and eradicate the death penalty in California for all those incarcerated—wrongfully or not.
“I am a wrongfully convicted prisoner on San Quentin’s death row. There was a time when I had hope. I could sense that the winds of change were stirring about. It seemed like politicians were finally aligning themselves with the will of the people. I was moved. I was caught up in the moment. I predicted that the death penalty was on the verge of extinction,” said Young.
“I was wrong. It still exists. I now find myself in limbo—stranded on death row,” writes Young.
Young added, “Despite promises by California’s elected officials, despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2019 call for a moratorium on executions, despite renewed reckonings with racial justice in the wake of the 2020 protests, and even despite California’s proposed plan to close death row and begin transfers of incarcerated people like me out of our current facilities, the fundamental stench of the death penalty remains.”
