Printable Dispatch from AnitaRoddick.com

SAD UPDATE: After granting Jack a clemency hearing, the state of Georgia rejected his appeal and executed him on 16 September. In April I wrote about the case of Jack Alderman, the longest-serving prisoner on Death Row in America. He has received two stays of execution - one within hours of his scheduled death - but it seems his time is running out. On 2 September 2008, Jack was called to the prison warden's office and handed a death warrant.

He was not permitted to return to his cell to say his goodbyes but was immediately removed to the 'Death House' where he will spend the next two weeks in isolation from his fellow inmates, and under 24 hour surveillance by armed guards. If he doesn't receive a last-minute repreive, he will be killed by lethal injection on Tuesday September 16th.

We wrote about Jack and his friendship with UK artist Simone Samuelson back in April. Now we are asking once more for your help, thisd time with the valuable help of Clive Stafford-Smith and Reprieve.

Please take a moment now to sign this petition urging the powers that be to give Jack another hearing or a commutation. If Jack Alderman is killed by the state, it will be a stain on us all, even proponents of the death penalty, who surely know their credibility depends on the proven guilt of the executed.

Simone offers this update and plea for your help:

Jack Alderman is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday September 16th 2008

This will almost certainly be the cold-blooded murder of an innocent man and the longest serving prisoner on death row in the US, 34 years.

Jack was convicted of murdering his wife in 1974. He has consistently maintained his innocence and refused several opportunities for plea-bargaining, insisting that he can not claim guilt for something he did not do, even to save his own life.

John Arthur Brown was also convicted of murdering Jack Alderman’s wife, and pleaded guilty. Alderman was convicted solely on the testimony of John Brown. The DA said at Brown’s trial, “It would have almost been a legal impossibility to sentence Mr Alderman to death without Brown’s testimony”.

Brown was a certified schizophrenic, an alcoholic, a drug abuser, a paedophile and consistently lied and abused women. He admitted in court to being drunk and on drugs on the night of the murder.

He was the State’s only witness.

Brown was given total freedom in just 12 years thanks to a recorded deal with the State. He shot himself in 2000 in the face of arrest for child abuse.

Who is Jack Alderman?

He has an exemplary prison record

He saved a prison guard's life

He nursed an incontinent inmate until he died of kidney failure

He persuaded 3 men not to commit suicide

He has taught many inmates to read and write

He has counselled men before execution

He is frequently called upon by prison staff to subdue violent outbursts

His knowledge of the Bible is extensive and he puts his Christianity into practice every day by showing compassion and generosity to all

Father Richard Rento, New Jersey: “ Jack is respected by fellow inmates and guards. Many of them go to him for counselling. Jack has a personal relationship with Christ whose presence in his cell he is constantly aware of. All who have ever met him, including some of those who condemned him to death, know that he is an extraordinarily good human being.”

THE BOARD OF PARDONS AND PAROLE HAS DENIED A HEARING

If this execution goes ahead on September 16th, it will bring shame upon us all and it will be an affront even to all those who support the death penalty.