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Welcome to Hell: Letters and Writings from Death Row
Jan Arriens, Northeastern University Press, 255 pages. 1997
Reviewed By Yuri Holmes
Death can arrive at any time. It can strike at anyplace. When pondered,
death promotes fear in even the blackest of hearts. When allowed, it
devours the human spirit while instilling character in others.
Jan Arriens knows all to well the plight of those selected few who must
meet with death head on. Those who own that special distinction are the
men and women who are held prisoner on death rows around the world.
Arriens, a native of the United Kingdom has been an advocate for the
abolishment of the death penalty. He also founded Lifelines an
organization of over 3,000 pen pals who write to prisoners confined on
death row. It was through Lifelines' pen pals and death row prisoners,
that he was able to compile a bold yet true outlook of the life endured on
death row.
Welcome to Hell: Letters and Writings from Death Row was originally
published in Great Britain in 1991. It has since been republished in the
United States in 1997. Welcome to Hell gives a fresh view of death row. It
takes a close look at the inside of a death row prisoner's mind. This is
superbly done with a roller coaster of emotion, delivered on this ride is
fear, hope, anxiety, humor with hairpin turns of despair. All done while
the prisoner copes with an eventual date with death.
Set mainly in the southern United States, Arriens captures the best and
worst of the prisoners condemned to death by using there own accounts. He
paints a vivid portrait by using letters written on death row by
prisoners. He covers their childhood which shows how it affected their
behavior. At the same time he evokes the sentiments of his readers by
providing an inside look at death row. This is done through the letters of
those confined within those dark, rodent and roach infested, dank concrete
walls.
The horror stories leading to prison and beyond are realized through the
depiction of fear. The fear of rape or assault with no hope in sight. The
only consolation for many of these forgotten so called monsters of society
is the caring stroke of a pen and the excitement while waiting to receive
a long desired letter with an overseas postmark. Waiting for letters
filled with compassion and genuine caring. It is these pens that allow the
condemned to express their true and final feelings. To have a real
emotional release on paper with someone else to listen without judgment.
Arriens shows that the forgotten, all of a sudden, are not forgotten at
all.
He also shows that some death row prisoners are a resilient lot, able to
cope with hardships in the final days of life. Welcome to Hell shows that
not all of those who end up on death row belong there. It shows that
everyone has good qualities. It drives home the fact that all humans are
subject to make errors in judgment. Honest errors in judgment that might
someday cost someone their life. That along with the inexperience of
attorneys defending capital cases give everyone notice that the scales of
justice are being thumbed.
Reviewed By Yuri Holmes
Death can arrive at any time. It can strike at anyplace. When pondered,
death promotes fear in even the blackest of hearts. When allowed, it
devours the human spirit while instilling character in others.
Jan Arriens knows all to well the plight of those selected few who must
meet with death head on. Those who own that special distinction are the
men and women who are held prisoner on death rows around the world.
Arriens, a native of the United Kingdom has been an advocate for the
abolishment of the death penalty. He also founded Lifelines an
organization of over 3,000 pen pals who write to prisoners confined on
death row. It was through Lifelines' pen pals and death row prisoners,
that he was able to compile a bold yet true outlook of the life endured on
death row.
Welcome to Hell: Letters and Writings from Death Row was originally
published in Great Britain in 1991. It has since been republished in the
United States in 1997. Welcome to Hell gives a fresh view of death row. It
takes a close look at the inside of a death row prisoner's mind. This is
superbly done with a roller coaster of emotion, delivered on this ride is
fear, hope, anxiety, humor with hairpin turns of despair. All done while
the prisoner copes with an eventual date with death.
Set mainly in the southern United States, Arriens captures the best and
worst of the prisoners condemned to death by using there own accounts. He
paints a vivid portrait by using letters written on death row by
prisoners. He covers their childhood which shows how it affected their
behavior. At the same time he evokes the sentiments of his readers by
providing an inside look at death row. This is done through the letters of
those confined within those dark, rodent and roach infested, dank concrete
walls.
The horror stories leading to prison and beyond are realized through the
depiction of fear. The fear of rape or assault with no hope in sight. The
only consolation for many of these forgotten so called monsters of society
is the caring stroke of a pen and the excitement while waiting to receive
a long desired letter with an overseas postmark. Waiting for letters
filled with compassion and genuine caring. It is these pens that allow the
condemned to express their true and final feelings. To have a real
emotional release on paper with someone else to listen without judgment.
Arriens shows that the forgotten, all of a sudden, are not forgotten at
all.
He also shows that some death row prisoners are a resilient lot, able to
cope with hardships in the final days of life. Welcome to Hell shows that
not all of those who end up on death row belong there. It shows that
everyone has good qualities. It drives home the fact that all humans are
subject to make errors in judgment. Honest errors in judgment that might
someday cost someone their life. That along with the inexperience of
attorneys defending capital cases give everyone notice that the scales of
justice are being thumbed.
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