Foreword / Jan Arriens
Introduction : Death sentences / Marie Mulvey-Roberts
[pt.] 1. Essays and speeches on the death penalty
I will not stand for it / George Ryan
America does not need capital punishment / Michael B. Ross
My turn / William Van Poyck
The ring decision and what it means / Richard Rossi
Is there such a thing as closure? / Richard Rossi
Not in my name / Celeste Dixon
The electric chair and the chain gang : choices and challenges for America's future / Stephen B. Bright
[pt.] 2. Accounts of life on death row
Working against the death penalty / Marie Deans
Daily events / Richard Rossi
Running in : cell extraction / Hank Skinner
Conditions on death row, Terrel Unit, Texas / Terry Kupers
California's death row / Michael Wayne Hunter
It's time for me to die : an inside look at death row / Michael B. Ross
Dave / Michael Wayne Hunter
A visit from mom / Martin A. Draughton
Skirting the rules / Richard Rossi
Scars / Jarvis Masters
Transcending / Martin A. Draughton
[pt.] 3. Execution
Changing the protocol / Richard Rossi
Capital accountability / Roger W. Murray II
Surviving an execution date / Dominique Malon with Sam Hawkins
The dog and pony show / Richard Rossi
The long walk / Don Hawkins
Inside the death chamber / Stacy Abramson, David Isay
The struggle for a spirituality : Nicholas Ingram's life, final days, and execution / Ruth Evans
Witnessing an execution / Erika Trueman.

[pt.] 4. Poems
Recipe for prison pruno / Jarvis Masters
So many times / Mark Robertson
To be seen, to be done / Benjamin Zephaniah
Death row lament / James Heard
Your are in / Karl Louis Guillen
Capital existence / James Heard
My God / Karl Louis Guillen
Living death / Kevin Brian Dowling
Oblique sojourn / Leroy D. Cropper
The dungeon / Karl Louis Guillen
Red man / Shoz Dijiji
Come back to me / Keith B. Taylor
Journey to nowhere / Ramon Rogers
Beyond the ceiling / Karl Louis Guillen
This horror / Karl Louis Guillen
A "not so bad" man / Karl Louis Guillen
Falling in / Karl Louis Guillen
When it's at your door / Mark Allen Robertson
I drew a chessboard on my bed / James Heard
Find out what you seek / Tracy A. Hansen
A mental mirage / Marion Wilson
A special friend / Tracy A. Hansen
For you / Joan Warren
I think I'll call it morning / James Heard
Look into the darkness / William (Bill) Clark
Trying to describe / Martin A. Draughton
Before I forget / Karl Louis Guillen
My poem / Karl Louis Guillen
Death row poets / U.A. Fanthorpe
Executioner / James Armando Card Sr.
The Wuornos protocol, the final solution / John Huggins
Nicky / Ruth Evans
Knowing the day / Rogelio Reyes Cannady
Our disgrace ... / Karl Louis Guillen
You hide where you can't / Tracy A. Hansen
Words that I hear / Edwin Smith
My final prayer / Ray "Running Bear" Allen.

[pt.] 5. Short stories
A day in the life / Michael Wayne Hunter
Cat J / Michael Wayne Hunter
Fake identity / William Van Poyck
Burnt almonds / Steven King Ainsworth
[pt.] 6. Interviewing prisoners
Interview with Mumia Abu-Jamal / Allen Houghland
Prisoner interviewing prisoner / Martin A. Draughton
[pt.] 7. Correspondence, journals, and a prison report
From Covent to prison : a correspondence / Ruth Evans
t When and where will it end? / William (Bill) Clark
Open letter from Idaho's only female death row prisoner / Robin Lee Row
Journal from death row Mississippi / Tracy A. Hansen
Prison madness in Mississippi / Terry Kupers
An American chronicle / Rogelio Reyes Cannady
Being rushed to death / Richard Rossi
Scrappers : giving in to life / Helen Prejean
Organizations and prison writing Web sites
Further reading
Filmography
Reading for their lives projects.