August 13, 2025
“I was in prison and you visited me.” ~ Matthew 25:36 NRSV
I was at St. Francis Springs Prayer Center in Stoneville, NC, late in March 2024, co-leading a retreat when I first reached out to Anthony Bell via email. All I knew about Anthony was his name, his department of corrections number, and the fact that he is on his last appeal, so he is high on the list of anticipated executions. I walked the Stations of the Cross nestled along a stream. Each of these twelve stations invites the participant to pray for contemporary situations that mirror Jesus’ last hours. The first station, “Jesus is Condemned to Death took my breath away. I immediately stopped to pray for Anthony, along with all people around the globe who have been condemned to death, many sitting on death rows because of the color of their skin, and their poverty, which prevents them from getting the best legal representation. I included the photo below in my email.
We had a few emails back and forth, and one phone call, but when he realized my age 72, he decided and told me very clearly that I was too old to relate to him (he will be 45 in October). I wrestled briefly with how to deal with his rejection, recognizing that I often judge medical professionals who look young enough to be my child. Agism lives within me! I would continue to pray for him daily, send him emails regularly, remember his birthday, and occasionally send him money and books.
In October, I learned that another person (I’ll call him Clarence) on Death Row wanted a Spiritual Advisor, a person who seldom hears from family, and hardly ever is visited. I agreed to email him, and we began having weekly phone calls and emails immediately.
I didn’t hear from Anthony again until December 2024, but continued to pray and email him. Those emails increased in frequency when the first person to be executed in Louisiana after a 15-year pause occurred on February 10, 2025, when Jesse Hoffman was executed. I am a terrible Facebook friend, sometimes fail to respond to emails or text messages, and don’t want to bother people. But in this case, I am so glad I persisted.
Jesus tells a parable about one such woman: “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town, there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time, he refused. But finally, he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” ~Matthew 18:1-5 NIV
I am so glad I didn’t give up on Anthony! Below is a photo of us in the visitors’ room on Death Row.
Wayfinding 