Madison Hobley, exonerated from Illinois’ death row after sixteen years of wrongful imprisonment, spoke to students last Wednesday in Reiss 103 about capital punishment. Hobley, who last year spoke with students via telephone from death row in Illinois, was pardoned by Illinois Gov. George Ryan in January.
Hobley spoke as part of Georgetown’s Death Penalty Awareness Week, sponsored by Campaign to End the Death Penalty.
“It’s hard to not be inspired by Madison Hobley’s presence. Just a year and a half ago, he was calling into our Live From Death Row event, and now, here he is, just hanging out with us,” said Virginia Simmons (CAS ‘03), president of Campaign to End the Death Penalty.
Two current death row inmates, Kenneth Collins and John Booth-El, also addressed the assembly over speakerphone. Collins and Booth-El have been on Maryland’s death row for sixteen and twenty years, respectively. The men had thirty minutes to speak and answer questions from the audience.
Collins concentrated primarily on the progress his own case has made through the courts during what he referred to as “the battle for his freedom.” Booth-El gave a broad perspective of the death penalty in America by relating statistics from recent studies. He focused especially on a University of Maryland report which revealed racial disparities in Maryland’s use of capital punishment.
When asked by a student to describe life on death row, Booth-El likened it to a “giant fishbowl.”
Hobley encouraged the two callers, saying that his belief in God grew stronger while in prison and he never lost faith in the possibility of his release. He urged Collins and Booth-El to keep up the struggle to regain their lives and their dignity, and he reminded them that he had been in their position before.
Hobley was convicted of setting a deadly apartment fire and sentenced to death in 1987. Sixteen years later, Illinois Gov. George Ryan instituted a review which determined Hobley’s innocence. Gov. Ryan also pardoned three other men and commuted the sentences of all 156 remaining death row inmates to life imprisonment before leaving office in January.
Hobley said he is having some trouble getting used to his new life, and admitted that he is afraid of being alone in his apartment. When asked what the government does to help those released from prison assimilate into society, he shook his head, shrugged and replied, “Nothing. I’m lucky; I have a family to help me. Lots of guys, they have no one to turn to when they get out.”
Hobley is in the process of building an institution, Hobley House, to help those released from jail adjust to the change.
Simmons said she has received positive feedback from members of the audience.
“Live From Death Row had a massive impact on me. It showed me that every convicted criminal, whether innocent or guilty, is still a human being,” said Henry Brewster (CAS ‘06).
