An In-Depth Look at Second Chances: Lawyer chronicles the lives of paroled death-row inmates in new book

By Leslie Rovetti

 Published on 8/3/2006

Westerly -

When the U.S. Supreme Court abolished the death penalty in June 1972, 589 death-row convicts – 587 men and two women – received a new lease on life.

Defense attorney Joan Cheever wondered what they did with their second chance, and her curiosity led her on a cross-country trek to chronicle the rebirth of the ex-convicts. She compiled her tales in a provocative book, “Back From the Dead,” which was released in the United States two weeks ago.

“It's been quite a journey,” Cheever said in a phone interview from her summer home in Charlestown.

Her interviews sent her to 30 states plus the District of Columbia, where she spoke with 125 of the parolees. Choosing the ones she would visit in person meant meeting them over the phone first, and deciding how safe it was to visit.

“You kind of go with your gut,” she explained. “In the book, I'm very honest about being scared all the time.”

Although those were the only ones she followed in depth, she kept tabs on all 589 released convicts.

“I followed the prison and parole records for all of them,” she said.

What she found were real people, and not murderous caricatures.

“You think the people on death row are all these Hannibal Lecters, and they're not,” she noted.

Many, she said, sought to redeem themselves from their past. She found a great deal of remorse for their past actions, and some were counseling wayward children to help them avoid falling down that same path. The recidivism rate for this group, she found, was half that of other released inmates. And the courts later exonerated seven of them.

But that doesn't mean they were all choirboys.

“There were five that killed again,” she said. “One was truly a serial killer.”

Cheever said the book itself draws no conclusions about the use of the death penalty.

“I wouldn't say it's a death-penalty book. It's a story,” she said. “It's not pro or anti. It's just, this is it.”

Although the book may be silent on the death penalty, the author is not.

“For the most part, people can be rehabilitated,” she said. “The conclusion is, we don't need to kill people. There are alternatives.”

Cheever said she found an underlying theme common to those who eventually became productive members of society.

“Faith, family, friends and education were the things that helped them be successful on the outside,” she said.

She also observed that an angry 18-year-old can become a different person if he stays in prison until his golden years.

Among the parolees she followed, the average time in jail was just over 18 years. The average age at the time of release was 31, and the average age now is 63.

Cheever does not demand that a reader see the situation her way.

“Read the book and see what you think about the whole issue,” she said.

“Back From the Dead” by Joan Cheever is available locally at The Other Tiger bookstore at 90 High St., Westerly.