Anthony Ray Hinton

Mr. Hinton was so gracious to spend time with us. It takes a great toll on a person to share a story as traumatic as his. Throughout our trip, we tried to pay attention to where we felt God's presence and where it felt like God was absent or silent. During our visit with Mr. Hinton, the presence of God was unmistakable. Mr. Hinton is filled with the Holy Spirit, and he speaks powerfully about how God has met him and sustained him throughout his life. 

At one point, Mr. Hinton became very emotional as he shared that the State of Alabama has never apologized to him for his unjust imprisonment. This brought home the importance of telling the truth about the sin of injustice as a first step to healing and repair.

On a lighter note, one of the gifts God gave to Mr. Hinton was a vivid imagination. This proved to be crucial to his survival on death row. He would imagine himself visiting places all over the world, meeting interesting people, and doing exciting things. In his imagination, he visited the Queen of England, and even won Wimbledon! It was fun to hear that after his release, he got to actually do some of the things he imagined, like meeting the Queen!

Another gift God gave Mr. Hinton was an impulse to reach out and lessen the suffering of another human being. His kindness and care for other inmates and even wardens won the love of everyone around him.

Since his release, Mr. Hinton has been working for EJI as a community educator. He is a powerful advocate against the death penalty and speaks nationally about the urgent need for criminal justice reform.

When a group of BelPres youth and leaders took a similar trip last year, they also spent time with Mr. Hinton. One of them gave a powerful testimony about this meeting with Mr. Hinton and how it helped him to grow as a disciple of Jesus. You can listen to his testimony here.