For fifteen years, Pastor Carroll Pickett served as a chaplain for death row inmates at the Walls prison unit in Huntsville, Texas. Over that time, Pastor Pickett went from supporting capital punishment to finding himself deeply opposed to it. His transformation is at the heart of At the Death House Door, the new film by Steve James and Peter Gilbert of Hoop Dreams fame.
To make the film, they partnered with The Chicago Tribune's Steve Mills and Maurice Possley, who investigated what they believed was the wrongful conviction and execution of one of Pickett's charges, Carlos De Luna. Steve James says the possibility of this story hinged on Pickett's way of dealing with the weight of his daily work.
Music Button: Teargas & Plateglass, “Book of Black Valentines”, from the CD Black Triage, (Waxploitation records)