Prison reform advocates push to stop execution of Mississippi man: “His life is worth saving”

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - Richard Gerald Jordan, Mississippi’s longest-tenured death row inmate, is set to be executed on Wednesday, June 25, at 6 p.m.

Ahead of his execution date, prison reform advocates are speaking out against the death penalty in Mississippi.

On Wednesday, advocates gathered in front of the Mississippi Supreme Court to emphasize the potential of redemption within the prison system.

“One of the inmates on death row told me Richard Jordan is only a danger to himself because he works so hard, that is all he does, he gets up, he works, he has a happy face,” said advocate Mitzi Magleby.

“We know, we don’t believe, we know his life is worth saving. There is redemption there.”

Last week, Jordan filed for a stay of execution with the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort for a last-minute reprieve.

Jordan was sentenced to death for the kidnapping and killing of Edwina Marter in 1976 in Harrison County.

Jordan has already filed multiple legal challenges to his sentence and has been sentenced to death four times.

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