'A few days before his execution, Brandon’s family visited him for the last time. After the visit, Brandon told me there was a hole in the pane of glass. I naively said, 'Oh, so you were able to hold hands?' He explained it was an air hole to speak through, not large enough for hands, 'But,' he said, 'I could smell my mom.
"A few days before his execution, Brandon’s family visited him for the last time. After the visit, Brandon told me there was a hole in the pane of glass. I naively said, 'Oh, so you were able to hold hands?' He explained it was an air hole to speak through, not large enough for hands, 'But,' he said, 'I could smell my mom.'"Brandon Bernard called and emailed me daily in the two months before his execution.
When we first began exchanging letters a year ago, I warned Brandon that I had one other pen pal at Terre Haute Federal Penitentiary. In my experience, inmates do not want to write someone with multiple pen pals at the same facility out of legitimate concerns over privacy and safety. Brandon’s immediate response was, “Well, then that makes me one of the two luckiest men at Terre Haute.” To call himself lucky after overBrandon was 18 when he took part in a robbery gone wrong.
Brandon mainly spent his time mentoring at-risk youth, reading, crocheting and playing the guitar. Brandon was calmer and more patient than most people I’ve come across; he spoke slowly and thoughtfully and was an avid listener. He never cursed and when I asked if that was for religious reasons, he said, “No, cursing just feels too aggressive to me.”
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