Carroll Pickett

Reverend Carroll L. "Bud" Pickett (1933April 3 2022)Brandon, Aprill, "Death Row Chaplain," Victoria Advocate, 2008-03-09, p. A1, A5. Sidebars: "Bio" p. A5, "Show Times" p. A5, photos and illustrations: "Caroll Picket" p. A1, "Within These Walls" p. A1, "Death House" p. A5, "Carroll Picket" p. A5, "The Rev. Carool Pickett's family in 1967" p. A5, "De Luna" p. A5 was a Presbyterian minister in Huntsville, Texas. In the 1960s and 1970s, Rev. Pickett served as pastor for three churches in Texas.McCain, Collee
Rev. Carroll Pickett: The evolution of a death penalty opponent (interview)
Dallas Morning News, 2008-10-01, retrieved 2008-10-01Return To Victoria
The Victoria Advocate, 1961-08-06. In 1980 he began serving as a chaplain in the Huntsville, Texas, prison, where he spent most of the next 15 years working with prisoners facing imminent execution.Stowers, Carlton, and Carroll Pickett, ''Within These Walls: Memoirs of a Death House Chaplain'', , St. Martin's Press, 2002
Google Books
/ref> After retiring from the Texas Department of Corrections, Rev. Pickett wrote and spoke against the death penalty. His 2002 book, ''Within These Walls: Memoirs of a Death House Chaplain'', won several awards.From out of Texas to Everywhere!
The Presbyterian Sun, August 2006, retrieved 2008-05-19 The 2008 documentary '' At the Death House Door: No Man Should Die Alone'' chronicles his prison ministry.At the Death House Door
official web site, retrieved 2008-05-19

Early life and ministry

Born in Nursery, Texas, Pickett attended Pattie Welder High School in Victoria and graduated from Victoria College, then Austin College in 1954 and seminary in 1957.VC spring registration begins Monday
The Victoria Advocate, 2008-11-29Page, Oscar C., "A Decade of Leadership: Austin College President's Report 2003-2004"
, retrieved 2008-05-19
retrieved 2008-05-19 He married Sonja Campbell of Victoria and raised 4 children. After divorcing, he married his second wife Jane in 1990.Stowers, Carlton
Death Angel
Dallas Observer, September 14, 2000, retrieved 2008-05-19

Early in his career, he served a Presbyterian church in Sinton. From 1961 to 1967, he served as Associate Pastor for First Presbyterian Church in Victoria. From 1967 to 1980, he served as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Texas.

Attitudes towards the death penalty

In 1974, the Carrasco Prison Siege took the lives of two of Rev. Pickett's parishioners.Harper, William T., ''Eleven Days in Hell: The 1974 Carrasco Prison Siege in Huntsville, Texas'', , 2004, University of North Texas Press, p. 202, 290–291
Google Books
/ref> After this, he was in favor of the death penalty. This was in direct conflict with the Presbyterian Church's established opposition to the death penalty.
, retrieved 2008-05-19

During his tenure as a prison chaplain in the 1980s and 1990s, his views changed. In 1989 he sought psychiatric help to deal with work-related issues. He came to believe that one prisoner, Carlos DeLuna, was wrongly executed. He could not reveal his changed attitudes without jeopardizing his job and he felt a calling to continue to minister to prisoners on the last day of their lives. On the day of his retirement in 1995, he announced that he was against the death penalty.Lee, Felicia R
His Life With the Deaths That the State Carried Out
'' The New York Times'', May 27, 2008, retrieved 2008-09-14 In 2008, he called execution "Biblically wrong."

In a September 2008 interview, he mentions that his attitude change was a long process, and was in part due to the execution of several men who he now believes were innocent.

In all, Rev. Pickett "walked with 95 inmates the last 10 steps to the Death House Door" in his 15 years with the prison system.

Campaign against the death penalty

In addition to writing a book and being the subject of a documentary about his time as the Death House chaplain, Rev. Pickett spoke and wrote against the death penalty.

Recognition

*2002, ''Within These Walls: Memoirs of a Death House Chaplain'', Violet Crown Award2002 Violet Crown & Teddy Book Awards presented in Austin
, ''ArtsTexas'', Texas Commission on the Arts, Winter 2002, retrieved 2008-05-19
*2005, ''Within These Walls: Memoirs of a Death House Chaplain'', PEN Southwest Book Awards, finalist, non-fiction
,

Publications

*Stowers, Carlton, and Carroll Pickett, ''Within These Walls: Memoirs of a Death House Chaplain'', , St. Martin's Press, 2002
Google Books

See also

* Wiktionary's entry for death house.
*Wrongful execution

References

External links

*Tewes, David, "A Mission From God," The Victoria Advocate, 1996-03-03, "Lifestyle" section p. 1,
Part 1
an
Part 2Interview with Rev. Carroll Pickett, author of 'Within These Walls: Memoirs of a Death House Chaplain'First Presbyterian Church, Victoria, TexasFirst Presbyterian Church, Huntsville, Texas

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickett, Carroll L.
Living people
1933 births
Presbyterian Church (USA) teaching elders
American chaplains
Writers from Texas
American anti–death penalty activists
Austin College alumni
Victoria College (Texas) alumni
Prison chaplains
People from Victoria County, Texas
People from Huntsville, Texas