Reveal Podcast – “Executions Are Rising in the US. This Reverend Witnesses Them.”

Date: November 12, 2025
Host: Al Letson
Guest: Reverend Dr. Jeff Hood, activist and death row spiritual advisor

Overview

This gripping episode of Reveal features Reverend Dr. Jeff Hood, a white southern minister and longtime activist for racial justice, who has become a sought-after spiritual advisor for those on death row. As executions in the US surge—including the implementation of new, deeply controversial nitrogen executions—Dr. Hood offers an unvarnished view of capital punishment and his role inside the execution chamber. The episode explores the intersection of faith, activism, race, and the moral injury experienced by those who witness state-sanctioned death, pulling listeners into rarely-discussed emotional and ethical territory.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Rise in U.S. Executions

• The U.S. had 41 executions in the current year (up from 25 the prior year), signaling a reversal of the previous downward trend. Federal executions have resumed, and states are encouraged to expand the death penalty (01:51-02:26).

Jeff Hood’s Radicalization: From Conservative Roots to Activist Ministry

• Jeff Hood’s upbringing in south Atlanta, surrounded by civil rights leaders like Andy Young and Joe Lowry, left a foundational imprint (03:00-03:44).
• Shifted from conservative Southern Baptist roots to embracing queer and Black liberation theology following a mentor’s deathbed revelation as a closeted gay man (04:03-06:17).
• Hood describes a sense of homelessness: “If you ain’t got a home, then you just want to do what’s right” (24:45).
• Hood’s activism gained new urgency after witnessing Troy Davis’s execution in Georgia—a pivotal moment leading him from hope in political change toward direct action and street protest (09:46-12:57).

Radicalism, Black Lives Matter, and White Allyship

• Organized protests after consecutive police killings; confronted the paradox and hostility faced as a white man advocating loudly for racial justice (13:10-17:58).
• Faced criticism from both political extremes and advocates:
  “I feel like the nature of following Jesus is often finding yourself in these places where you got one side saying, what an asshole. He shouldn’t be doing this. And you got the other side saying ... the same thing” (18:11).
• Tension and violence at the 2016 Dallas rally, where five officers were shot, underscored the volatility and high stakes of racial justice activism (13:13-17:47).

America’s Retreat from Racial Reckoning

• Letson and Hood debate whether the country has progressed or regressed since the height of Black Lives Matter:
  • Al Letson: “I think that the truth of the whole Black Lives Matter is that it was forcing America to look at itself in a way that was very uncomfortable ... America looked at it and said, nah, I’m good, and doubled down into closing its eyes” (18:57).
  • Jeff Hood: Acknowledges increasing “diversity of opposition,” but observes, “We are in a space where racism has become normal” (19:31-20:06).

Witnessing Executions: Spiritual Work, Moral Injury, and the Human Toll

Why and How Hood Became a Spiritual Advisor on Death Row

• Hood began doing death row ministry while also organizing vigils for murdered trans women of color, resulting in pushback from all sides for simultaneously aiding an oppressor (24:06).
• “I don’t meet the person who committed the crime as much as I meet the person 20, 30 years later ... desperate for any sort of touch, any sort of connection, any sort of just humanity” (25:41-27:15).

Inside the Execution Chamber

• Has sat through 10 executions, describing the chamber as a psychological and moral “rabbit hole”:
  • “The question is not whether I’m going to go down the rabbit hole with these guys. The question is whether I’m going to come back.” (20:20, 27:25)
• Becomes best friend to the condemned in their final months; must sit passively as the state kills them:
  • "You’re asked to sit there and pray with this person … your job is to sit there and do nothing while they’re murdered." (29:08)
• Experiences nightmares of executed friends asking, “Jeff, why didn’t you help me in the moment?” (30:48)

The Experience of Dying and the Mechanics of Execution

• Death row inmates sometimes find peace only as the final moment arrives, no longer having to “deal with any of it anymore” (31:21).
• Hood describes lethal injection:
  • Looks like a medical procedure, but is “torturous,” with death sometimes taking 21-22 minutes. He recounts friends’ final words, such as Emmanuel Littlejohn thanking him for his efforts (34:57).

Nitrogen Hypoxia Executions

• Describes being present at the first-ever nitrogen execution in January 2024:
  • Despite reassurances, the event was violent and traumatic, with the condemned heaving and slamming against a face mask, fluid pooling, and pronounced bodily agony lasting nearly nine minutes (36:47-40:23).
  • Denounces claims that the new method is humane: “This is a whole other level of violence ... as a society, we have moved in a more violent direction.” (39:24)

Moral Conundrums and Systemic Distance

• Blasts political and legal leaders who sanction death but avoid witnessing executions themselves:
  • “If you are so interested in killing people, then do it yourself ... have the courage to be there.” (32:23-34:57)
• Condemns distancing language: “It is in your name. ... Everybody wants to wash their hands and act like we’re doing the best that we can. Well, fuck your best. We don’t need your best. We need your body.” (32:34)

Mental Health Costs

• Hood’s mental health suffers deeply from the work:
  • “It takes months after these executions to be able to function ... It’s awful. And I wouldn’t wish it upon anybody.” (40:29)
• Feels compelled to continue: “As long as there’s someone who needs me, I have to keep going until I can’t.” (40:59)

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• "I don't need your damn prayers. I need your help. I need you there in the streets with me. I need your bodies."
  — Jeff Hood, addressing both prayers for migrants and death row inmates (00:07; repeated at 08:31)
• "Here's this person that had really been Jesus to me ... and all of a sudden, Jesus is gay."
  — Jeff Hood on his mentor's coming out (05:29)
• "I grew up in a Southern Baptist congregation ... but I was also, again, very influenced by ... civil rights culture, that somehow faith can achieve change."
  — Jeff Hood (04:03)
• "White America is a fucking lie ... the things we’re being taught, the history that is being upheld is a lie."
  — Jeff Hood summoning the crowd’s anger at the Dallas rally (13:24)
• "We're both going to go through this, but you've got to walk out of there. And I get to not have to deal with any of it anymore."
  — Hood shares a death row inmate’s perspective on death (31:21)
• "If you are so interested in killing people, then do it yourself. ... These folks don't want to see no executions. ... They never have to get their hands dirty."
  — Jeff Hood (32:41)
• "It is in your name. ... Everybody wants to wash their hands ... Well, fuck your best. Like, we don't need your best. We need your body."
  — Jeff Hood (32:34)

Memorable Moments with Timestamps

• Hood’s emotional breakdown of the moral injury of witnessing executions (27:25-30:48)
• Vivid recounting of January 2024’s first-ever nitrogen hypoxia execution (36:47-40:23)
• Recurrent nightmares and lasting trauma following executions (30:48, 40:29)
• Challenge to advocates and bystanders: change can’t happen through passive support; bodies are needed in the struggle (08:31, 32:34)

Segment Timestamps

• 00:00-02:44 — Introduction, background on executions, and Jeff Hood’s advocacy
• 03:00-08:20 — Hood’s personal journey to activism and theological transformation
• 09:40-12:57 — The Troy Davis execution, political disillusionment, escalation into action
• 13:10-17:47 — Black Lives Matter activism, Dallas protest, police killings, and backlash
• 17:47-20:06 — Discussion on racial progress and regression in America
• 23:39-24:06 — The marginalized, moral homelessness, and death row ministry origins
• 25:32-30:48 — Life and death on death row, moral injury, and psychological cost
• 31:21-34:57 — Inmates’ final moments, flaws in the death penalty system, the reality of lethal injection
• 36:47-40:23 — Nitrogen hypoxia: the new, violent face of execution
• 40:29-41:34 — The toll on Hood’s mental health, sense of purpose, and resilience

Tone & Style

• The episode moves between quietly devastating, starkly honest, and deeply human. Jeff Hood’s southern cadence and plainspoken delivery ground the discussion, while Al Letson’s probing but empathetic questions foster a space for raw revelations and difficult truths.

Conclusion

This episode lays bare the dire reality behind America’s rising executions and the profound ethical cost borne by those who witness or enable state-sanctioned death. Through the voice and experience of Jeff Hood, listeners are confronted with the failures of “liberal wishy-washy” activism, the hypocrisy of political leaders, and the persistent violence at the nation’s core. It is a searing call for active engagement and an unflinching account of what it means to accompany the condemned to the very end.