Reverend who's stared into eyes of death row inmates for 50 years says they often have same final request

Joe Ingle has dedicated five decades of his life to supporting death row inmates.

Now 78 years old, it is said no one has worked with more condemned prisoners in the US than him.

Opening up on how it is said the inmates often have the same final request, the reverend who has stared into their eyes says he leaves all his judgement at the cell door.

No matter what a person has been convicted of, Joe doesn’t believe that anybody deserves to die. And even if he thinks they may be guilty of the crime, he truly believes that everyone deserves friendship when it comes to their end on death row.

Joe’s first close insight into the death penalty came when Joe Spenkelink was executed in Florida in 1979.

The 'Death Row Pastor' released a new memoir last year. (WSMV 4 Nashville)

He told The Sun: “John was like a brother to me, and his case was coming down to the wire.

“A man called Chaplain Savage - his real name - asked John if he would pray with him."

But the inmate didn’t want to spend his last moments with him, asking for Ingle instead.

He explained John was refused a final statement, and since the moment he spent with the man’s month, he’s ‘devoted his life to trying to oppose and defeat that system’.

The reverend said it all made him realise that death row is ‘just a killing and caging meeting’.

Since that moment, Joe has been a ‘spiritual adviser’ to hundreds of inmates, sitting through a countless amount of their final hours before execution.

With him offering himself up as this ‘friend’, a large number of those on death row have requested for Joe to be the last person they spend time with - something that is often their final request.

In those final moments, he provided them with ‘a supportive presence’.

“It’s a gift, but it’s a painful gift,” he said.

Joe Ingle wrote the book Last Rights in 1990. (Cspan)

“It’s an honour that this person trusts you enough. Almost always they are my friend.”

Having spent five decades working with death row inmates, Joe has actually been diagnosed with PTSD and is now going through trauma therapy.

“I’m in the process of putting myself back together. I have paid a heavy price. I’m sitting here crying right now,” he said.

In reflection on his part in people’s time on death row, Joe added: “I’m going in there just to be with them, to be their friend. If they want to talk about religion, we’ll talk about it. But I’m there to love them and care for them. That’s my whole role.

"And it's heartbreaking."