• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

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

Home> Community

Updated 20:43 21 Apr 2025 GMT+1Published 20:36 21 Apr 2025 GMT+1

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

The 'spiritual adviser' has been diagnosed with PTSD

Jess Battison

Jess Battison

Featured Image Credit: Cspan

Topics: Death Row, Mental Health, Prison, US News, Crime

Jess Battison
Jess Battison

Jess is a Senior Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include asking everyone in the office what they're having for tea, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021.

X

@jessbattison_

Advert

Advert

Advert

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.

Advert

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)
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.

Advert

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’.

Advert

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

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

Advert

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."

  • Convicted murderer was able to escape prison by simply walking away and still hasn't been caught 50 years later
  • Final meal death row inmates now receive after prisoner ordered one controversial no one gets to choose
  • Death row inmate made final comment to victims' families in last words before execution
  • Death row prisoner bursts into song then unexpectedly thanks prison guards in final words before execution

Choose your content:

a day ago
  • a day ago

    Simulation shows 'worst torture method ever' that was replicated in Saw movies

    The Brazen Bull is so horrifying that the creators of the horror franchise used it as inspiration in a 2010 film

    Community
  • a day ago

    Internet divided as they can't work out which way horse is moving in viral optical illusion

    The movements of Alesia Willard's horse have managed to baffle thousands of people

    Community
  • a day ago

    Shocking simulation shows what would happen to the body if you were swallowed by a whale

    As you would expect, being swallowed by a whale comes with some gruesome consequences

    Community
  • a day ago

    Mortified groom says one of the worst things possible during wedding vows without even realising

    Andrew Fildes' mistake was something out of a sitcom storyline

    Community