Testimonial

Sunny Jacobs: Life Inside

What is life behind prison walls like?

“Prison Journey” Series (1/3)

What is life behind prison walls like? There are more than 2 000 people on death row in the United States. An average of three prisoners a year have been found innocent and exonerated since 1973. Sunny Jacobs was one of them. Both her and her husband, Jesse Tafero, were sentenced to death in 1981 for a crime they did not commit. Jesse was executed in horrendous conditions. She spent 17 years in prison in Florida, including five on death row before her sentence was commuted to life. She was eventually released. Today, she is married to Peter Pringle, who was also wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in Ireland.

From extreme isolation to forgiveness and activism: Sunny Jacobs shares her story.

The rules were to have no contact with me. The prisoners were not even allowed to wave at me.

My skin would peel after the visits because of the sunburn.