Man On Death Row Asks For Reprieve To Donate Kidney

An inmate on death row has asked for a stay of execution in order to donate one of his kidneys before he is executed.

Ramiro Gonzales, 39, has been on death row for more than 15 years now and is scheduled to be executed 13 July.

In his request for a stay of execution, Gonzales has asked the state of Texas for a 30-day reprieve.

Former prison chaplain and anti-death penalty advocate, Cantor Michael Zoosman, informed The Independent of Gonzales' request.

Mr Zoosman, as a figurehead for the anti-death penalty movement, actively writes to every single inmate on death row in America, one of which included Gonzales. The pair have been in regular correspondence for over a year, since January 2021.

“He was very eager to learn about Jewish ideas about forgiveness and repentance,” Mr Zoosman explained.

When corresponding with Gonzales about a woman in his congregation who was in need of a kidney transplant, Mr Zoosman noted that the inmate 'jumped on it', who understood his death sentence yet wanted to use the opportunity as 'a way of saving a life'.

A reporter for The Marshall Project, 'a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organisation that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system', visited Gonzales last Wednesday, 29 June.

Keri Blakinger, the reporter, revealed that during their one-hour interview, Gonzales explained his decision: "This is part of my atonement. When you take something so precious from the world, how do you pay that back? You don’t. You spend all these years trying to make restitution."

The death row inmate reportedly said: "How can I give back life? This is probably one of the closest things to doing that. I don’t want to say it’s saving someone’s life but it’s keeping someone from dying."

Gonzales, now 39, has spent more than 15 years on death row after being sentenced in 2006 for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 18-year-old Bridget Townsend.

Director of communications for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Amanda Hernandez, told the news outlet: “Earlier this year, Mr Gonzales requested to donate an organ prior to his execution. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice followed Correctional Managed Health Care Policy E-31.2. Mr Gonzales was deemed an ineligible donor for that request."

"He is scheduled for execution on July 13, 2022," Hernandez concluded.

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