Sunny Jacobs on life after Death Row — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:05[Music]
2. 0:40sonia jacobs thank you for joining us
3. 0:43today on ìoh RTV now yours is an
4. 0:45incredible story you and your husband
5. 0:47were both on death row wrongly convicted
6. 0:49and your husband unfortunately was
7. 0:52executed and you witnessed this
8. 0:54execution can you tell me a little bit
9. 0:56about the background of this story well
10. 0:59we were just very young i was 27 years
11. 1:02old the children were 10 months old and
12. 1:04nine years old and we had just taken a
13. 1:08lift from a friend there was no crime
14. 1:10being committed but there was a police
15. 1:14check of cars and the man panicked at
16. 1:17that point and he shot the policeman and
17. 1:22then we were all arrested and it it
18. 1:27suited them to have three convictions
19. 1:29rather than one so even though there was
20. 1:33evidence that we were not guilty they
21. 1:35took us all to trial and on this on the
22. 1:39testimony of the actual killer
23. 1:42we were both sentenced to death how did
24. 1:46it feel to be on death row when you were
25. 1:49there did you have any access to seeing
26. 1:51your husband could you meet could you
27. 1:52speak no no i was in a different prison
28. 1:55i was in the women's prison and he was
29. 1:57in the men's prison although i had asked
30. 1:59if we could share a cell until they
31. 2:02figured out they made a mistake they
32. 2:04weren't willing to do that but no we
33. 2:07never were able to see each other again
34. 2:08we wrote letters every day
35. 2:20when they did execute him we were
36. 2:24allowed a 10-minute phone call just
37. 2:27prior to the execution and that was the
38. 2:32end I was kept in the chaplains office
39. 2:35during the execution and just afterwards
40. 2:39I asked to go to have some privacy to go
41. 2:43into the ladies room and I looked in the
42. 2:46mirror and there behind me I could see I
43. 2:49could see him there and he told me he
44. 2:53was okay
45. 2:54and that I am and so I was okay but it
46. 2:57was a very horrific time
47. 3:06[Music]
48. 3:26tell me how the body the mind and the
49. 3:28soul moves on from such an experience
50. 3:30how do you move on with your life very
51. 3:34gradually at first its overwhelming and
52. 3:38they didn't know what to do because it
53. 3:40was the only time that a couple had both
54. 3:42been in prison except for the Rosenbergs
55. 3:45and that that one of them was executed
56. 3:49while the other was still in prison
57. 3:51so no one really know what to do and
58. 3:54just gradually I tried to find normalcy
59. 4:00again and little by little I was able to
60. 4:04I was able to move forward but even even
61. 4:09today when I speak about him I sometimes
62. 4:13I feel him there and it makes me happy
63. 4:24[Music]
64. 4:32[Music]
65. 4:42[Music]
66. 4:58the way that you have moved on with your
67. 5:00life is an incredible story because you
68. 5:03and your husband hosts those that have
69. 5:06been exonerated from crimes which is an
70. 5:08incredible thing to help those people to
71. 5:10move on with their life just like you
72. 5:12have tell me where the starting point is
73. 5:14for somebody who's been exonerated and
74. 5:16freed from death row well it's a very
75. 5:19interesting process because we all have
76. 5:22this vision of freedom and it's it's
77. 5:27almost like it's almost like an animated
78. 5:30cartoon because it has no basis in
79. 5:34reality
80. 5:35most of us when we went to death row
81. 5:38were very young most were younger than I
82. 5:42was I was 27 most or 1920 years old and
83. 5:45we think we know about life but we don't
84. 5:48and so all those years you dream of this
85. 5:53freedom and that will cure all my
86. 5:56problems if I would just be free but we
87. 5:59have no idea what freedom really means
88. 6:01because freedom isn't free freedom comes
89. 6:04with massive responsibilities for
90. 6:06instance in prison you get or food three
91. 6:10meals and every day you get a place to
92. 6:12sleep you never have to pay bills all of
93. 6:15a sudden now I'm free you have to pay
94. 6:18bills you have nowhere to sleep you have
95. 6:20no food what will you do so they release
96. 6:23you sometimes with no money in your
97. 6:25pocket whatsoever
98. 6:27and you don't even know where you're
99. 6:29going to sleep that night so unless the
100. 6:32person is fortunate enough to have still
101. 6:34some family outside now you're free and
102. 6:39it's like a bad joke tell me about the
103. 6:43sanctuary that you have in Ireland where
104. 6:45you help people to reconnect with
105. 6:47themselves with nature and as you said
106. 6:49earlier many of them have been confined
107. 6:51for long periods and all they've seen is
108. 6:53concrete so to have grass beneath their
109. 6:55feet to feel the wind in their face tell
110. 6:58me the kind of reaction that you get
111. 6:59from people
112. 7:01it's such a beautiful thing to bring
113. 7:03people to the sanctuary in Ireland
114. 7:05because we have there are no buildings
115. 7:08around there's just the the little house
116. 7:11with all the animals and the blue sky
117. 7:14and the sea and the wind and we take
118. 7:18them outside and they can walk up the
119. 7:21mountain and reconnect with the earth
120. 7:24again and always they're always one of
121. 7:27the animals becomes their companion
122. 7:29sometimes a dog sometimes a cat
123. 7:31sometimes a chicken or goat and this is
124. 7:36so healing you know the animals can be
125. 7:38very evening and there's no pollution
126. 7:41there's no crime there's there's hardly
127. 7:44any electricity so it's just a very
128. 7:48natural environment in which a person
129. 7:50can become renewed and feel very safe
130. 7:53that's one of the most important things
131. 7:56and then we share with them the ways
132. 7:57that helped us to heal and one of them
133. 8:00of course being forgiveness and of
134. 8:02course because you've been through a
135. 8:04similar experience and then you've
136. 8:06experienced freedom you are a perfect
137. 8:08person both you and your husband to take
138. 8:10these people under your wing and to give
139. 8:13them the next step to a new life we will
140. 8:15of course put all the details of your
141. 8:17foundation on our website
142. 8:19Sonia Jacobs thank you so much for
143. 8:20speaking today thank you it's a pleasure
144. 8:27you