PROJECT HISTORY
In 2023 and 2024, Renaldo Hudson, a death row survivor and community leader, worked with David Knight and the Movements Against Mass Incarceration Lab at the Incite Institute at Columbia University, David Moran and Soapbox Productions and Organizing, and writer Elizabeth Futrell to document the oral history of the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois from the perspective of those most affected but historically least heard: those on death row themselves. In 2025, we produced a 60-minute documentary from this material, creating a teaching tool for advocates, decision makers, and the general public.
ABOUT DPP
The Death Penalty Project takes an in-depth look at the anti-death penalty organizing and strategies of those on death row in Illinois and their allies. Their organizing played a key role in Illinois’ 2000 moratorium on executions, 2003 blanket commutation of all death sentences, and 2011 abolition of the death penalty. By sharing the strategies that moved Illinois to abolish the death penalty—and the lessons learned along the way—our documentary provides a roadmap for state-level movements to end the death penalty across the U.S.
THE PEOPLE
Ronald “Ronnie” Kitchen
Stanley Howard
Renaldo Hudson
Alice Kim
Charles “Chick” Hauffman
Bernardine Ayers
Bill Ayers
THE TEAM
As an activist and organizer, Renaldo strives for transformative action rather than just transformative language. He is Director of Education for the Illinois Prison Project and creator of the Death Penalty Project. He has focused his work toward ending mass incarceration in Illinois, and now he is focused on ending the death penalty in this country and abroad. After being sentenced to death row, he woke up to his role in fighting for fair chances and bringing people around to accountability and responsibility from both sides of the coin.
Renaldo Hudson (he/his), Creator & Executive Producer
David A Moran (he/his), Director & Film Producer
David Alfonso Moran is a first generation producer, organizer and storyteller. As a Chicano native to Chicago David uses his life experiences and education as a writer, director and facilitator to resist and challenge harmful dominant narratives by creating life affirming multimedia media projects and programming. As Multimedia Director and Producer for SoapBox for almost a decade David has directed and produced award winning films, co-host and produces the Bourbon 'n BrownTown podcast and has organized with variety of campaigns throughout Illinois. His mission: to continue building and fostering relationships with community organization, coalitions and institutions in the fight of the erasure, displacement, subjugation and extermination of all oppressed people.
Elizabeth Futrell (she/her), Oral Historian & Story Producer
Liz Futrell is a writer, oral historian, and storyteller focused on health and human rights. She led content strategy for a global program at the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, directed the Ci3 Transmedia Story Lab at the University of Chicago, and most recently was a senior writer for Pathfinder International. She is now an independent consultant, supporting changemakers to document and share effective messages and compelling stories about their work and the issues that matter to them. Liz received a BA in Secondary Education and English from DePaul University and an MSPH from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Find her creative nonfiction writing at: https://lithophytestories.substack.com/
David Knight (he/him), Associate Producer
David J. Knight is Assistant Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Yale University, where he is part of the Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School.
A political sociologist of the carceral state, he investigates how communities experience mass incarceration and mobilize in response to it. His research has appeared in the American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Annual Review of Criminology, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences among other views. David currently directs the Movements Against Mass Incarceration Lab based at the Incite Institute. The Movements Lab uses archival and survey methods to explore the politically contested nature of the prison state.
