A MEMBER of Menston Parish Church is to recount his experiences of exchanging letters with inmates on Death Row in America.

Edmund Conybeare is a member of Lifelines, an organisation whose aim is to facilitate letter writing and build friendships with prisoners sentenced to death.

He will speak about Lifelines, Death Row and capital punishment in America at an evening talk at Menston Parish Church in February.

Mr Conybeare, a Leeds solicitor, first heard about Lifelines when he was studying law at Birmingham University in 1992. Shortly after, he went to work on capital punishment cases in America.

He said: "I learned a lot about capital punishment in the States. I visited the state penitentiary in Kentucky and met Death Row inmates."

It was around that time that he started writing to Jimmy Bryant, a prisoner in Pennsylvania who had been on a waiting list for a pen friend.

Mr Conybeare said: "There are highs and lows of writing to someone on Death Row. It can be a traumatic experience to have a friend whose life will be terminated, but I think it can be immensely rewarding because you are gaining an insight into a hidden world.

"It's an inspiring and enriching experience. It opens your eyes to people who have been written off by society."

He said the letters help build a strong friendship for the inmates who often lead a lonely life on Death Row.

"Having a friend to write to can be a very special thing for them, many of whom haven't experienced love for their entire lives."

Mr Conybeare said Bryant struck a plea bargain in 1994 and had come off Death Row. Another inmate from Alabama to whom he has written remains under sentence of death.

He said the Death Row process was long and could take more than 20 years in some cases.

"These are individuals with a story to tell," said Mr Conybeare. "Some have been redeemed, others haven't, some are innocent and some are mentally ill. It's a varied and challenging area of humanity."

Currently, the issue of capital punishment is very topical in the wake of the 1,000th execution in the United States since it was reinstated in 1976. Kenneth Boyd was put to death by lethal injection on December 2 in North Carolina for murdering his estranged wife and her father in 1988.

And another controversial case followed when the co-founder of the Crips gang, Stanley 'Tookie' Williams, was put to death by lethal injection on December 13 for the 1979 robbery murders of four people in Los Angeles.

Williams, who was denied clemency by California Governor Arnold Schwarzen-egger, crusaded against gangs while behind bars and authored several children's books earning him a Nobel Prize nominations.

Mr Conybeare added: "What is often said is 'people aren't as bad as the worst thing they've done in their lives'."

l His talk will take place in the Parish Room on Friday, February 17 at 7.30pm, with doors opening at 7pm. Tickets, which will include a supper, cost £7 and are available from the church.