Rev. Jeff Hood visits Middlebury Chapel during a trip to Addison County last week. Hood was in town for a screening of “The Spiritual Advisor,” a 23-minute documentary produced by Middlebury College professor James Chase Sanchez that follows Hood and his role as a spiritual advisor in the days leading up to the 2024 execution of Emmanuel Littlejohn in Oklahoma. Photo courtesy of Jeff Hood This story by Marin Howell was first published in the Addison Independent on Nov. 5, 2026. MIDDLEBURY — The Rev. Jeff Hood didn’t go to seminary expecting to end up on death row, but that’s exactly where he’s spent the past several years — building relationships with people sentenced to die and advocating for their lives. More than a dozen times, he’s stood with incarcerated individuals in the execution chamber. His role in such cases is captured in “The Spiritual Advisor,” a 23-minute documentary produced by Middlebury College professor James Chase Sanchez (A Pound of Snow Productions) that follows Hood in the days leading up to the 2024 execution of Emmanuel Littlejohn in Oklahoma. A Middlebury College screening of the film brought Hood to Addison County last week, where he spoke with community members about capital punishment and his work as a spiritual adviser. “My ministry and my vocation is very centered on this idea that we are closest to God when we are closest to love because God is love,” Hood told the Independent. “I feel like my ministry has always been centered on going to places where love seems the most absent, and I think that’s what has drawn me to work on death row, is that these spaces are amongst the most marginalized and forgotten places in our country.” Hood, 42, is an Old Catholic priest and an anti-death penalty activist based in Little Rock, Ark. A 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for him and other spiritual advisers to touch and pray aloud over prisoners inside the execution chamber. Since then, Hood has been present for 14 executions in five states. “You get out of the chamber and you look in the newspaper or you look around, 98-99% of the people in that state have no idea that this took place the night before,” he said. “I feel like part of my job is to say, ‘It did happen, I was there, and it matters.’” He described another aspect of his job as being present, talking with those he works with over the phone and making visits. “When one of them gets an execution date, I spend the last two weeks of their lives pretty much with them every day,” Hood said. “Everybody thinks, ‘Oh, it’s just about reading scripture,’ and it’s like, the scriptures don’t mean s*** if you’re not present for somebody. Who cares what you think about God if you’re not going to be present for them?” While Hood acknowledges there are innocent individuals on death row, he’s under no illusion that’s always the case. He’s sat with people convicted of gruesome crimes, and there are other aspects of this work that keep him up at night. “I woke up last night, and I had this image of one of my guys who was executed a few weeks ago, Jamaal Howard, I was there in the chamber with him in Texas. I had this nightmare of him looking at me and saying, ‘Jeff, why didn’t you help me?’” Hood recalled. “I don’t know how to live past those nightmares. I have them all the time.” Rev. Jeff Hood, left, has spent recent years as a spiritual advisor to people on death row, building relationships with them and advocating for their lives as they near their execution date. He is pictured here with Jamaal Howard, who was executed in Texas on Oct. 7. Photo courtesy of Jeff Hood What keeps him going in this work despite that? “I think about my family, obviously, a lot,” he said. “I feel like I’m creating a world that will be more gentle for them.” He noted two of his sons are autistic. “I know that they do not function in a way that is acceptable, often, in terms of where we live and wider society,” he said. “I have this sneaking suspicion that if we can learn how to treat those that we think are the most horrible amongst us then we will be kinder and gentler to everyone.” “I want my kids to know that I never was afraid to stand on the side of love,” Hood continued. “That I never was afraid to stand on the side of the forgotten, the pushed out, the marginalized.” His role has also taught him about life and humanity. “When we go to places in which cruelty is at its maximum, we find the places where kindness and compassion can be at its maximum,” he said. “If we can find humanity in monstrosity then we have a cure for monstrosity and that is being human to those we have determined are not human.”  Hood founded the Execution Intervention Project, a nonprofit that opposes the death penalty and supports those condemned to die and their loved ones. He emphatically speaks out against the use of capital punishment and has petitioned state officials to stay the executions of those he’s worked with. Last month, Hood’s efforts helped Eric Reid — incarcerated in Arkansas and convicted of capital murder for the deaths of his wife and daughter — reach a deal that replaced his death sentence with life in prison. “I tell people all the time that you can’t teach people not to kill each other by killing each other,” he said. “Every time we perform an execution, we’re telling people it’s OK to kill each other if the offense is great enough.” Recent surveys show many Americans agree with that sentiment. A report released by the Pew Research Center in August found two-thirds (66%) of Americans favor the death penalty for individuals convicted of murder and that overall support of capital punishment was up six percentage points from five years ago. “Majorities favor the death penalty and say it is morally justified, yet many do not think it deters serious crimes,” the report reads. Sanchez acknowledges not everyone will agree with Hood but has found many moved by his work and related issues since the film’s premiere last year. “At the opening screening in New York, an elderly woman stopped the director and I in the hall after the screening to announce that we had changed her mind about the death penalty,” he said. “Of course, the goal of the film is not advocacy per se, but to create an art piece that might shape or reshape ideologies and views of our world is meaningful to us. I have met many people who have changed their views of the death penalty or who never cared about it and now deeply care about it because of the film. That’s what documentaries should do.” Sanchez said around 100 people attended last week’s screening in Dana Auditorium, which was followed by a QA featuring Hood and director Joel Fendelman. “Many students had questions about the filmmaking, but there were many questions by students, faculty, and the general public about Jeff’s work. The screening and his talk afterward opened people’s eyes to the realities of this world, and people were thoroughly engaged in untangling it,” Sanchez said. “For instance, I remember someone asking how hard it is to go back and forth between executions and being a family man and the toll it takes on Jeff, and the thoughtfulness of that question shows a depth of engagement.” The film is available to watch for free on Rolling Stone’s website and YouTube page, as well as on the Documentary+ streaming service. “We are working on a feature film based on the short, as we follow Jeff for five executions, including the first nitrogen hypoxia execution in 2024. The feature focuses on the ping pong effect of Jeff’s life, focusing on him as a father and husband in parallel with his spiritual advising,” Sanchez said, noting anyone interested in learning more or supporting the effort can reach out to him directly at [email protected]. In addition to last week’s screening, Hood spoke with multiple classes during his time in Middlebury. “I hope (the screening) and the conversations I’ve had in classes are helping people to get a certain depth of understanding of the cruelness of the death penalty, so that they might be advocates for life,” Hood said. “It seems that I didn’t really learn how to live until I started watching all of these people be murdered, and it seems that me sharing these stories help people to understand what this looks like, so that they might be able to get a deeper appreciation of what their life can look like and how they can bring meaning to their life.” Through such conversations, Hood has found that many are unaware the death penalty is still being used in the U.S. His presence — dressed in a long, clerical robe known as a cassock — has sparked discussion on other topics, as well. “There’s also been a number of people who are like, ‘People are still religious?’” Hood said with a laugh. “I start talking about God, and I might as well be talking about extraterrestrials.” It’s been an opportunity, Hood noted, to share with others how faith fuels his work. “I do think that’s been a cool part of this because it’s been able to share, ‘Hey there are people of faith who do really amazing things because they are motivated by their faith,’” he said. “And they’re not always the people who are telling you they’re going to hell, they’re also the people who are trying to solve the hells that they find here on earth.” “I feel like that says a lot about what I do,” Hood continued. “I go to hell to try to put some fires out for all of us.” Read the story on VTDigger here: Spiritual adviser to death row inmates visits Middlebury. ...read more read less