“I comfort those condemned to death in their last moments: the execution room is like a house of horrors”

Rev. Jeff Hood, 40, wants to help condemned inmates “feel human again” and vows to continue his efforts to befriend murderers despite death threats against his family.

The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood, right, was the spiritual advisor to David Hosier, left, who was executed on June 11.(The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service file via Getty Images)

A reverend who made it his mission to comfort death row inmates in their final days has revealed the “moral torture” his business entails.

Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood, 40, lives with his wife and five children in Little Rock, Arkansas. But far from his normal home life, he may suddenly find himself holding the shoulder of a murderer in an execution chamber, moments from the end of his life.

Since a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that spiritual advisors are allowed in the chamber if those on death row wish them, Hood has been traveling to befriend the condemned. “My job is to come into their lives when they have six to three months to live and become their best friend,” he explained shortly after David Hosier’s execution.

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David Hosier, 69, was executed in Missouri (FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER OF MISSOURI)

Hosier was convicted of murdering his former lover in 2009 and died June 11 by lethal injection. “I become their best friend to be their best friend when they die,” the Catholic priest added in an interview with USA Today.

Hood then described the surreal moment he walked into the Missouri execution chamber as Hosier lay there strapped to the gurney. After looking at the window inside the small room, he saw himself looking at his own face.