Death Row Chaplain

BYRON E. ESHELMAN had served as Chaplain to the inmates of San Quentin’s death row (and the rest of the prison as well) for over ten years when he wrote this book. Originally published in 1950 Death Row Chaplain is a riveting, revealing, and compassionate look at the penal system at that time and the men (and women) who awaited their fate in the gas chamber of San Quentin. Byron E. Eshelman was the son of a minister, but his early ambition was to practice law. Lack of funds for law school resulted in his accepting a scholarship to a seminary “temporarily.” While there, he came to realize the many dimensions of theology and saw how psychology and the other sciences enriched it for daily pastoral work. Several brief touches with prison work during his training convinced him that here was rich field for his ministerial efforts and he had remained with it for many years.