A Franklin company that was at the center of public outcry for a controversial contract with the State of Alabama has now terminated its business on this issue with the state.
The outrage came from FDRsafety's potentially assisting with Alabama's process of creating a gas chamber to execute prisoners.
Franklin Community Church Senior Pastor Kevin Riggs, along with 26 other faith and community leaders from across Tennessee, signed an open letter demanding “in the name of Jesus Christ” that the company end their contract with the State of Alabama.
On Monday morning, Riggs was joined by a group of eight concerned community members, including fellow faith leaders, at FDR’s Franklin office where they hand-delivered the letter along with a stack of printed emails and a copy of Riggs’ op-ed on the controversy that was published in the Tennessean last week.
“Together, you are working to develop a new protocol, with an old history, to kill people: the gas chamber,” the letter reads in part. “It draws on our darkest moments of human experimentation and genocide practices by totalitarian and violent regimes of the past and present: Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany and Communist China.”
Riggs and his fellow community members entered the small Cool Springs office just after 10 a.m. where they met an office employee who couldn’t speak on record about the issue, but did accept more than 3,000 printed pages that she said would be given to FDRsafety Founder and CEO Fred Rine, to whom the public letter is addressed.
Franklin Community Church Senior Pastor Kevin Riggs is joined by other community members as he speaks to an employee (not pictured) of Franklin-based FDRsafety in an attempt to get the Tennessee company to cut ties with the Alabama Department of Corrections who are working to begin performing executions with the use of a gas chamber.
“You may think this contract is just business, but we ask you to consider what you stand for and want your legacy to be,” the letter concludes. ”If FDR Safety continues to support the development of this new nitrogen gas execution protocol, it will be remembered in history for gassing people alive—some who are innocent, others mentally ill and others striving for redemption. We urge you to terminate your contract for the sake of humanity.”
That letter can be read in full below.
Riggs said that he first became aware of FDR’s involvement a couple of months ago and has since worked to urge FDR to end the contract with the state, but according to Riggs, as of Monday morning, FDRsafety had not responded to him or others who had reached out to the company.
The campaign to bring awareness to the issue actually began in July 2021 when 70 organizations, investors, and business associations, led by the non-profit Worth Rises, sent a joint letter to FDR Safety demanding their withdrawal from the Alabama contract.
By 3:30 p.m. on Monday, FDRsafety announced in a prepared statement to the Home Page that the company has terminated its contract with the State of Alabama, something that it notified the state about on Monday.
FDRsafety disputed the claims that they were aiding in the death of anyone, arguing that they were simply ensuring a safe work environment for employees who work on death row, as required by federal law, just as would be required for any occupation.
That statement can be read in full below.
“Throughout our history, FDRsafety has focused exclusively on protecting the safety and health of the employees at the businesses we serve. We have never been involved in designing or implementing protocols used to administer any form of capital punishment. Our work focused specifically on protecting employees and assuring they have a safe workplace, as required by the Occupation Safety and Health Act of 1970.
"We have terminated our contract with the state of Alabama. FDRsafety will not perform work on this project going forward.”
But for activists focused on ending capital punishment both in Tennessee and abroad, it’s clear that they oppose any individual, business or government’s involvement in any part of the system that aids in the death penalty.
“No one should be commended for deciding not to commit murder, especially for profit, but we're still very glad to see FDR Safety stepping away from the development of a nitrogen hypoxia execution protocol and its relationship with the Alabama DOC,” Worth Rises Executive Director Bianca Tylek said in a news release. “Whether it’s building private prisons amid a pandemic or creating new ways to kill people on death row, Alabama seems determined to be on the wrong side of history. But we'll be there to stop them every time like we did today. We’re proud to stand with Pastor Kevin Riggs, the broader Tennessean faith community, the thousands of petitioners who called on FDR Safety to withdraw, and most importantly, the dozens of people on death row in Alabama fighting for their lives.”
The details of FDRsafety’s actual work within that relatively small $25,000 contract is unknown as it is not public information.
Franklin Community Church Senior Pastor Kevin Riggs.
Riggs said in a phone call on Monday afternoon that if the direct action efforts resulted in the end of FDR’s relationship with the State of Alabama, then he would consider that a victory, but that it’s also unclear exactly when and why the Franklin company decided to end their contract with the state.
Riggs said that as executions in Tennessee and other states continue, his work, along with other faith and community leaders, to see an end to capital punishment will continue.
“The ultimate goal is to not have the death penalty anymore,” Riggs said.
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