Is there more to a man than the worst thing he has ever done?
In his raw and unflinching memoir, Waiting to Die: One Man’s Journey on Death Row, Feltus Taylor, Jr., a young man from Louisiana, recounts the circumstances shaped by early trauma, instability, and devastating choices that led him to violence and ultimately to Louisiana State Penitentiary’s death row. Abandoned as an infant by a drug-addicted mother in and out of prison, Taylor’s first three years of his life remain mostly unknown, but what is known reveal clear signs of neglect and abuse. He was bow-legged, had a severe developmental disability, and a speech impediment. He lived with major depression, experienced dissociative seizures, and struggled to make sense of a world that often failed to make sense of him.
Waiting to Die is not only the story of a convicted murderer; it is a rare and intimate portrait of a life, whom most would dismiss, seen in its entirety. Taylor embarks on a journey of self-discovery and personal growth through writing and spiritual healing. His words, written up to the morning of his death in 2000, reveal the quiet humanity that survives inside confinement and invite readers to sit with the life behind the sentence, challenging us to mourn the man he became just as he mourned the lives he forever harmed, even when redemption comes too late.
By:
Feltus Taylor Jr.
Volume editor:
Monique Morrison
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 230mm,
Width: 160mm,
Spine: 22mm
Weight: 540g
ISBN: 9798765157299
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 16 April 2026
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Acknowledgments by Monique Morrison Foreword by Sister Helen Prejean, Feltus Taylor Jr.’s first spiritual advisor while on Death Row Note on the Text by Monique Morrison Introduction by Monique Morrison Prologue Part I: On the Outside: 19 Years Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Part II: On the Inside: 10 years, 3 months, 10 days Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Part III: On the Outside: 9 months Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Part IV: On the Inside: 9 years, 2 months, 10 days Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Afterword by Dr. Cecil Guin, Feltus Taylor Jr.’s social worker About the Author Index
Feltus Taylor, Jr. was a young man from Baton Rouge who spent nearly a decade on Louisiana State Penitentiary death row for his involvement in a violent crime in 1991, before he was executed by lethal injection in 2000. Monique Morrison is a Louisiana native with over 20 years of experience in the film and television industry, and more than half a decade in publishing. She has served as the steward of Taylor’s memoir since 2002. Monique now splits her time between Bend, Oregon and Los Angeles, where she resides with her beloved family.
Reviews for Waiting to Die: One Man’s Journey on Death Row
Waiting To Die is a profoundly important work that bridges personal narrative with critical inquiry into the social, psychological, and ethical dimensions of capital punishment. This book offers a compelling contribution to academic and public discourse, inviting scholars, students, and practitioners alike to engage thoughtfully with issues of justice, human dignity, and systemic reform. -- Roland Mitchell, Dean of LSU College of Human Sciences & Education
