Every week, behind a half dozen security doors that lead to Unit 2—Tennessee’s death row—Kevin Burns holds a worship service. He leads Communion, prayer, liturgy, and a sermon with men who share his sentence.
Burns, 55, has been on death row at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville for 30 years, convicted of felony murder in two young men’s deaths in 1992. A group that included Burns robbed another group and shot Damond Dawson, 17, and Tracey Johnson, 20. This particular murder charge, felony murder, applies to those present during an inherently dangerous crime even if they did not kill. Burns maintains his innocence in their killing.
For years, Burns has led Bible studies and prayed with other men on death row, going on to become an ordained minister in 2018 and start The Church of Life within prison walls.
The Church of Life might be the only congregation planted on death row by a prisoner serving a death sentence.https://t.co/9RSgYKZMtE
— kate shellnutt (@kateshellnutt) February 10, 2025
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