From time to time we publish letters from death row inmates. Today, Texas death row inmate Travis Runnels writes to us with a remembrance of his friend and fellow inmate, Ray Jasper, who was executed by the state of Texas.

In a month that has seen the exoneration of both the world's and our nation's longest-serving death row inmates, it is worth asking: where the hell does all the support for the death penalty come from? The answer may not surprise you.

After 48 years on Japan's death row, Iwao Hakamada has been freed. A court "concluded investigators had likely fabricated evidence" in his trial. This month, both America's and the world's longest-serving death row inmates have been exonerated.

Texas death row inmate Ray Jasper was executed by lethal injection last night. He wrote to us twice as part of our "Letters from Death Row" series. You can read his letters to us here, and a letter from the brother of his victim here. He is the fourth one of our death row correspondents to be executed.

Two weeks ago, Texas death row inmate Ray Jasper wrote us a letter. Tomorrow, barring any last minute miracles, Ray Jasper will die.

Yesterday, we shared a letter from Texas death row inmate Ray Jasper, who is scheduled to be executed this month. Jasper was convicted of participating in the 1998 murder of a man named David Alejandro. Today, David Alejandro's brother Steven shares his own perspective on Ray Jasper, the trial, and the death penalty.

Texas death row inmate Ray Jasper is scheduled to be put to death on March 19. He has written us a letter that, he acknowledges, "could be my final statement on earth." It is well worth your time.

Last month (as we did last year), we sent letters to all of the U.S. death row inmates who have execution dates in the upcoming year. Today, we have our first reply: Ray Jasper, who is scheduled to be put to death in Texas in March.

A Texas man who killed his children's 16-year-old babysitter to prevent her from testifying that he had raped her was sentenced to death today. Texas, one of at 32 states facing a shortage of death penalty drugs, was recently sued for its Department of Criminal Justice's drug acquisition tactics.

In 1993, Ronald Phillips raped and killed his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter. On Thursday, he was scheduled to be executed, until Ohio governor John Kasich delayed his execution so he could come to a decision whether Philips' request for his organs to be donated should be fulfilled.

An Ohio man on death row was found hanged in his cell on Sunday, just three days before his scheduled execution.

Texas death row inmate Douglas Feldman was executed by lethal injection last night. Last February, Feldman wrote to us as part of our "Letters from Death Row" series; you can read his letter to us here. He is the second one of our death row correspondents to be executed.

In 2008, Montez Spradley was convicted in Alabama of killing a 58-year-old woman during a robbery. He was sentenced to death. In 2011, his conviction was reversed due to serious errors in the case. In this letter, he describes life on death row.

The FBI has been reviewing thousands of criminal convictions in order to determine whether they may have been secured using faulty science. Now, 27 death penalty convictions are reportedly being questioned.

In 1997, Duane Buck was convicted of shooting and killing two people, including his former girlfriend, in Houston, Texas. A jury sentenced him to death. Among the factors that influenced their decision: testimony from a psychologist who said that black people like Buck are more violent and dangerous than other people.

The State of Mississippi has denied an inmate on death row the opportunity to be exonerated through DNA testing, a procedure that is almost always followed nowadays for prisoners facing capital punishment.

A shocking profile of mentally ill Texas death row inmates like Andre Thomas, who gouged his own eyes out.

As part of an ongoing project, we've written letters to U.S. death row inmates who are scheduled for execution this year. We asked them about their lives and about their thoughts on various issues. Today, we received a reply from Britt Ripkowski, who is awaiting execution in Texas for multiple murders.

As part of an ongoing project, we've written letters to American death row prisoners scheduled for execution this year. We asked them about their lives in prison, their daily routines, and their thoughts on the American justice system. Today, a response from Douglas Feldman, a death row prisoner in Texas.

Earlier this year, we published several letters from American death row inmates who were scheduled for execution in 2012. Two of those letters were from Brett Hartmann, Ohio inmate 357-869. Yesterday, he was executed by lethal injection.