Christa Pike

What have you done over the last three decades?

In just one sentence, could you summarise where you’ve been, who you’ve met, and what you’ve done during all that time? Most lives are so full that this is actually quite a hard task!

But what about for 50 year old American Christa Pike? For her it’s really short and simple. She’s been in a tiny box room in Tennessee, mostly alone, awaiting execution.

Finally though, barring a last minute reprieve, her wait ends on 30th September 2026.

Horrific crimes

Just over 30 years ago, then 18 year old Christa and her very slightly younger boyfriend murdered classmate Colleen Slemmer. In a jealousy-fuelled assault that escalated out of control, Colleen suffered a particularly cruel death.

The assailants were quickly caught and tried. Being on the junior side of 18 at the time of their crime, the boyfriend was barred from receiving a capital sentence.

Christa herself admitted killing Colleen. Yet her own youth and victimhood - having been neglected and serially abused, and the effect this may have had on her thinking and actions - were not considered during her trial and sentencing. Since being convicted, she has been diagnosed with bipolar mood disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Young adults like her and their ill-considered actions do not just appear out of a vacuum. Furthermore, she was not afforded attorneys with experience of defending capital cases.

Prolonged solitude

American death row conditions are those of solitary confinement. The United Nations’ definition of prolonged solitary confinement makes for interesting reading:

For the purpose of these rules, solitary confinement shall refer to the confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact. Prolonged solitary confinement shall refer to solitary confinement for a time period in excess of 15 consecutive days.
(Nelson Mandela Rules)

Christa has been living her life in solitary confinement for almost three decades, well over 700 times this 15 day limit! This is the vast majority of her adult life. And all the while, the threat of execution has been looming ever nearer. UN experts have condemned this sorry state of affairs:

Pike’s execution would mark the culmination of a trajectory of severe physical and psychological suffering marked by childhood abuse and nearly three decades of solitary confinement on death row…

The extraordinary duration of Pike’s isolation on death row, her detention conditions, compounded by her vulnerable situation and prolonged awareness of her impending execution, amounts to torture.

The absence of appropriate facilities for women cannot justify discriminatory treatment of women or harsher conditions for them than for men in a similar situation.

Do unto others

Capital punishment is a divisive subject. It’s my personal opinion that the death penalty is never right:

• it doesn’t bring victims back from the dead;

• it doesn’t cause them to rest easier in their graves, though it does seem to provide closure for some (but by no means all) relatives;

• in most countries, prolonged death row conditions amount to torture;

• execution processes are becoming ever more complex and medicalised, yet are still open to the charge of being cruel and inhumane;

• in the event of a miscarriage of justice, no amount of reparations can resurrect an executed prisoner;

• and there is now significant evidence that the existence of capital punishment fails to act as an effective deterrent to other would-be murderers.

But that’s by the by.

Regardless of how you and I may feel about the principle of capital punishment, surely it isn’t right to kill Christa, a middle-aged woman who committed her crime as a very young adult after surviving a childhood of neglect, violence and sexual abuse, all of which we now know can and do affect one’s thinking and actions for the rest of one’s life. This aspect of her case has strong links to that of Lisa Montgomery.

Christa was sentenced and is held within the state of Tennessee, which is in the heart of the American Bible Belt. So it’s right and proper to ask what Jesus, the ultimate biblical authority, had to say about judgment and retribution:

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
(Matthew 22:36-40)

Love our neighbours as ourselves. Sometimes this is phrased as ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. So how would we want to be treated, if we were in Christa’s shoes - growing up a generation ago, 30 years ago during her trial, during her excruciatingly long residence on death row, and most vitally today?

Yes, it’s time to ramp up the campaign against the capital punishment of detainees convicted of serious crimes whilst highly vulnerable themselves.

Dr Rachael Pickering is our Chief Medical Officer.
Her views do not necessarily represent those of Integritas Healthcare.
29th September 2026

The Lord looked down from his sanctuary…
to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.
Psalm 102:18-20