KCADP names Executive Director

KCADP Names Executive Director

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, 2/13/23- The Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty is happy to announce Russell Allen as its Executive Director. Russell is being elevated from his position as the Director of Communications and Digital Campaigns to lead the organization. Russell has been with the organization since 2021 working on both KCADP’s grassroots and digital organizing efforts. 

Russell came to the organization with ten years of varied work experience in low-wage labor, corporate management, and grassroots and union organizing. Prior to coming to the organization, Russell was a union organizer with SEIU NCFO 32BJ and a co-founder of the grassroots campaign, Take Back Cheapside. Russell is a native Kentuckian hailing from Paris, KY and currently residing in Lexington, KY.

“I came to death penalty abolition work because of what I thought was a common sense notion: our government should not murder its citizens. What I’ve learned is how deeply wedded our society is to ideas of punishment. We can choose a different way to exist that is centered in compassion, healing and rehabilitation.I hope to help our Commonwealth take a step toward that future”

-Russell Allen

Russell will spearhead the strategic vision for the organization using his experience with management and social movements to grow the organization and achieve the goal of death penalty abolition in the Commonwealth. KCADP’s Board chair Aaron Bentley is excited for the new chapter for the organization:

“Russell brings a bold, compelling vision without ego or personal agenda. His only interest is helping to create a better Kentucky that repairs harm to our people and our communities in ways mere punishment cannot. The Board and I are proud to have Russell leading KCADP as we continue to build momentum toward abolishing the death penalty in our Commonwealth.

-Aaron Bentley, Board Chair

About Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

The Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty was founded in 1988 by Father Patrick Delahanty and his co-founder. Over the better part of three decades the organization has advocated for the abolition of the death penalty. KCADP had also been instrumental in the advocacy push responsible for The Racial Justice Act in the 1990’s as well as the passage of HB 269, a bill that added four new mental health diagnoses to the list of mental illnesses that bar Kentuckians from receiving the death penalty.