Love without the possibility of parole

By Jessica Severin de Martinez,

Published March 29, 2023 at 10:32 PM EDT

1 of 2 — Sigrid and Alan Wade met via a prison pen pal program in 2014. Alan was on death row, and then had his sentence commuted to life without the possibility of parole. They have been married for seven years and have a three year-old son.

Sigrid and Alan Wade met via a prison pen pal program in 2014. Alan was on death row, and then had his sentence commuted to life without the possibility of parole. They have been married for seven years and have a three year-old son.

2 of 2 — Megan Comfort: Senior research sociologist in Research Triangle Institute’s Transformative Research Unit for Equity. She is also affiliated faculty in the Division of Prevention Science at the University of California, San Francisco, and she works with the non-profit, UnCommon Law.

Megan Comfort: Senior research sociologist in Research Triangle Institute’s Transformative Research Unit for Equity. She is also affiliated faculty in the Division of Prevention Science at the University of California, San Francisco, and she works with the non-profit, UnCommon Law.

D’Arthenay Studios

In 2000, Sigrid Wade began writing to people on death row to express her solidarity against that kind of punishment; she never thought she’d end up marrying one of them and having a child. But that’s exactly what happened between her and Alan Wade.

Meet a sociologist who studies relationships like theirs, and hear directly from Sigrid and Alan about love, family, worthiness, and trust.

GUESTS:

Megan Comfort: Senior research sociologist in Research Triangle Institute’s Transformative Research Unit for Equity. She is also affiliated faculty in the Division of Prevention Science at the University of California, San Francisco, and she works with the non-profit, UnCommon Law
Sigrid Wade: Originally from France, now living in Florida, she met Alan Wade in 2014 via a pen pal program when he was on death row. They have been married for seven years, and they have a three year-old son. She's the co-founder of Wire of Hope's Prison Pen Pal Program
Alan Wade: Currently serving life without the possibility of parole in a Florida prison

Jessica Severin de Martinez, Khaleel Rahman, Meg Fitzgerald, Meg Dalton, and Catie Talarski contributed to this show, with help from our interns, Elizabeth Van Arnam and Melody Rivera.

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