We speak with journalist Keri Blakinger about a new documentary, I Am Ready, Warden, based partly on her reporting about death row prisoner John Henry Ramirez, who was sentenced to die for the 2004 murder of a convenience store clerk named Pablo Castro in Texas. While on death row, Ramirez became a devout Christian and sued for the right to have his pastor lay hands on him when he was ultimately executed in 2022. I Am Ready, Warden examines the forces of redemption and vengeance by following Ramirez, as well as the son of his victim, Aaron Castro, and Ramirez’s own son and his supporters. The film was directed by Smriti Mundhra and is newly available on the Paramount+ streaming service. The film “really makes the viewer think about the circles of loss and trauma that come with every death row case and every execution,” says Blakinger, who reported on the case for The Marshall Project. She is now an investigative journalist at the L.A. Times.
