Death Row Literature

Each poem in Death Row Literature was written by Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, a Malaysian on death row in Changi Prison for more than a decade.

Pannir wrote while sitting on the cold floor, with no table or chair, — using a pile of old court documents as his desk and only a few sheets of paper and he had no pen to hold, only the bare ink refill, gripped in hand, to shape his words. These poems are born from unimaginable pain — the kind that comes from living each day with the shadow of death just steps away. They are raw, honest, and deeply human.

This collection is not just poetry — it is a voice from behind bars, a cry from a condemned cell, and a testament to the strength of the human spirit.