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Irish Independent
08-06-2025
- Irish Independent
Obituary: Sunny Jacobs, US campaigner who fought against the death penalty after her own experience of spending five years on death row
An advocate for those given wrongful convictions, she ran a foundation and sanctuary from her home in Casla with her late husband, Peter Pringle. She was born in Queens and grew up in a Jewish family in Elmont, New York. She went to college at 16, but dropped out when she became pregnant. Her son Eric Stuart was born just before her 19th birthday and she married his father, Kenny, but the relationship did not last. As she wrote in her autobiography, Stolen Time, she met Jesse Tafero in 1973 when she was 24 and a 'flower child' living in Miami with her son. She wrote that she didn't know initially about Tafero's criminal past – he was given parole for a conviction of assault with intent to commit rape and robbery. The events that followed have been investigated by Ellen McGarrahan, author of Two Truths and a Lie (2021), who was sent as a reporter to Tafero's execution. McGarrahan has written about the couple's involvement in drugs and their association with an organised crime work known as the 'Dixie mafia'. Their daughter, Christina, was 10 months old and her son, Eric, was nine when she and Tafero took a 160km lift from Walter Rhodes, to Florida. They had pulled over for a rest stop when two police officers approached, saw a gun and asked Rhodes, who was on parole, to step out. The two officers were shot dead, and she wrote that Rhodes forced the couple and their children into the patrol car and sped off before being caught. McGarrahan's investigation quotes eye witnesses who said shots came from the back of the car. All three adults were arrested and Rhodes subsequently testified against Tafero and Jacobs, who were sentenced to death. Rhodes later confessed to the murders, but then recanted several times. Eric was held in a juvenile detention centre in Florida for two months, while Christina was taken into foster care for two weeks before Jacobs's parents secured custody of both. Jacobs was placed in solitary confinement as there was no 'death row' for women. She wrote about living in a 'world of one', where she could measure just six steps between the toilet and the steel door and she had no natural light. In 1981, her sentence was converted from death to life imprisonment by the Florida Supreme Court. However, in July 1982 her parents, who had been raising her children, were among 153 people killed in the Pan Am flight 759 crash in Kenner, Louisiana. Christina was placed in foster care while Eric left school and began working. He had already developed a stutter from the trauma of his two months' detention after the shooting in 1976. Jacobs maintained a relationship with Tafero through correspondence, and learnt that men on death row had greater privileges. She filed a lawsuit that gave her access to two books a week and four hours a week out of her cell under supervision. She said she set herself a goal of becoming the best person she could possibly be, doing 'yoga, prayer, push-ups and sit-ups, and with mathematical tasks'. Jacobs was allowed a 10-minute phone conversation with Tafero in May 1990 before his botched execution by electric chair. It took him 13 minutes to die in horrifying circumstances. Two years later, an appeals court overturned Jacobs's 1976 murder conviction and ordered a new trial, but she was released from prison under a deal known as the Alford plea. In her book, she wrote that this was a 'plea of convenience', which would 'allow them to read an adjudication of guilt of a lesser degree into the record to prevent me from being able to sue for false imprisonment or whatever later'. She was 45 and tired and just wanted to be with her children and her first grandchild, she wrote. The Irish Independent has seen court transcripts indicating Jacobs understood she was pleading guilty to the second degree murders of the officers and the kidnapping of an elderly man. Jacobs moved to Los Angeles and began a global campaign against the death penalty. She suffered injuries when she was hit by a car that left her with chronic mobility issues. She met Pringle at an Amnesty International event in Ireland in 1998. Pringle, who served time in prison in the early 1960s for being a member of the IRA, had been sentenced to death for the murder of gardaí John Morley and Henry Byrne during a bank robbery in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, in July 1980. His death sentence, along with that of two other men, was commuted to 40 years in jail. He was released after 15 years when the Court of Appeal ruled the original verdict was unsafe and unsound and ordered a retrial that never happened. Pringle and Jacobs formed a relationship, and she moved to Connemara to live with him and their dogs, cats, hens, ducks and goats. They created the Sunny Center Foundation, welcoming people who had been wrongfully imprisoned and helping them to return to society. 'The greatest tool is forgiveness,' she told The New York Times in 2019. 'If you hold on to that anger and resentment, then there's no room for happiness and love in your heart, and you start destroying your own life.' Their marriage in New York in November 2011 made the 'weddings' section of The New York Times, with Brooke Shields, Marlo Thomas and Amy Irving among those present. All three actors had by then played Jacobs during various productions of The Exonerated, written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, about six people wrongfully imprisoned. After Pringle died on New Year's Eve 2022, the debate over his innocence reopened, with an article by investigative journalist Michael Clifford in The Examiner. Retired garda detective Tom Connolly also produced recordings to support his firm belief that Pringle was the third man in the Co Roscommon robbery. Speaking to Joe Duffy on RTÉ Radio 1's Liveline, Jacobs said that details of wrongful conviction cases 'can never be resolved… and that's how it is in most cases'. She continued her own advocacy work up until very recently, in spite of her health challenges. Dr Edward Mathews, director of the Irish Innocence Project at Griffith College, described her as 'a lifelong campaigner for human rights and the abolition of the death penalty, speaking all over the world of how the death penalty invariably kills the innocent and debases the whole of humanity'. Close friend Ruairí McKiernan said: 'Sunny travelled the world, often in her wheelchair, tirelessly advocating against the death penalty, with recent speaking engagements in Paris and Strasbourg. She was driven not by anger, but by love.' Jacobs, who was predeceased by partner Tafero and husband Pringle, is survived by her daughter Christina, son Eric and grandchildren Claudia, Jesse and Bella.
Telegraph
29-04-2025
- Telegraph
People scoff at the idea of a ‘grief retreat' – for me, it was a lifeline
I was sitting on a bench hanging from a majestic saman tree in a verdant botanical garden in St Lucia. It was the final day of my Caribbean 'grief retreat', and I had purposely carved out this moment for myself, alone, in a peaceful place. The resort that surrounded me – adults-only StolenTime St Lucia – was, until recently, known as 'Rendezvous', a honeymoon resort near Castries, the capital, which had been drawing happy newlyweds since 1966. Now renamed, it has launched a series of themed month-long programmes geared not towards romance, but health, wellbeing and relaxation. Collaborating with Annalie Howling – a British life and performance coach who specialises in overcoming trauma – the resort looks to curate a 'grief retreat' for travellers seeking solace, whether after a bereavement, divorce, job loss or even the advent of an empty nest. It caters to a real need: according to the UK Commission on Bereavement, 39 per cent of bereaved people reported difficulties in getting support from friends or family. StolenTime's sister property, The Body Holiday, is a sporty resort in the north of the island geared towards active types. StolenTime is a gentler, calmer place, and in this way it is positioning itself to welcome not only newlyweds, but also a slice of The White Lotus-style wellness industry, worth $800 billion globally. Grief retreats, recently touted as one of 2025's top upcoming travel trends, are a growing subdivision of this lucrative market. According to a report by the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), a renowned Swiss hospitality business and hotel management school, wellness-oriented guests 'spend more money than other travellers, book longer stays and choose higher-tier accommodations.' High price-tags can mean wellbeing trends are treated with cynicism – as eye-wateringly expensive Maldivian 'wellbeing island' Joali Being was when it recently featured in Monica Galetti and Rob Rinder's Amazing Hotels: Life Behind The Lobby. But when the intention is one of benevolence, support and altruism, it's tough to find fault with the concept. At StolenTime, the world-weary can enjoy cocktails at the swim-up bar after a session of aqua aerobics, pickleball, catamaran sailing, a rainforest hike with views of the Piton mountains, or a dip in the mud baths next to St Lucia's bubbling volcanic sulphur springs. If that all sounds too demanding, even slower-paced activities include jewellery making, Pilates, and tai chi at the oceanfront beach studio, 'sip and paint' on the terrace, toes-in-the-sand casual dining, and serene massages in the secluded Water Garden spa. Guests can craft an itinerary to suit their needs, combining wellness activities at the resort with other island experiences – a Rhythm of Rum tour, chocolate making, or scuba diving excursions, for example – and there are sundowners and evening entertainment, too. During my visit, guests were treated to a performance from a talented St Lucian pianist, a tasting in the champagne bar, and a drum show alongside a torch-lit barbecue on the beach. Working through a bereavement of my own, I was able to appreciate the very real benefits of StolenTime's approach first-hand. After a walk along the two-mile stretch of beach that the resort overlooks, followed by a doze in a quiet cabana next to the hotel's lazy river, I was left with a much-needed sense of plenitude. Equally, snorkelling at the reef – the complexities of reality edged out by the distractions of a beautiful underwater world – provided a balm-like distraction. The activity co-ordinators at StolenTime were convivial and expert, striking a balance by engaging warmly with their guests without ever encroaching on the need for time alone. I especially relished spending time in the beautiful gardens, alive with hummingbirds, cannonball flowers, ginger lilies, coco-plum and red-hot cat's tails (Acalypha hispida – also known as 'dreadlocks'). I felt nourished by the abundance of St Lucian produce grown on the island's volcanic soil, and gorged on the fresh mauby, carambola (star fruit), mangoes and plantain. The grief programmes Howling has developed were initially inspired, she explained to me, by a story she'd heard when visiting previously. For many years, a woman had come to the resort every summer with her husband. On one visit, staff at the hotel noticed her husband seemed unwell. They were so surprised when they did not receive her regular booking the following year that they called to check on her, and discovered her husband had since died. It seemed logical, although she was now a single widow, to welcome her to return to the place where she had created so many special memories – and to make it known that others could do the same. Travel can, in itself, be a powerful tool for healing: being somewhere entirely different from the everyday can help to recalibrate when the everyday has been irrevocably altered. It's why well-meaning friends might suggest a holiday. 'Often, when people are grieving, they get to a point where they don't want to feel they are 'burdening' those around them,' Howling told me. And this is where resorts such as StolenTime are so invaluable – holding out a lifeline and inviting guests to rest, rejuvenate and disconnect. 'It's a brave step to travel after any kind of loss,' said Howling. 'Here, you feel supported by the amenities, the people around you and by the natural environment.' Of course, there is no quick fix – nothing can take grief away. And yet, the warm embrace of a sunny garden by the Caribbean sea can certainly help to make the world feel a little brighter. And when you are languishing in the darkness of deep grief, it's bright spots like these that are crucial in lighting the way back to a better place. Essentials British Airways flies direct from London to St Lucia from £570 return. A transfer will then take you the hour and a half's journey to StolenTime, which has rooms from $585/£440 (single occupancy) and $1,009/£758 (double occupancy) per night on an all-inclusive basis, including various fitness activities, food and beverages, personal instruction available for group sports, exercise classes, motorised and non-motorised water sports, and nightly entertainment. The George F L Charles Airport in Castries handles inter-island flights serviced by lighter aircraft and helicopters, and is a five-minute drive from StolenTime. Six more peaceful 'grief retreats' Mending Hearts Gilly Da Silva runs Mending Hearts divorce and grief retreats for men and women of all ages and circumstances, designed to rebuild confidence and rejuvenate spirits – especially for those who are navigating divorce, a difficult breakup, or coping with bereavement. Read The Telegraph's interview with her here. The next retreat is in Marrakech, May 9-15. Preidlhof, Italy At Preidlhof spa in Naturno in South Tyrol, holistic coaches Stefano Battaglia and Patrizia Bortolin blend physical therapies with meditation, water-healing massage and other embodiment practices to help guests make peace with the past and make space for a fresh start. Rooms from £560 a night. Resurface Surf Therapy In Morocco and the UK, psychologist Josh Dickson combines surfing with one-on-one therapy during evidence-based surf-therapy programmes combined with an emphasis on social connection. From May 9 to May 12, Dickson will be running a three-day Working with Grief retreat at Holwell Holistic Retreat in Barnstaple, Devon. From £1,090 per person, it combines trauma-sensitive practices, surfing and restorative workshops. The next Resurface Morocco retreat in Tamraght, Morocco, runs from May 31-June 7, and costs from £1,750 per person. Paço da Glória, Portugal This retreat at an 18th-century castle in Portugal is run by Rebecca Illing – a practising end-of-life doula as well as a hotelier. Here, guests are invited to contemplate mortality in a so-called 'Death Garden'. Illing, who was inspired to help others navigate loss after the death of her brother, hopes to curate a space where 'grief is welcomed, and death isn't taboo'. Healing Heart Retreat Retreats at The Nest, a woodland hideaway in Cornwall, offer two, three or four night programmes for anyone suffering grief or loss. Created by founder Moya Salde, the programmes feature intuitive walk-and-talk coaching, meditation, sea swimming and breathwork. Available all year from £2,595 per person for two nights, including accommodation, meals, activities, a massage and airport or rail transfers. The British Pilgrimage Trust The British Pilgrimage Trust, co-founded by Dr Guy Hayward, is organising a bring-your-own-beliefs bereavement pilgrimage in the Sussex countryside (via Lewes Priory and Firle Beacon) for bereaved parents, covering 8-10 miles per day from May 30-June 1. 'In Britain, we don't really have many grief traditions for long-term bereavement. Pilgrimage may be an answer,' says Hayward. Grief Alchemy So-called 'griefluencer' Nici Harrison – who lost her mother Lizzie in 2016 and calls her work 'grief tending' – runs five-day retreats in Cornwall, Somerset and Portugal. The retreats include therapeutic writing, nervous system workshops and sharing circles, alongside yoga and organic meals.
