Two former inmates talked about their combined total of 16 years on death row and the events that freed them in two forums yesterday that attracted over 1,000 people.

Ray Krone and William Nieves addressed a sociology class in Thomas Building yesterday afternoon, while only Krone spoke at a public forum in Sparks Building last night.

Yesterday's events were part of a two-week tour of Pennsylvania pushing for a halt of the death penalty system in the state.

Krone said life was harsh in prison.

"There I was with a bunch of people I knew I wasn't going to like," he said last night to a crowd of 400 people in Sparks Building.

He said someone in a neighboring cell was killed over a $6 loan.

"The third day I was there, my neighbor was stabbed," Krone said. "You break unwritten prison rules, you get it a lot harsher in there than out here."

He said prisoners were allowed outside for two hours per day, three days a week in a fenced-in area he described as a dog cage.

Krone said his family supported him throughout his jail time and spent more than $200,000 to free him over the years. He spent more than 10 years on death row in Arizona for allegedly kidnapping and murdering a woman who worked in a local bar.

Krone said the prosecutor in his trials was an intense questioner.

"By the time I got off that stand, I thought I was guilty," he said.

At the trial, a bite mark expert said there was a match between Krone's bite and a bite mark on the woman's body.

"The prosecutor must have been pretty good because the debate was three and a half hours," Krone said. He received a death sentence.

He received a retrial at age 35 and was sentenced to 46 years in prison.

Krone was freed after the victim's underwear was tested for DNA and was found to have matched an already-jailed man.

Krone said the death penalty is not a deterrent because people on death row were not afraid to die.

"The death penalty was not something they were afraid of," he said. "You can't kill away your problems."

He said when someone's execution drew near, it did not seem to faze other prisoners, and that they would continue to have small talk about everyday life in prison.

Nieves was convicted of murder and spent six years on death row. During his first trial, a witness on his behalf was escorted out of the courtroom. After spending years on death row, Nieves found out that documents providing names of other possible suspects had been withheld. He was later exonerated.

Several students voiced their opinions on the death penalty after the events.

"Not much good can come from it," said Carrie Lafferty (junior-labor and industrial relations).

One student changed her opinion of the death penalty after she heard Nieves and Krone speak.

Before the event took place, Scher Mama (sophomore-premedicine) said she favored the death penalty. However, she changed her opinion after hearing their stories.

"I guess I'm not really for it," Mama said. "I think people should be given a fair chance."

One student said Krone's testimony inspired him to become more active.

"It motivated me to do more to spread the existence of injustice in our judicial system," said Jonathyn Pang (senior-sociology).

These events were locally sponsored by Penn State chapters of Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).