Harmon Wray

Harmon Lee Wray Jr. (November 10, 1946 - July 24, 2007) was an American activist and author, based in Tennessee, who supported human rights for the poor, abolition of the death penalty, and prison reform. He advocated that Christians had a moral obligation to try to keep people out of prison, and persisted with his efforts of reform during decades of rising rates of incarceration in the United States, especially of minorities.

Early life Wray was born on November 10, 1946. He grew up in a working-class family in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was raised as a Baptist. He later joined the United Methodist Church.

Wray graduated from Rhodes College in 1968. He earned a master's degree from the Duke University Divinity School in 1970. In 1978, he argued that, "Too often, people in the free world have a tendency to shy away from dealing with crime and with people in our society who don't fit in." He worked with the Southern Prison Ministry, Project Return, and the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. His funeral was held at the Belmont United Methodist Church.

Selected works