COLUMBUS (WCMH/AP) — Kwame Ajamu was 17 years old when he was convicted of murder and sent to death row.

“I had to grow up real fast because I’d been sentenced to die and now I’m in this box that I can literally touch each wall with my hands and the ceiling,” he said.

Ajumu, his brother, and a friend were all convicted in Cuyahoga County in 1975 of a robbery and murder based largely on the testimony of a 12-year-old witness. Decades later, the witness recanted and all 3 men were released from prison and exonerated.

Forty-two years later, Ajamu is now an outspoken opponent of the death penalty and he joined other death penalty opponents at the Ohio Statehouse Thursday to lobby lawmakers.

“Mentally, emotionally, and spiritually – putting a man or a woman in a cell having knowledge that they will be executed on a certain date does destroy that individual totally,” Ajamu said.

Death penalty opponents hope to convince state lawmakers to do away with executions in favor of life sentences with no chance for parole. They point to a state Supreme Court task force report that recommended dozens of changes in the state’s use of the death penalty.

Ohio plans to put condemned child killer Ronald Phillips to death next month with a new three-drug method similar to one the state used several years ago. It plans to use the same method to put inmates to death in March and April. The state has four additional executions scheduled this year but hasn’t said what drugs it will use.

A federal judge weighing whether Ohio’s new execution method is constitutional ordered the state this week to clear up whether its supply of three lethal injection drugs is enough to carry out far more executions than it claimed 3 months ago.

The directive from Magistrate Judge Michael Merz comes after The Associated Press reported inventory logs show Ohio has enough supplies of lethal injection drugs for dozens of executions – more than the three it told Merz about last year.

Attorneys for the Ohio prisons system told Merz in October the state had enough drugs to proceed with 3 executions this year. Until the AP report, it was unclear how much of the three lethal drugs the state possessed and whether it had enough for more executions. The judge set a Friday deadline for the response.

Abraham Bonowitz with Ohioans to Stop Executions says the state should, at a minimum, put executions on hold.

“We would like the governor to say, ‘I’m not going to sign any more death warrants, we’re not going to have any more executions, I will reprieve anyone who comes along until we make sure the system is fair and accurate’.”

Executions have been on hold in Ohio since January 2014, when Dennis McGuire gasped and snorted during the 26 minutes it took him to die, the longest execution since the state resumed putting prisoners to death in 1999. The state used a 2-drug method with McGuire, starting with midazolam, its first use for executions in the country.

Attorneys challenging Ohio’s new three-drug method say midazolam is unlikely to relieve an inmate’s pain. The drug, which is meant to sedate inmates, also was used in a problematic 2014 execution in Arizona. But last year, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of midazolam in an Oklahoma case.

The state says the 3-drug method is similar to its past execution process, which survived court challenges. State attorneys also say the Supreme Court ruling last year makes clear the use of midazolam is allowable.