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Thread: Life on Death Row — Execution Day

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    Life on Death Row — Execution Day

    Schedule for a condemned Oklahoma inmate on the day of execution.

    30 days prior to the execution date, there is a notification hearing in which the inmate:

    • Requests a last meal — the meal can cost no more than $15 and must be ordered from a business in the McAlester area. (An inmate can't have their family cook them something because it could get laced with a harmful substance.)

    • Names witnesses — the inmate has the opportunity to list any chosen witnesses. (This list typically includes the inmate's family members and lawyers. The Warden then has the discretion to approve or disapprove any persons on this list.)

    • Schedules visitations — the inmate will schedule all pre-execution visits with both family members and lawyers.

    • Sets phone list — the inmate will submit a list of phone numbers. These phone numbers correlate with the people he wishes to call in the days, and hours, prior to his execution.

    • Names spiritual advisor — although the DOC has a chaplain on staff, and this person is available to the inmate for spiritual advising, the inmate can also choose to have a different spiritual advisor available.

    • Names who will claim the body — the inmate will give direction to the DOC regarding who will claim his/her body following the execution.

    On the morning of the execution, the condemned inmate is taken from his cell and X-rayed and strip searched. This process, "to make sure there are no foreign bodies in him," Crenshaw said, is to ensure that the inmate has no possession of harmful materials that could hurt him prior to the scheduled execution.

    (Crenshaw referred to one condemned inmate that had obtained a harmful drug on the day of his execution. This inmate was rushed to the hospital only hours before his scheduled execution. His stomach was pumped, his life was saved and he was taken back to the penitentiary where his court ordered execution was carried out — a few hours late.)

    Once the X-ray and strip search are complete, the inmate is given new clothing and placed in a holding cell that is just a few feet away from the execution chamber. Anytime the inmate leaves this cell for a visit, he is showered and receives a new set of clothes. There are "3 officers that will monitor and log his every movement,” Crenshaw said. "There's nothing he does that isn't logged on the day of execution."

    The inmate is able to visit with family and lawyers in the morning hours on the day of execution. This visitation availability ceases at noon, unless there is special permission for visitation granted by the warden. Then between 12 and 1 p.m., the inmate is served his last meal. The inmate has phone privileges for the next few hours to call anyone designated on his phone list. The inmate is then granted a final visit at 4 p.m. with a spiritual advisor.

    Shortly before the hour of execution nears, the inmate will be taken from the holding cell and "afforded the opportunity to freely walk with staff" into the execution chamber. Crenshaw explained that this is the only time a death row inmate, during his time spent in the maximum security unit, is afforded the opportunity to walk freely amongst staff. Any other time the inmate walks in the facility with staff, he is bound by cuffs and shackles.

    Allowing the condemned to make this final walk on his own, Crenshaw says, will "afford the inmate his dignity." This final walk is approximately 4 feet, from the holding cell to the execution chamber.

    Once in the execution chamber, the inmate has two IVs placed — one in each arm. This is done in the case that one fails, Crenshaw said. At this point, the 3 executioners are already in place behind a wall and unseen by anyone involved with the execution.

    The executioners, chosen previously by the warden, are picked up earlier in the day at an undisclosed location, to keep their identities private. They are then transported to the prison, with their faces hooded, and are the first to enter the execution room. They are also the last to leave the execution room and they do so wearing the same hoods they wore upon entry.

    The victim's family are then transported to the execution viewing room, where they sit behind one-sided glass for the sake of anonymity. The press and media witnesses are then escorted into the viewing room.

    Finally, the inmate's family members are brought into the viewing room where they sit in the row of chairs closest to the viewing window.

    The DOC director, who is on an open line with the governor's office, will get word to proceed with (or cease) the execution process.

    At this time the closed shades, which cover the window between the viewing room and the execution chamber, are raised and the warden asks the inmate if he has any last words.

    The inmate is allowed 2 minutes to speak. Then the warden typically says: "Let the execution begin." The 3 executioners then administer the 3-drug combination of lethal injections, and the inmate loses consciousness.

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Life on death row

    We see it in the movies and on TV, those on death row yelling at guards, clanging on the bars. It's a life that appears frightening and full of noise, guards fighting with inmates who cause a ruckouse, but is that a true portrayal?

    Convicted of brutal crimes, these men are destined to live their final days on death row, alongside many who's crimes were highly publicized.

    Ronson Bush an inmate convicted of murder, said, "You got a guy that cut a little girl up and a guy that killed a highway patrol officer."

    We sat down with Bush and another inmate, Alfred Mitchell, amid tight security.

    Guards were watching our every move, the men were shackled.

    Alfred Mitchell has spent 19 years on death row.

    He was convicted at the age of 19, before widespread use of the internet, even cell phones.

    Mitchell said, "When I was out there, the big thing was pagers and now it's like you can send messages from anywhere in the world."

    He spends most of his time in the law library, working on his appeals.

    He said, "Mostly just researching my case and trying to help myself."

    Bush has been here two years.

    He's well aware of life on the outside, the differences and the surpising similitarities.

    He said, "Just like anywhere, you got your idiots. I've got one next to me always yelling at the guards. When he gets his tray he throws it out the bean hole."

    Lieutenent Scott Slater works on death row.

    He said, "There are some that do cause problems and beat on the doors."

    Those who work here say it's nothing like what Hollywood portrays.

    Slater said, "Death row, they are the easiest group of inmates we have."

    The officers are in charge of keeping these inmates safe and alive even though each prisoner is destined for execution.

    Mitchell said, "The monontany of the days, constantly it's just the same day over and over again."

    There are 69 inmates on death row; even with so many, the prisoners can tell when someone's time is up.

    Mitchell said, "It's a situation where you look at him and you know you won't see him tomorrow."

    And on that day things get busy.

    Witnesses file in and when it's time, the curtain is raised.

    Terry Crenshaw with the Oklahoma State Penetentiary said, "The warden will go to the offender and say, 'Do you have any final statements?'"

    And then it comes, a phone that's a direct line to the governor's office rings.

    It's where instructions to proceed are given.

    It's when the inmates no longer face judge or jury but their final breathe.

    Lieutenent Terri Heaslet said, "I think it takes a special type of person to work in this environment."

    It`s a job like no other.

    Slater said, "To me it doesn't matter what they done. They're paying for their crime."

    Officer Heaslet said it is a challenge being a woman working on the men's death row block.

    She said the inmates do try to get a rise out of her; however, she's now very good at ignoring those crude comments.

    http://www.kfor.com/news/local/kfor-...727,full.story

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