Page 25 - Execution Chamber News Today

Gacy was executed by lethal injection in 1994. the last execution to occur at stateville took place in 1998. since then, all illinois state executions occur in a different maximum security facility. until its torn down, statevilles death chamber remains fully operational as an emergency backup system. with such a high concentration of violent criminals in the prison population, it was only natural that the violence would continue within the walls of stateville. over the years, a number of incide...

Man, its messed up. it sucks. >> stateville has long been home to some of illinoiss most violent offenders. the vast majority of prisoners are in for murder or violent assault. >> its hard, man. i mean, prison aint nothing nice, you know, but it aint like its they fault, you know. you live a life of crime, this is where youre going to end up. >> stateville has housed its share of infamous criminals. john wayne gacy, convicted of murdering 33 young men and boys in the late 1970s, and richard spec...

Leave indiana and make the long drive home to florida. >> i didnt want to see him die, and so i left. i didnt want to hear anything else about it, i didnt want to see it. i was just ready to go back to my family. >> but later that evening, just three hours before he would walk into the execution chamber, wrinkles would talk to one last person outside the prison walls. he placed a phone call to "lockup" field producer susan carney. >> i stayed in touch with eric after we finished our "extended st...

For having shot and killed a police officer. >> this aint no joke. they execute people here, and if you dont work on your case on death row theyll march your ass over there and strap you to that table and murder you. on death row our cells are a little bigger than populations, but id rather have one of them smaller cells. [ bleep ], id rather go home. >> richie recalled the last time he watched a fellow inmate leave death row for the execution chamber. >> his time came for them to kill him, righ...

>> i have a hope that one day that i can be out of prison, you know. even though that hope might be small. i know that what i done was wrong. i deserve to be where im at. ive accepted whatever might come. >> what the future holds for haight is not yet certain. his case is still on appeal. but one day, he might take the same walk our "lockup" crew took when they shot at kentucky state. >> kentucky is one of the states that actually still has an electric chair. and i had asked the warden, you know...

Under lockdown restricting any movement. >> an inmate will be escorted into the cell. there is no property allowed in the cell. everything he would have had in his cell would have been confiscated. if he needs to use the phone, we will allow him to use the phone. his mail is brought to him. he has an opportunity to read it. passes it back out. last year we did one. i think the year before that we probably did three or four. this door leads us into the execution chamber. we actually have three vi...

>> a death row inmate will be escorted into this cell. there is no property allowed in the cell. everything he would have had in his cell would have been confiscated. if he needs to use the phone, we will allow him to use the phone. his mail is brought to him. he has an opportunity to read it. passes it back out. last year we did one. i think the year before that we probably did three or four. this door leads us into the execution chamber. we actually have three viewing rooms. of course this is ...

They dont read the mail. they mail clerk doesnt -- i dont think she would have time to read the mail, even if she wanted to. >> this letter is from steven parker to an inmate named reese. >> kyra gyden is in charge of reading the mail at holman. she has just intercepted one of parkers unauthorized letters containing insulting language about warden culliver. >> he wrote "culliver," im not going to read all of that because its a lot of cussing in it. "hes an idiot, treats everyone like inferiors o...

>> i want him to be here and i dont want him to be here. i want him to learn his lesson while hes here so he knows right from wrong and knows what to do and what not to do at the right time so that he wont do it again. >> i want to let him know that we love him no matter what, but make it easier on us when we come up here. >> if bonds maintains a clean record for one year, he can petition to get his contact visits restored. >> im praying and hoping, hoping this is the last time they have to come...

Chamber and place him on the gurney. the microphone is basically used to read the death warrant to the condemned and also to allow the condemned to make a last statement. >> prior to being arrested and going to arraignment, i didnt even know alabama had a death penalty. so, when the judge told me the sentences that i faced, i didnt think he was telling the truth. from that point on, yeah, i knew i was coming to death row. i knew i was going to death row. >> the warden stands at this point to loo...