Page 31 - Execution Chamber News Today

>> ive been on tennessees death row 23 1/2 years. >> the execution chamber looms within walking distance from the inmates block. its also known as death watch. >> riverbend has the only execution chamber in tennessee to carry out executions. it was constructed with a death penalty in mind. >> ive had five execution dates. i went to death watch three times and i received a stay of execution. >> death watch is the area where the condemned inmate is housed three days prior to his execution. >> it w...

>> all executions occur at 6:00 p.m. on that day, the prison goes 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 d...

>> when i saw him, he apologized for everything. and that, i think thats what i needed. >> hours before her father was executed, lindsay decided to 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...

>> 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, right? and he was standing in front of my cell, you know, handcuffed, police around him. what do you say? what do you say to somebody that theyre getting ready to kill? that you care for and is your friend? you cant say -- i couldnt say nothing. good luck? ill see you around? you know? ive been through eight executions, you know? some guys commit suicide, ...

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, right? and he was standing in front of my cell, you know, handcuffed, police around him. what do you say? what do you say to somebody that theyre getting ready to kill? that you care for and is your friend? you cant say -- i couldnt say nothing. good luck? ill see you around? you k...

That actually still has an electric chair. and i had asked the warden, you know, i want to make sure we get a shot of the electric chair. so we go the end of the corridor in 3 cell house where they keep the execution chamber. and i remember he opened the door, and there was old sparky. and it was unforgettable. >> this is the electric chair, which is maintained by the kentucky state penitentiary in order to complete executions by electrocution. it was originally built somewhere in the 1900s. >> ...

>> the warden stands at this point to look back into the execution chamber. theres an intercom system that allows the warden to communicate with the commissioner for any last-minute stays. and once hes given the okay to proceed, then in the state of alabama, the warden has to perform the execution by lethal injection. the drug concoction is made up of three different drugs. seven syringes are used. >> sodium pentothal renders the prisoner unconscious. pabalon paralyzes the muscles. potassium chl...

Completely abandoned behind locked doors. the execution chamber. >> we went down probably three, four stories underground to an area best described kind of like a scene out of "aliens." >> they literally have puddles of the water on the ground and they have boards that are slightly elevated. and you kind of do a balancing act to cross these boards down this old corridor. and then you just come upon an open room with a wall. >> translator: we are currently in a room where executions used to be ca...

Girl and cut her throat. and when he come back downstairs, he told me what had happened. we decided to make up a cover story. we made it try to look like a robbery. the police knew right away that there wasnt nothing going on with that. so, they arrested us and charged both of us with capital murder. >> the execution team will escort the condemned from his death cell into the execution chamber and place him on the gurney. the microphone is basically used to read the death warrant to the condemne...

Chair occurred in 1997. >> on one date in 1929, there were seven inmates executed in one night, utilizing this chair and facility. >> kentucky state penitentiary has the only death-row facility in the state. today, there are nearly 40 men whose cells are a stones throw from the execution chamber. one of them is randy haight. >> this is no way to spend your life. one thing about being in prison and being on death row, especially, because theres so much idle time, is youve got a lot of time to exa...