Page 36 - Execution Chamber News Today

And thats when i almost said if it wasnt for this shelf life thing, the hold me as i was going down, i probably would have fell all the way to the floor. >> we have four holding cells that are here on death watch. we have staff that work back here on 12-hour shifts when we activate this. staff are trained to work in this environment. and theyre all volunteers. >> you know its serious business, of course. everything is very clinical and methodical. and, of course, as each hour goes by, you get cl...

Out of 130 in the united states. >> at the moment a total of 1200 inmates are being held here, 2 1/2 times more than the prisons actual capacity. >> while some parts of cz have been modernized, much the prison shows signs of age. one especially haunting section is 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". >> puddles of water on the ground and boards that...

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 was really hectic. because, number one, they come and get you, shock you. they take all your belongings, inventory and give you a receipt for everything that you have. and they put it awa...

With 17% of the vote, and ron paul took 13% in south carolina. the next contest is in florida a week from tuesday. joe paterno is said to be in serious condition. the football coach is battling lung cancer. now back to your program. the nationwide ban against the death penalty was lifted in 1977. it wasnt until 2000 that robert glen koe became the first inmate to be put to death at tennessee in 40 years. so what is it like when an inmate faces his final days? it begins and ends with a proces...

Investigator. >> and i looked at her. and she said she finally got a stay. and thats when i almost said if it wasnt for this shelf life thing, the hold me as i was going down, i probably would have fell all the way to the floor. >> we have four holding cells that are here on death watch. we have staff that work back here on 12-hour shifts when we activate this. staff are trained to work in this environment. and theyre all volunteers. >> you know its serious business, of course. everything is ver...

Under lockdown, restricting any movement. >> the death row inmate would be escortsed 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...

>> 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 viewing rooms. of course this is the gurney...

Criminals have spent their final days at the castle. 163 have died by electrocution here. the most recent execution in the 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 ab...

>> idle hands is the devils playground, you know, so i stay busy. ♪ >> you think this can get me on "american idol"? >> the execution team will escort the condemned from the death cell into the execution chamber and place him on a gurney. >> you aint here for going to church. you aint here because you was doing something constructive. you been doing something constructive, you never would have been here. >> i was doing something constructive until they [ bleep ] pulled me down that hall. >> oh...

This is the execution chamber of the holman correctional facility. in alabama, death row inmates are executed on this gurney. the sentences are always carried out at 6:00 in the evening. >> i was 16 when the crime happened. i was 18 years old when i was sentenced to death. i was charged with capital murder, which is, you know, four more deaths in one active scheme. i was sentenced to death by the jury and judge. the jury voted ten votes to two for death. i was living with my father. me and him c...