Page 43 - Execution Chamber News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

It was nothing like that. it's all messed up. man, it's messed up. it sucks. >> stateville has long been home to some of illinois' most violent offenders. the vast majority of prisoners are in for murder or violent assault. >> it's hard, man. i mean, prison ain't nothing nice, you know, but it ain't like it's they fault, you know. you live a life of crime, this is where you're 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 speck, convicted for the murder of eight student nur...

>> this ain't no joke. they execute people here, and if you don't work on your case on death row they'll march your ass over there and strap you to that table and murder you. on death row our cells are a little bigger than population's, but i'd rather have one of them smaller cells. [ bleep ], i'd 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 they...

>> 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. on the left he has his witnesses and the news media and then on the right are the victim's witness...

>> but utah banned the firing squad in 2004. gardner was grandfathered in. now lawmakers are trying to bring it back. >> a controversial bill passed by lawmakers in utah is getting lots of attention this morning. the bill would allow death by firing squad if there weren't enough drugs to carry out an execution by lethal injection. >> here's how the process worked in the past. the inmate was brought into a specifically designed execution chamber, a room 20 feet by 24 feet, strapped to a black chair, a hood was placed over the head. a white circular target was pinned to the inmate's chest to mar...

Close to bringing back the firing squad as a way to execute inmates who are sitting on death row. you heard me right, the firing squad. you may remember that it was formally banned in utah. but it was last used in this execution chamber back in 2010. that's when the condemned man, ronnie lee gardner, actually made the choice to be shot to death over lethal injection. that was allowed at the time and that was his choice. so there's a bill right now on the governor's desk to bring back the firing squad, if the drugs aren't available for lethal injection. is the governor going to sign that bill? ...