death row workers speak out.

Botched executions, guilt, PTSD — death row workers speak out


After the US hit the grim milestone of 200 prisoners exonerated since the reinstatement of capital punishment, employees who experienced the ‘broken’ system are calling for change

Over the past 50 years, more than 1,500 people have been executed in the US, with each execution carefully orchestrated by a team of prison employees and volunteers

Over the past 50 years, more than 1,500 people have been executed in the US, with each execution carefully orchestrated by a team of prison employees and volunteers

Samuel Lovett

Thursday July 11 2024, 3.25pm BST, The Times

There are many things that Ron McAndrew has tried to forget from his years working on death row.


The electrocutions were the worst: the vice-like face mask that kept the inmate’s head in place, tightened with so much force that it would break the nose. The violent surge of electricity that flowed through the condemned’s body. The uncontrolled heaving of the chest. Then, silence.


But it is the botched execution of Pedro Medina in March 1997 that refuses to fade from his memory.


“We burnt him to death,” says McAndrew, 85, a former warden of Florida State Prison. “There was a sudden large flame that came right up in my face and then Pedro’s head was literally on fire … There was no way I

Thanks for reading.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE TERRIBLE EXECUTION OF ELIZABETH BECKER "SHE A NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMP GUARD

Image
 Elisabeth Becker Elisabeth Becker (20 July 1923 – 4 July 1946) was a Nazi concentration camp overseer in World War II. She was convicted at the Stutthof trials of crimes against humanity and executed. Elisabeth Becker Biskupia Górka, Gdańsk, Republic of Poland Cause of deathExecution by hangingOccupationGuard of the Stutthof concentration campOrganizationSS-Gefolge (Women's SS Division)Political partyNazi PartyMotiveNazismConviction(s)Crimes against humanityTrialStutthof trialsCriminal penaltyDeathDetailsVictims30+ Span of crimes 5 September 1944 – 15 January 1945CountryPolandLocation(s)Stutthof concentration camp Life Becker was born in Neuteich, Danzig (today Nowy Staw, Poland) to a German family. In 1936, aged 13, she joined the League of German Girls. In 1938, she became a tramway conductor in Danzig. In 1940, she began working for the Dokendorf firm in Neuteich, where she was employed until 1941, when she became an agriculture assistant in Danzig. Camp In 1944, the SS needed ...
Read more

THE TERRIBLE EXECUTION OF MATA HARI "THE FAMOUS AND EXOTIC DANCER.

Image
   Mata Hari was a Dutch woman who became famous as an exotic dancer during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She traveled throughout Europe, performing for wealthy clients. During World War I, Mata Hari's career came to an abrupt end when she was accused of spying for the Germans. The French authorities arrested her in February 1917 and charged her with espionage, and subsequently sentenced to death. The evidence against her was circumstantial, and many believe that she was unfairly targeted because of her reputation as a woman of loose morals. On the morning of her execution, she was taken from her cell to a nearby courtyard, where she was tied to a stake and blindfolded. She refused to be tied to the stake and even blew a kiss to the firing squad before they fired. She died instantly, hit by several bullets. Related Article Mata Hari, a celebrated Dutch dancer celebrated for her remarkable beauty and talent, quickly gained fame as a highly sought-after performer throu...
Read more

I HAVE NEVER READ ANYTHING MORE HORRIFIC THAN THIS

Image
    I have never read anything more horrific than this. 😭 The photo below  shows Italian General Alexandro Luzano standing above a slaughtered Serbian child in front of a school in Prebilovci. The letter he sent to Mussolini after this crime has been preserved in the military archives: "Dear Duce, WATCH:  MAKE MONEY FROM CRYPTO 2024 My boundless devotion to you, I hope, entitles me to deviate in some way from strict military protocol. That is why I hasten to describe to you an event that I personally attended three weeks ago. While visiting the districts of Stolac, Capljina and Ljubinje (between 60 and 130 km north of Dubrovnik) - I learned from our intelligence officers that Pavelic's Ustashas had committed a crime in a village (Prebilovci) the day before, and that when it became known , the surrounding Serbs to be upset again. I miss the words to describe what I found there. In the big school classroom, I found a slaughtered teacher and 120 of her students! No chi...
Read more

THE HORRIBLE ENTERTAINMENT OF THE NAZIS IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS

Image
 The HORRIFIC entertainment of the Nazis in the concentration camps Perhaps the most disconcerting kind of performing arts to emerge from Nazi concentration camps was the concept of ‘human vivisection,’  or the exhibition of prisoners as mere spectacles of entertainment for SS guards and men. Prisoners could be compelled to entertain in absurd and highly obscene spectacles, often exhibiting their near-starving bodies.  It is often asked why Jews did not make greater attempts at resistance. Principally, they had no access to arms and were surrounded by native anti-Semitic populations who might collaborate with the Nazis or,  even if they were opposed to German occupation, may have been willing to condone the elimination of the Jews and were reticent to put their own lives as risk.  In essence, the Jews stood alone against a German war machine zealously determined to carry out the “final solution.” Moreover, the Nazis went to great lengths to disguise their ultima...
Read more

THE TERRIBLE STORY AND EXECUTION OF THE THREE MURDERERS AT TYBURN "A DAY NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN

Image
 Three murderers at Tyburn In 1751 Parliament passed an Act “for better preventing the horrid crime of murder” which specified that a person convicted of murder was to be kept in chains and fed on only bread and water and to be hanged within 48 hours, unless that would have been a Sunday in which case the execution was carried out on the following Monday. This Act mandated the dissection or gibbeting of the murderer's body after execution. Gibbeting was not applied to women prisoners.  The bodies of murderers were not permitted to be buried in consecrated ground.  This Act, known as “The Murder Act”, came into force on the 1st of July 1752 and was therefore in effect for these three murderers.  Ater their hanging all three bodies were taken down and conveyed to Surgeon’s Hall where William Peers was anatomized pursuant to his sentence and John Stockdale and Christopher Johnson were hanged in chains (gibbeted) on Winchmore Hill in the Borough of Enfield in north Londo...
Read more

6 years ago 19 Yazidi women and girls were burned in Mosul.

Image
6 years ago 19 Yazidi women and girls were burned in Mosul Women and girls from Sinjar were kidnapped by ISIL during the genocide on 03.08.2014. They were humiliated, beaten and raped, bought and sold at the local market as if they were things.  After being sold again, the women refused EN masse to serve as ISIS sex slaves and were burned alive as punishment for their insubordination. A cage with Yazidi girls and women was set up in the middle of Mosul. Hundreds of people looked at the fate of the Yazidis and did nothing about it. Narin Ismail-a Yazidi artist painted this picture in memory of the girls and women who were burned alive by ISIS. Thanks for reading.
Read more

The Story Of The Judas Cradle, Perhaps The Most Agonizing Torture Device In History

Image
   While it may not look like much, the Judas cradle is believed to have spelled a sickening end for the heretics who ended up on the wrong side of its razor-sharp tip during the Spanish Inquisition. If there’s one thing that we can expect from the Spanish Inquisition, it’s unique and brutal methods of torture. In fact, some of history’s most infamous torture methods were implemented by the inquisitors to punish those believed to have sinned, including the rack, the wheel, and water torture. One lesser known torture method favored by the Spanish, though, was the Judas Cradle — and oddly, they considered it to be one of the most humane. There’s not much to the device itself. It’s a carved wooden pyramid at the top of three wooden legs, sort of like a stool though admittedly not one you’d want to sit on. It was placed in the corner of a torture chamber, and above it a person would be suspended, nude, with their hands and feet bound by ropes attached to gears. They would then be ...
Read more

Death of a full family.

Image
Death of a full family: a couple and their three daughters, were found “hanging” at their residence at Gossaigaon in lower Assam’s, While police are investigating the matter, Roushan said that based on preliminary information and 5 Members Of A Family Hanged To Death At Assam Five members of a family, including a couple and their three daughters, were found “hanging” at their residence at Gossaigaon in lower Assam’s Kokrajhar district, police said on Monday.  The deceased, identified as Nirmal Pal (45), his wife Mallika Paul (40), and their daughters, Puja (25), Neha and Dipa – who were in their teens, were found dead at their residence,” Kokrajhar superintendent of police, Rakesh Roushan said.  According to reports, Puja, a science graduate, was working as a teacher in a private school.  While police are investigating the matter, Roushan said that based on preliminary information and evidence, the family was debt-ridden and was struggling to repay loans.  “The famil...
Read more

THE EXECUTION OF CHARLES JULIUS GUITEAU, THE ASSASINT OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD...

Image
  At 12.40 p.m. on the 30th of June 1882 Charles Guiteau was hanged before a large number of witnesses in the yard of the District of Columbia jail for shooting President James Garfield, but not before he had recited fourteen verses of the Gospel of Saint Matthew and a poem, he had written entitled “I am Going to the Lordy. I am so glad”.   Somehow one imagines the springing of the trap was a relief to all present, except possibly Guiteau.  The neck was brocken by the drop and it took 16 minutes for heart action to cease.  It was reported that when the body was lowered, the black hood was removed and the face exposed, the features were pallid and composed. About the mouth there was considerable moisture in the form of froth.  The body was later buried in the gaol yard, near the gallows. Guiteau was a strange character and a failure at almost everything he tried.  It is probable that he really was insane as brain defects were discovered at his autopsy....
Read more

The Worst And Brutal Story of the Bisbee Massacre Which Took Place on Main Street At The Castaneda And Goldwater Mercantile

Image
  The Bisbee Massacre:  Part Three The event forever known as the Bisbee Massacre took place on Main Street at the Castaneda and Goldwater Mercantile Emporium on December 8, 1883. What started as a robbery to grab the monthly payroll of the Copper Queen Mine escalated to murder leaving five people dead including Annie Roberts’s unborn child.  The bandits escaped and in an extraordinary and effective effort by County Sheriff Jerome Ward and his deputies all were captured and jailed in Tombstone in just 45 days. The five gang members who committed the robbery and murders—Red Sample, Tex Howard, Mick Kelly, Big Dan Dowd and Billy Delaney—went to trial on February 9.  Judge David H. Pinney presided.  The evidence against the defendants was strong and the prosecutor’s case well-prepared.  All five were found guilt on February 11 and sentenced to die on the gallows.   Their ringleader, Bisbee dance hall owner John Heith, was tried separately but concurr...
Read more