Hoe do they think....? - ...the executors ? - Law - http://maxpages.com/prisonministry/TheExecutor

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USA:

Inside the Death House

"I was just working in the shop and all of a sudden something just
triggered in me, and I started shaking. And then I walked back into the
house and my wife asked, `What's the matter?' And I said, `I don't feel
good.' And tears, uncontrollable tears, was coming out of my eyes and she
says, `What's the matter?' And I told her. I said, `I just thought about
that execution that I did 2 days ago, and everybody else's that I was
involved in.' And what it was, something triggered within, and it just,
everybody - all of these executions all sprung forward."

Fred Allen couldn't take it anymore. He was part of the so-called
"tie-down team" in the unit that contains the "death house" in
Huntsville, Tex., where all of the state's executions are carried out.
The 5 members of the tie-down team are each assigned a different part of
the condemned prisoner's body, and are responsible for strapping that
body part - arm, leg, head, etc. - to the gurney on which the prisoner
will die.

Mr. Allen was a 35-year-old captain of corrections who had participated
in 130 executions when he finally suffered a breakdown in 1998. The
relentless killing had become too much for him. He couldn't bear to strap
one more live body to a gurney for the sole purpose of turning that body
into a corpse. He now works as a carpenter.

Fred Allen is one of several ordinary people who are part of an
extraordinary and powerful radio documentary, "Witness to an Execution,"
to be broadcast Thursday on the National Public Radio program "All Things
Considered."

Since the death penalty was reinstated in the U.S. in 1977, 1/3 of all
executions have taken place in Texas. In "Witness to an Execution," men
and women who have participated in - or witnessed - a significant number
of those executions tell what it's like.

Jim Brazzil, a chaplain with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,
said: "I usually put my hand on their leg, right below the knee, you
know. And I usually give them a squeeze, let 'em know I'm there. You can
feel the trembling, the fear that's there. The anxiety that's there. You
can feel the heart surging, you know."

Michael Graczyk, an A.P. reporter who has witnessed about 170 executions,
said: "When they're on the gurney, they're stretched out, his arms
extended. I've often compared it to almost a crucifixion-like activity.
Only as opposed to having the person upright, he is lying down."

Another reporter, John Moritz of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, said: "The
warden will remove his glasses, which is the signal to the executioner
behind a mirrored glass window. And when the glasses come off, the lethal
injection begins to flow."

The documentary is narrated by the warden, Jim Willett, who has presided
over 75 executions. "Sometimes I wonder whether people really understand
what goes on down here and the effect it has on us," he said.

Killing people, even people you know are heinous criminals, is a gruesome
business, and it takes a harsh toll. "The executions seem to affect all
of us differently," said Warden Willett. "Some are quiet and reflective
after, others less so. But I have no doubt that it's disturbing for all
of us. You don't ever get used to it."

"Some people, they might like to drink and, you know, forget about it,"
said Kenneth Dean, a major in the Huntsville corrections unit. "I can
take my mind off things when I go fishing. I like the outdoors, and
that's just how I cope with it."

The documentary is the work of Stacy Abramson and Dave Isay of Sound
Portraits, a nonprofit, independent radio production outfit in New York.
It gives us a sense of the increasing emotional distress that has
accompanied the accelerated pace of executions in Texas.

The Rev. Carroll Pickett, a chaplain who was present for 95 executions
before he retired in 1995, said: "You do 3 a year is one thing. You
do 35 a year, that's a lot. It's hard to watch that. . . . Lots of guards
quit. Even those tough guards you're talking about, a lot of those quit."

Said Warden Willett: "I'll be retiring next year and to tell you the
truth, this is something I won't miss a bit. You know, there are times
when I'm standing there, watching those fluids start to flow and wonder
whether what we're doing here is right. It's something I'll think about
for the rest of my life."

(source: Bob Herbert, New York Times)

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Dove Prison Ministry International
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