TIMELINE OF AN EXECUTION
An hour-by-hour walk-through of what happens inside and outside the prison during an execution
This photo essay tells the story of an execution night in the United States. It is intended to be representative. While drawing from actual photos from a number of executions and events, prison protocol and details can vary from state-to-state.
The drama of an execution is rarely in the public's eye and very few people see or experience what transpires during an execution - either inside or outside the prison. It is often carried out in the dead of night behind secure prison walls while victims' families desperately seek closure and prisoners' families prepare for loss and the rest of us "supposedly" can sleep safely at night.
That is the intersection of state and justice. And that is where we begin today.
(click on the first photo to open the series in a navigable presentation, or you may work your way down the page)
TIMELINE OF AN EXECUTION
An hour-by-hour walk-through of what happens inside and outside the prison during an execution
This photo essay tells the story of an execution night in the United States. It is intended to be representative. While drawing from actual photos from a number of executions and events, prison protocol and details can vary from state-to-state.
The drama of an execution is rarely in the public's eye and very few people see or experience what transpires during an execution - either inside or outside the prison. It is often carried out in the dead of night behind secure prison walls while victims' families desperately seek closure and prisoners' families prepare for loss and the rest of us "supposedly" can sleep safely at night.
That is the intersection of state and justice. And that is where we begin today.
(click on the first photo to open the series in a navigable presentation, or you may work your way down the page)
Death row is where prisoners spend as many as 23 hours a day confined to small, box-like cells, with little slits of glass for windows. After years of waiting, one day they will receive word that an execution date has been set.
A cross sits atop of the death house, a separate prison facility where prisoners are brought as the execution date nears.
A few days prior to the execution, the prisoner will be transferred from death row to a special death watch cell within the death house.
The final days include visits by family, friends and attorneys - sometimes where the prisoner is kept behind thick glass, sometimes where physical contact is allowed.
Then return to death watch to wait for the courts to issue their final decisions on any pending legal appeals.
Witnesses of the execution are brought into the viewing room. In the tiny room, some are seated and some will stand. The viewing window is straight ahead.
With the prisoner strapped down, the warden wheels the gurney from the preparation room into the adjacent death chamber.
The gurney and the prisoner are placed at the viewing window, eye level with the witnesses on the other side.
Prison staff wait for the final phone call that will inform them that the execution has been cleared by the courts to begin.
A few minutes before the scheduled time of the lethal injection process, family of the prisoner pray outside and hope for a miracle.
In the waiting room of the prison, it is announced that the Supreme Court has lifted the delay. Attorneys react to the news, knowing that all hope is lost. The execution will go forward.
Outside the prison armed law enforcement agencies guard the exterior to ensure that the process is not disrupted.
Including the KKK at a Black man’s execution in Texas - wearing Klan gowns and carrying Confederate flags outside the prison.
Meanwhile, inside the death house, a series of three drugs will be administered into the prisoner’s veins while strapped to the gurney - in view of the witnesses.
Most states will use lethal injections to kill its prisoners, but some use other methods, including the electric chair.
Once the prisoner is pronounced dead, witnesses return to a nearby media room to attend a press conference.
With victim family members reading from handwritten notes, speaking about their experience and need for closure.
Media witness share their notes, detailing the timeline of events and how the prisoner responded to the drugs.
The prisoner’s personal spiritual advisor recounts the experience of standing next to the gurney, watching a man die.
Then the body of the prisoner is loaded into a white coroner's van, which will go directly to a nearby hospital for examination.
Death row is where prisoners spend as many as 23 hours a day confined to small, box-like cells, with little slits of glass for windows. After years of waiting, one day they will receive word that an execution date has been set.
A cross sits atop of the death house, a separate prison facility where prisoners are brought as the execution date nears.
A few days prior to the execution, the prisoner will be transferred from death row to a special death watch cell within the death house.
The final days include visits by family, friends and attorneys - sometimes where the prisoner is kept behind thick glass, sometimes where physical contact is allowed.
Then return to death watch to wait for the courts to issue their final decisions on any pending legal appeals.
Witnesses of the execution are brought into the viewing room. In the tiny room, some are seated and some will stand. The viewing window is straight ahead.
With the prisoner strapped down, the warden wheels the gurney from the preparation room into the adjacent death chamber.
The gurney and the prisoner are placed at the viewing window, eye level with the witnesses on the other side.
Prison staff wait for the final phone call that will inform them that the execution has been cleared by the courts to begin.
A few minutes before the scheduled time of the lethal injection process, family of the prisoner pray outside and hope for a miracle.
In the waiting room of the prison, it is announced that the Supreme Court has lifted the delay. Attorneys react to the news, knowing that all hope is lost. The execution will go forward.
Outside the prison armed law enforcement agencies guard the exterior to ensure that the process is not disrupted.
Including the KKK at a Black man’s execution in Texas - wearing Klan gowns and carrying Confederate flags outside the prison.
Meanwhile, inside the death house, a series of three drugs will be administered into the prisoner’s veins while strapped to the gurney - in view of the witnesses.
Most states will use lethal injections to kill its prisoners, but some use other methods, including the electric chair.
Once the prisoner is pronounced dead, witnesses return to a nearby media room to attend a press conference.
With victim family members reading from handwritten notes, speaking about their experience and need for closure.
Media witness share their notes, detailing the timeline of events and how the prisoner responded to the drugs.
The prisoner’s personal spiritual advisor recounts the experience of standing next to the gurney, watching a man die.
Then the body of the prisoner is loaded into a white coroner's van, which will go directly to a nearby hospital for examination.
