Death Penalty Photo Portfolio

PORTFOLIO

The project has spanned several decades, many states and executions, a variety of events, and many affected individuals. The following photos are a selection of highlighted images representing some of the various components of the documentary.

Tens of thousands of additional images are available, so please inquire if you have a particular need or request.

Hovering your cursor on a photo will show the caption. Click on an image to open the series in a navigable presentation.

PORTFOLIO

Tens of thousands of additional images are available, so please inquire if you have a particular need or request.

For captions, long press the photo. Or tap any image to open the series in a navigable presentation that includes captions.

The crossroads of State and Justice near the federal death row and execution facilities in Terre Haute, IN - taken just before the execution of Timothy McVeigh. (2001)

The sun sets over the federal death row compound in Terre Haute, Indiana. (From the Trump federal series, 2021)

A memorial to the 13 executed federal prisoners and their victims on the grounds of the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. (From the Trump federal series, 2021)

Rev. Bill Breeden, spiritual advisor to Corey Johnson, speaks outside of the federal prison moments after witnessing Mr. Johnson's execution by the federal government. (From the Trump federal series, 2021)

A solemn vigil across from the federal death row as Trump's final federal execution is carried out in the middle of the night. (From the Trump federal series, 2021)

In a media event speaking out against the upcoming execution of Timothy McVeigh, Bud Welch holds a photo of his 24 year old daughter, Julie, who was killed in the Oklahoma City Bombing. (Texas, 2001)

The next day's newspaper headline after the federal execution of Timothy McVeigh. (New York City, 2001)

Tykecia Wilson, the 23 year-old daughter of Marion Wilson, holds of photo of her dad while standing vigil outside the Georgia death row and execution facilities in the hours leading up to his lethal injection, which was the United States' 1500th execution in the modern era. (Georgia, 2019)

Prison fencing outside the Arkansas execution facilities. (From the Arkansas series, 2017)

A cross sits atop of the Texas death house during an execution. (Texas, 1999)

Tykecia Wilson, the 23 year-old daughter of Marion Wilson, sobs hysterically outside the Georgia death row and execution facilities while screaming "Daddy!" at the moment of his death. Her father's lethal injection was the United States' 1500th execution in the modern era. (Georgia, 2019)

A corrections officer enters the Arkansas death row area during a shift change just before an execution. (Arkansas, 2017)

A vigil outside the Arkansas Governor's mansion for the last of the four executions in a span of 10 days. (From the Arkansas series, 2017)

In the waiting room of a North Carolina prison, attorney Sarah Anthony is comforted as Department of Corrections spokesperson Pam Walker (in background) announces Steven McHones's execution. (North Carolina, 2005)

A supporter of Julius Jones reacts to the news that the Oklahoma governor has granted clemency in the final hours before his execution was to be carried out. (Oklahoma, 2021)

Signage inside the Arkansas death house on the day of an execution. (Arkansas, 2017)

A solemn vigil across from the federal death row as Trump's final federal execution is carried out in the middle of the night. (From the Trump federal series, 2021)

The retired electric chair in Texas, previously used in state prisoner electrocutions. (Texas, 2014)

The sun sets over prison fencing within the Arkansas death row prison compound. (Arkansas, 2017)

Gina Grimm touching the face of her father in the moments after his execution. (From the Arkansas series, 2017)

Prison cell imagery. (California, 2006)

Lynn Scott, at the moment of her brother's execution, sitting with a friend in the prison parking lot. Family were not allowed to be inside the prison to witness. (From the Arkansas series, 2017)

Retired syringes previously used in lethal injections. In many states, three injections are used. (Texas, 2014)

A death penalty art installation by Richard Kamler. (Texas, 2000)

A protestor leaves the office of the Missouri governor after delivering petitions calling for the halt to the execution of Ernest Johnson scheduled later that day. (Missouri, 2021)

Death row cells in Raleigh, North Carolina. (North Carolina, 2006)

Unclaimed prisoner bodies in Texas are buried in a Department of Corrections cemetery and given an anonymous grave marker listing only their prisoner number, and date of death/execution. An "x" before the prisoner number indicates the person died from execution. (Texas, 2003)

The visitor's entrance at California's San Quentin Prison where death row is. (California, 2006)

North Carolina's death row Warden, Marvin Polk, demonstrates how in three days a prisoner would be moved into the death chamber after IV lethal injection lines were inserted in the preparation room. (From the Timeline of an Execution series, 2005)

Randy Gardner holds the autopsy photograph from his brother's 2010 execution by firing squad in Utah. (Texas, 2017)

Prison cell imagery. (California, 2006)

A prisoner's death row bed in North Carolina where prisoners sleep in the final days before their execution. (From the Timeline of an Execution series, 2005)

A rally to save Troy Davis, an innocent Georgia death row prisoner, outside the Georgia capitol building in Atlanta the day before his execution. (From the Troy Davis Execution series, 2011)

A death certificate from a prisoner execution. In section 21c of this North Carolina-issued death certificate, the prison doctor has indicated the manner of death as homicide. Section 20a lists the drugs given to cause the death. (North Carolina, 2006)

De'Jaun Correia, nephew of innocent Georgia prisoner Troy Davis, plays with his cousin Kiersten on the prison grounds, waiting in hope during a Supreme Court delay of execution. (From the Troy Davis Execution series, 2011)

Gate entrance into the women's death row in Uganda. Note the woman on the left carrying a baby wearing pink: women can keep children with them up to a certain age. (Uganda, 2014)

The Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery is located about a mile from the Texas execution chamber, and is where unclaimed bodies of dead prisoners are buried. Thousands of plain crosses, with only the prisoner number and date of death engraved, are scattered throughout the 22 acres. (Texas, 2003)

North Carolina’s execution gurney in place at the viewing window, three days before Sammy Perkins was lethally injected. (From the Timeline of an Execution series, 2005)

Florida's death row at sunset during the execution of Donald Dillbeck. (Florida, 2023)

Death row prison barbed wire fencing. (Uganda, 2014)

Death row prison barbed wire fencing. (Uganda, 2014)

The entrance to the South Carolina execution facilities on the day of the first US execution by firing squad in almost 15 years. (South Carolina, 2025)

Arkansas prison guard tower and chapel. (Arkansas, 2017)

Exonerated Ugandan death row prisoners, now leading the effort to officially abolish the death penalty in their country. Picture left to right: Sserwadda Lawrence, Mustafa Bagwete, and Edward Mpagi. (Uganda, 2014)

A young girl clinches her toy gun while standing in the crowd outside the Texas death house during the execution of innocent juvenile offender, Gary Graham. At the protest, separate protest pens were set up around the prison, with KKK members on one side, and armed Black Panthers on the other. (Texas, 2000)

Supporters and family of Georgia death row prisoner Troy Davis gather near the prison in prayer and thanks after Mr. Davis's execution was halted 90 minutes before it was to have been carried out. (From the Troy Davis Execution series, 2008)

A former gas chamber in Germany's Mauthausen concentration camp, used to exterminate people under the Nazi government. (Germany, 2000)

Barbed wire at a former Nazi concentration camp site. (Germany, 2000)

Bill Pelke, a murder victim family member and founder of Journey of Hope, speaks to school children about his journey toward forgiveness for the girl who murdered his grandmother - a woman whom he later helped get off death row. (Uganda, 2014)

A rally to save Troy Davis, an innocent Georgia death row prisoner, outside the Georgia capitol building in Atlanta the day before his execution. (From the Troy Davis Execution series, 2011)

Protests outside the U.S. Department of Justice against one of the 13 executions under the Trump Administration. Speaking is Terri Steinberg, whose son Justin used to be on death row in bordering Virginia. (Washington, DC, 2020)

Military prisoners in Uganda on work duty at military barracks. (Uganda, 2014)

Mustafa Bagwete, a former death row prisoner in Uganda, holds his release papers after spending 23 years on death row. (Uganda, 2014)

Virginia Davis, the mother of innocent Georgia death row prisoner Troy Davis, retreats to the corner of a restaraunt across the street from the death house, to talk to her son on her phone for what is thought to be the last time. (From the Troy Davis Execution series, 2008)

As protesters believe that Georgia prisoner Troy Davis is being executed, The Rev. Lynn Hopkins and Carolyn Bond comfort each other outside the prison. (From the Troy Davis Execution series, 2011)

Protestors outside the prison during the moment of Donald Dillbeck's execution in Florida. (Florida, 2023)

Supporters of the execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh outside the federal execution facility. (Indiana, 2001)

Supporters of Gary Graham’s execution in Texas. Graham was a 17-year old Black man sentenced to death for the murder of a white person, despite strong claims of innocence. (Texas, 2000)

To oppose the execution of juvenile offender Gary Graham in Texas, demonstrators block the driveway to then-Governor George W. Bush’s mansion a few days beforehand. (Texas, 2000)

Riot police block the driveway entrance to the prison during Troy Davis's execution in Georgia. (From the Troy Davis Execution series, 2011)

Protestors on the prison grounds in the hours leading up to Troy Davis's execution in Georgia. (From the Troy Davis Execution series, 2011)

Members of the New Black Panther Party stand above a crowd in Texas, armed with guns, threatening retaliation if innocent juvenile offender Gary Graham is executed later that day. (Texas, 2000)

A protest march toward the Texas State Capitol Building in Austin. (Texas, 2005)

Shujaa Graham, who spent 4 years on death row in California for a crime he did not commit, gives pause during an anti-death penalty demonstration outside the U.S. Supreme Court. (Washington, DC, 2016)

Decor inside prison administration offices in the compound where the South Caroline execution facilities are located. (South Carolina, 2025)

A Good Friday procession to the North Carolina women's death row in Raleigh. (North Carolina, 2006)

People outside of the Georgia death row react to news that the U.S. Supreme Court has delayed the execution of Troy Davis at the moment that it was believed that he was being lethally injected. (From the Troy Davis Execution series, 2011)

At 11:08 pm, at the exact minute that Georgia inmate Troy Davis was executed, Davis's sister, Martina Correia, looks toward the prison from her wheelchair, while Laura Moye of Amnesty International, collects the name and contact information of a young student who wants to get more involved. In this moment, Correia brought the young student over to Moye in an effort to keep her work against the death penalty alive despite knowing her brother was being killed right then. (From the Troy Davis Execution series, 2011)

Death row spiritual advisor Rev. Jeff Hood collects himself and prays on the periphery of a rally outside the capital in Alabama. The protest was against the next day's execution by nitrogen hypoxia - the first ever in the United States. Rev. Hood would go on to witness the execution of Kenneth Smith the next day. (Alabama, 2024)

A solemn vigil across from the federal death row as Trump's final federal execution is carried out in the middle of the night. (From the Trump federal series, 2021)

A vigil outside the Arkansas Governor's mansion for the last of the four executions in a span of 10 days. (From the Arkansas series, 2017)

Correction officers outside the prison in Mississippi where a prisoner was being put to death. (Mississippi, 2021)

A death penalty protest in Chicago. (Illinois, 2002)

Signage outside of the Texas death house during execution protests. (Texas, 2000)

A police officer passes through the empty area for supporters of the death penalty to gather outside the Florida death row during the execution of Donald Dillbeck. (Florida, 2023)

Darin Routier and his 4-year-old son, Drake, visit the grave site of his two older sons who were brutally murdered in their home, supposedly by their mother who sits on Texas death row. (Texas, 2000)

Supporters of the North Carolina execution of Samuel Flippen, who was convicted of murdering Britnie Hutton. (North Carolina, 2006)

In Boston, Amnesty International activists wear hoods and signs around their necks to demonstrate the racial disparities in the federal U.S. death penalty. (Massachusetts, 2001)

During a protest to save innocent death row prisoner Gary Graham, police pull demonstrators away from the vehicle entrance to the Governor’s Mansion in Austin before arresting them. (Texas, 2000)

A lone supporter of the federal death penalty during the first round of executions by the Trump Administration. (From the Trump federal series, 2020)

A banner hangs vigil during the Massachusetts death penalty reinstatement hearings at the State House in Boston. (Massachusetts, 2001)

A tearful Kwame Ajamu is surrounded by other death row exonerees after telling his story of being sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit and spending 28 years in prison. (Ohio, 2015)

Members of the Ku Klux Klan show their support for Gary Graham’s execution in Texas. Graham was a 17-year old Black man sentenced to death for the murder of a white person, despite strong claims of innocence. (Texas, 2000)

Exonerated death row prisoner Derrick Jamison outside the prison in Ohio where he spent 20 years for a crime he didn't commit. (Ohio, 2015)

Prison administrators that were once involved with executions whom now speak out against the practice. Pictured clockwise from top-left: Ron McAndrew - Florida Death Row Warden, Jerry Givens - Virginia executioner, Allen Ault - Georgia Death Row Warden, and Carroll Pickett - Texas Death Row Chaplain.

The children of Officer Mark MacPhail, Sr. comfort each other at a memorial service for their father who was murdered in Georgia. (Georgia, 2010)

Bathroom stall graffiti. (Massachusetts, 2008)

The moment of voting inside the State House in Boston when the State Legislature voted against reinstating the death penalty. (Massachusetts, 2001)

Leaders of the campaign to abolish the death penalty in New Hampshire, including State Representative Renny Cushing (right) whose own father was murdered, emerge from the State Capitol Building following the vote that officially abolished the death penalty. (New Hampshire, 2019)

Murder victim family members comfort each other after speaking at a conference about mental illness and the death penalty. (Texas, 2008)

Rev. Hillary Taylor, director of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, is hugged by a friend during the prison vigil for the firing squad execution of Brad Sigmon. (South Carolina, 2025)

Four-year-old Drake Routier, the son of Darlie Routier (a woman on Texas death row), reaches towards a statue of Jesus in the cemetery where his two older brothers are buried. His brothers, Devon and Damon, were murdered in 1996, and their mother, Darlie, was sentenced to die for their murders. Darlie has maintained her innocence from the beginning. (Texas, 2000)

A lone supporter of the death penalty outside the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, DC during the one of the federal executions by the Trump Administration. (From the Trump federal series, 2020)

The children of Officer Mark MacPhail, Sr. lay flowers at a memorial for fallen police offices, including their father who was murdered in Georgia. (Georgia, 2010)

Entrance to the prison in Mississippi where a prisoner was being put to death. (Mississippi, 2021)

U.S. death row exoneree portraits. Pictured clockwise from top-left: Shabaka WaQlimi, Gary Drinkard, Curtis McCarty and Freddie Pitts. (From the Exonerated Portraits series)

Celebrities Opposed to the Death Penalty

Celebrity portraits who are openly opposed to the death penalty: Pictured left to right: Pete Seeger, Kurt Vonnegut, and Martin Sheen. (From the Celebrity Activist Portraits series)

A protestor prays outside the prison where Sigmon was executed by firing squad. (South Carolina, 2025)

A supporter of Julius Jones reacts to the news that the Oklahoma governor has granted clemency in the final hours before his execution was to be carried out. (Oklahoma, 2021)

A protestor holds a photo of Brad Sigmon outside the prison where Sigmon was executed by firing squad. (South Carolina, 2025)

Protestors outside a local Missouri courthouse, calling for the halt to the execution of Ernest Johnson scheduled at that time. (Missouri, 2021)