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Texas Death Row

NCJ Number
171918
Author(s)
K Light; S Donovan
Date Published
1997
Length
128 pages
Annotation
This volume presents photographs, inmate letters, and a discussion of death row and death row inmates in Texas, based the photographer's access to death row over a year and the authors' interviews with inmates, prison personnel, family members, and members of victims' families.
Abstract
The photographs depict the inmates and their lives in cells, the segregation unit, work areas, recreation and exercise areas, and day room, as well as the execution chamber and their experiences of being escorted from one area to another. The essays note that life on death row is extremely boring and is punctuated by high anxiety and tensions produced by an impending execution. The captain who oversees the guard shifts schedules daily life on a 24-hour basis. Physical force dominates the Texas death row; gambling and dealing in various types of contraband is part of daily life. The inmates on death row are disproportionately poor and uneducated; many were under the influence of drugs when they committed their crimes. A variety of legends and rituals surround discussions and attitudes regarding execution. Account of interactions with an inmate who was executed and forms summarizing the case histories of individual offenders