Twenty-four hours before the scheduled execution, the condemned man is taken in shackles to the Walls in a prison van by secret route. Before 1976, execution in Texas was by electric chair, and, until 1995, the killings took place after midnight. Every movement the prisoner makes in his final hours is observed and logged in excruciating detail by officers, first every 30 minutes, then in 15-minute intervals. At this time the prisoner is entitled to longer visits, and is allowed to call family members and speak to his lawyer. Many men take a shower, brush their teeth, and put on clean clothes before they're taken to the gurney.
Death Row offers society the illusion of finality in the service of justice.
A man takes a life, and we demand that, under specific circumstances, his life be sacrificed in return. We crave simplicity in executing justice. But there is nothing simple about what we have created in the ritual of executing men. Suzanne Donovan is a freelance journalist, a former director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, and project specialist for the Texas Council on Family Violence. All letters to the editor are for publication and may be edited for length and clarity.