Ken Light and Suzanne Donovan broke down this silence at one of the most unlikely locations, the condemned unit at Huntsville, Texas. Although the Texas courts do not have the highest rate of affirming capital convictions, nowhere has the process of exec ution become so routine. Texas now accounts for one-third of the executions that have taken place since 1976, and the state holds the record for yearly totals. Donovan interviewed numerous prisoners while Light captured the images of daily life on the Row. The book presents the complexity of life on the row.
Folks sittin' up there just talking to each other.
Folks yellin' over the wire . . . I realized . . . The photographs speak for themselves. At first appearance, the images could be from many other cell blocks. For prisoners in segregation, locked in cells much of the time, the condemned status makes little difference.