In the death watch cell, after Boles had removed the handcuffs and left, Cain felt the despair and fear of past inhabitants take hold. The atmosphere was surreal and Cain wondered if America suffered from a mass epidemic of somnambulism. The people did not understand the nature of the beast called capital punishment which thay had created. He questioned whether, if the citizenry could experience for ten minutes what he felt at that moment, their support for the death penalty would be so ardent. For the frist twelve hours one is in death watch, he is checked every thirty minutes, then every fifteen minutes for the last twenty-four, with meticulous notations made in a log.
Nothing is overlooked.
Officers who were once friendly and talkative are now cold and clinical. They document if the condemned ate, detailing every morsel. The nearer one gets to execution, the more intrusive the guards become. One learns interesting things while under death watch. For instance, while speaking to an officer, Cain learned that if one has no friends or family to claim his body, the State may donate it to science.