WEBVTT - Is lethal injection humane? 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.800 Brought to you by the all new Toyota Corolla. Welcome 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:14.360 to Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works dot com. Hey, 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:17.160 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and Minis Charles. 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:19.919 If you Chuck Bright and this is Stuffy should Know 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:27.280 the podcast. Greetings, This is not a Capital Punishment show, 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:32.279 although we will deal with that obviously, but we at 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:34.640 some point we'll probably do a full episode on Capital Punished. 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:37.360 I would guess, don't you imagine, because we have an 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:39.400 article on it, and uh, we're gonna touch on it 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:42.760 here with leagal injections. Yeah, and just coming across some 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:46.120 stuff on the electric electric Chair that to me seems 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:49.000 like it deserves its own episode as well. It's because 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:50.680 it's so nuts. It sounds like we're cooking up a 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:55.000 sweet Yeah, the Capital Christian. See we come up with 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:57.240 the best sweets, don't we. Well, it's a big deal. 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:00.160 You know, it's important I agree to cover, you know, know, 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:05.520 um Chuck. About fourteen hours ago, a guy named Joseph 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:10.120 Paul Franklin. I can't remember what he his birth name was, 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:12.720 but he legally changed his name to Joseph Paul after 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:16.840 in honor of Joseph Paul Gebel's the Natzi propagandist. What 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:19.640 a nice guy ust to change his name to that, right, 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:24.039 So Missouri just executed him at twelve oh one Wednesday, 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:29.360 November it was today the nine, one of those two. 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:34.280 And actually Hustler publisher Larry Flint was making a big 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:37.520 hubub trying to keep the man from being killed, which 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:40.440 was somewhat ironic, although not really if you followed Larry 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.520 Flint's career, because he was the man who supposedly shot 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:47.080 Larry Flint and paralyzed him for life supposedly. Was he 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:49.640 not convicted of that? No, he he confessed to it, 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:52.360 and it was quite possible. The reason that he gave 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:57.160 for doing it was because Um, Hustler had had some um, 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:03.240 some interracial spread that the guy didn't like, and he 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:06.600 was targeting in a racial couples. He shot a couple 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:10.760 of black kids in Ohio, I believe um. And he 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:14.880 was killed in Missouri because he randomly picked St. Louis 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:16.840 out of the phone book and went and found a 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.600 synagogue and just sat outside and took shots at people 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:22.560 as they came out of a bar. Mitzvah. So he's racist, 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:26.080 he's an anti semite. He also had serious mental health 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:30.320 issues as well. Um. Andy shot Larry Flint. Um. But 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.359 he was executed. And the whole reason that Larry Flint 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:37.360 was creating this hubub about not killing this guy one 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:40.400 Flint head of famous quote from the last news cycle 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.360 that he didn't think the government should be in the 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:45.160 business of killing people. So he's against capital punishment anyway. 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:47.880 You can say it like Larry Flint, I don't do 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:49.920 a very good Larry Flint. He put some marbles in 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:54.320 your own you're gonna try. Um. So he he just 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:57.240 doesn't think that the death penalties a good thing anyway. 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:00.679 He's an abolitionist, you would say. Um. And then secondly, 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:05.160 he he filed a suit to have the name of 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.280 the supplier of the drug that was going to be 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:13.240 used in the lethal injection revealed unsealed because it's secret 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.400 and it's not supposed to be secret. But as we'll 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.720 find out, states recently have had to scramble to come 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:23.880 up with the drugs to execute prisoners of the state. Yeah, 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:26.480 there's a big thing going on that we'll talk about. 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:31.120 But that was the most recent UH execution in the 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:34.480 United States. Makes thirty five for the year, and all 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.760 but one of those were lethal injections, the other one 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:41.520 being the electric chair. Yeah, it is fast become the 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:45.360 go to method for most states in many countries. If 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:51.040 you're gonna get capital punishment going, then probably gonna do 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:53.120 it by way of lethal injection these days. Yeah, and 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:56.480 but it's also the newest one too, And it came 0:03:56.480 --> 0:04:00.520 out of this um this well, basically it amounted to 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:04.720 an abolitionist movement in the nineteen sixties and seventies that 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:07.120 saw it to just get rid of the death penalty. 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:11.000 And that was the third major movement in the United 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:15.320 States since the late eighteenth century where people were just 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:18.680 trying to get rid of capital punishment altogether. Yeah, they 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:22.839 did halt at nineteen seventy two after Supreme Court ruling 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:27.599 Firman the Georgia. Uh. And they are remember reading about 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:31.080 this later. Obviously I didn't read nineteen seventy two. I've 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.680 been very advanced one year old. But they said it 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:38.160 was cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment, violating the 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:40.920 Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. And then but four years 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:45.159 later they reversed that in greg versus Georgia, and UM said, 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:47.599 you know, what maybe that is cool on your usual, 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:50.120 So let's come up with a way that's not. And 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:53.560 they came up with lethal injection. Yeah. And the reason 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:55.599 why that cruel and unusual I had a lot of 0:04:55.680 --> 0:05:00.640 traction was because, um, there were hangings before, and hangings 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:03.880 are very very messy. If the news isn't right, the 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:07.200 head can pop right off, or if the neck isn't broken, 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:09.640 the person just hangs there and suffocates for a minute 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:13.280 or two and then dies. Um. And then electrocution is 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:15.760 really really awful too. I was reading a list of 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:21.760 botched executions, and electrocutions are very frequently botched. People their 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:24.000 heads catch fire, blood comes out of their eyes. It's 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.760 really awful stuff. So there was this idea that the 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:32.679 whole point of this it's retributive. It's you did something 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.480 so bad that we as a society have decided that 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:39.840 you can't live any longer. But we as a society 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:42.680 aren't as cruel as you are. You know, the point 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:44.560 isn't to make you suffer. It's just to take your 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:48.920 life and to do it in the most humane way possible. Well, electrocution, hanging, 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:51.920 gas chamber, none of those really fit the bill. So 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:54.520 somebody came up with the idea of lethal injection, but 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:57.039 this wasn't the first time that was proposed. The first 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:00.800 time was in the nineteenth century, I think. I yeah, yeah, 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:05.120 there was a guy named Julius mount Briar, and he 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:08.000 was a doctor out in New York who said, you know, 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:11.320 this would work because it would be efficient, humane, and 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:14.400 it would keep the person from having UM. Some sort 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:17.840 of hero status developed around them that sometimes comes from 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:22.000 people who are hanged. But they went with electrocution instead. Well, 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:26.039 in the US became the first country to use lethal injection, 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:30.599 and like we said, since then it's really become predominant. UM. 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:35.279 I think the current number of states that have the 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:39.920 death penalty is thirty two as of today. Yeah, but 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:43.240 it's tough because states are have been repealing it. It's 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:46.160 dropping like flies. I don't know about like flies, but 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:51.200 maybe like honey bees. Right, and those are those are 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:55.400 states that have taken the possibility of capital punishment off 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:59.080 of their books. Right. So um, Well, you know thirty 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:02.000 two or is the number that have the death penalty? Right? 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:06.920 Thirty two have a death penalty um not necessarily meaning 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:10.880 that they used that in the past year. Necessarily there's 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.040 something called de facto abolition, which is basically like, yeah, 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:16.360 it's on our books, but we haven't used it in 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:18.320 so long that we might as well not even have 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:23.080 the death penalty. Um. So Chuck, Like we said, lethal 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:28.480 injection is the it's the most frequently used method in 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:31.119 the United States, and it's fast becoming the same around 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:35.480 the world. China picked it up after the United States 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.120 and they replaced their shootings. UM. And that kind of 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:42.040 led to it seems like almost a domino effect throughout 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:45.360 Asia of other countries picking it up as well. Yeah, 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:50.200 the Philippines, Taiwan, uh, Guatemala there in Central America. UM, 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:54.480 they have all gone to lethal injection. And right now 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.800 I have in two thousand twelve, fifty eight countries used 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:05.360 lethal injection and down from sixty seven UH and sixty 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:10.200 three in and a hundred and forty countries of outlawed 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:13.040 the death penalty worldwide. So and like you said, states 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:16.960 are kind of starting to abolish it. Yeah, executions are 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.000 down in general in the United States last year there 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:21.880 were forty three. This year, like we said, there's been 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:25.880 thirty five and we're fast closing out the year. UM. 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:30.440 But lethal injection is the go to method of execution, 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.880 and so we're going to figure out how it works. 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:36.760 That's right. Right now. There are three thousand, one hundred 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:39.960 and eight people as of spring of this year on 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:44.040 death row or male of course, because you don't find 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:46.839 a lot of females on death row, because they're smart 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:50.320 enough to not to kill other people generally speaking. Is 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:54.000 that what it is? Yeah, women are much smart. Um. 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:55.720 A lot of these folks have been on death row 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:59.680 for decades waiting to die. Maybe they're working through the 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:03.800 appeal process because that all has to happen first. Um, 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:07.240 some will die on death row without ever going into 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:11.440 an execution chamber. Yeah, it happens. Some people uh commit 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:14.400 or try to commit suicide before they can be executed 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:16.920 after their appeals run out. Sure, there's a guy in 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:21.240 Georgia who almost successfully killed himself. He cut his carotid 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:25.680 artery um with what I wonder, razor that guarded given 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:29.400 him I guess to shave with. Ostensibly the razor and 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:32.400 the guy they rushed into the hospital, saved his life 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:36.880 and then executed him a week later. Wow, it's a 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:41.120 funny country. Um, So you're on death row, you've exhausted 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:44.640 your appeals. Um, you're finally going to get that execution 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:46.800 order and a date will be set in place for 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:49.400 that execution. UM. At this point, you're going to be 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:53.640 moved from death row to a place called death watch, 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:57.440 and that is basically the that's the last stop. That's 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:00.959 your holding area for the last days or weeks, right. Um. 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.240 So death watch is both a physical place like it's 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.320 it's frequently in the same part of the prison that 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:10.360 the execution chamber is located, or it might be in 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:14.439 another prison entirely. Some states just maintain one execution chamber 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:16.240 for the whole state and it's at a certain prison, 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:18.880 so you'd be transferred to that place. And then death 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:22.000 watch also is supposedly they're supposed to watch you so 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:25.600 you don't commit suicide. Um. And it's also your I 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:28.000 think rights kind of open up a little more. You're 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:32.839 you get visits from people. UM, you your treatment is 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:35.079 a little better. I think you you get a room 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:39.520 with a view, as it were, um, and you're you 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:43.320 start the preparation of of dying and saying goodbye and 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.319 of coming to terms with the fact that it's happening. Yeah, 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:48.360 you know, the state of Texas has these death watch 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:53.520 rooms that um on highway exits. Most highway exits, you 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:56.000 get your gas station, your subway, and your yeah, in 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:59.559 your death watch room. I'm kidding, but Texas execuse a 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:03.200 lot of be it does Texas bears. They execute a lot. 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:06.440 But they're not the only ones that have all sorts 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:10.840 of weirdness going on. Apparently two percent of counties account 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.920 for like fifty to seventy percent of executions in the 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:16.679 United States. It just seems like Texas comes up all 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:20.040 the time when they're like the last time this method 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:21.959 was used or the first time this method was used 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:24.960 Texas well, Texas was the first one to use lethal injection, 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:27.880 Like you said, um, and yeah, they kill a lot 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.520 of people there. Not picking on you Texas. I love 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:34.480 you guys. No here, I've got one Alabama. In Alabama, 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:38.520 Uh it is um, it takes a unanimous jury to 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.720 hand down a life sentence, but it takes ten of 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:45.360 twelve to hand down a death sentence. Yeah, and a 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:49.200 judge can over rule um, a jury a life sentence 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.120 jury yeah, and say no, this person needs a death penalty, 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:55.480 and they do it frequently. Interesting. We'll pick on Georgia 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:57.480 two in a minute. Okay, Well, Georgia was the one 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:00.040 that executed the guy after saving his life after a 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:04.200 suicide attempt. All right, great, uh, I just want to 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:06.440 make sure we dolled out enough, you know, embarrassment for 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:10.959 each state. So, um, you're on death watch. You can 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:14.640 be visited more often, generally by friends and family. We're 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:17.800 in like the last twenty four hours. If now, um, 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.640 your attorneys, spiritual advisors, you're gonna get your last meal. 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:24.280 That is not a fallacy. Whatever you want, they'll prepare 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:27.360 for you. No, that's not necessarily true. Well it depends. 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:30.920 Generally they satisfy your desire. But when does it not 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:35.280 get satisfied? What state doesn't do that? Really? Yeah? Um, 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:38.080 there is a legislation that was passed after this one. 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:43.320 This one inmate ordered a meat Lover's pizza, like twenty 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:46.880 four tacos, like like this awesome spread that Just reading it, 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:49.320 I was like, oh man, I'm kind of hungry for this. 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:51.959 Reading about this this man's last meal, and they didn't 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:55.199 need any of it even still, there's probably two dollars 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.680 with the food. But it caused enough outrage in the 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.200 state legislature that they passed the thing where it's like 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:04.160 you can have whatever the prison cafeteria is cooking that night, 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:07.320 that's your last meal. Yeah, there's a really great article 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:11.680 in Lapham's quarterly online for free called Last Meal. Go 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:14.920 check it out. It's just basically this awesome history and 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:19.440 contemporary evaluation of last meals. That's pretty sad, it is, 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:21.640 but it's really interesting what it says. Like there's a 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:25.040 guy in Arkansas who was executed in the nineties. His 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.040 name was Verry Leaf fair Child, and he pointed out 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:30.000 that it doesn't make a lot of sense to give 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:32.439 a condemned person a last meal. He said it was 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:34.640 quote like putting gas in a car that don't have 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:38.520 no motor but like you have no need to take 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.120 in food because you have no need to derive the 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:43.160 energy from it any longer because you're about to lose 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.480 your life. Well, it's not about deriving energy. It's about 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:50.079 enjoying one last thing. But if you look at if 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.640 you look at the capital punishment system, that's it makes 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:58.400 no sense. It's it's interesting. I say, go read the article. Little. 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:00.959 I'm not getting the point across very well. Well, I mean, 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:03.000 I see what he's saying, but it's not like you 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:06.080 gotta fuel up for the big day. It's like, here, 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:08.480 enjoy a steak. Yeah, I know, I'm just saying like 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:09.920 it flies in the face of the rest of the 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:12.600 criminal justice system. Oh well, sure, enjoy the steak then, 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.559 you know. And time was they used to get you drunk, 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:20.280 like beforehand. If you're going to get hanged in London, 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:23.760 like from the prison to the gallows, they would stop 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:25.640 and you they'd let you drink as much as you 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:28.440 want and and then would take you super drunk and 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:31.080 kill you. Yeah, that's interesting because that could provide a 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:36.720 more docile um victim or a really weepy one, which 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:39.600 would be really like someone who starts causing lots of trouble. 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:41.640 You know, yeah, he wants to fight one last time 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:46.400 exactly right. But apparently I read somewhere that they sedate criminals. 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:50.840 Are they condemned here first? So that's kind of like 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:54.160 a modern incarnation of taking him and getting him drunk, 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:58.840 handing him a volume. Okay, so you've had your last meal, 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:03.120 which may or not be awesome depending on where you live. Um, 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:05.520 your warden and your chaplain are going to visit. They're 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:08.560 gonna stay with you till the end. Unless you don't 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:10.800 want them there. You can probably refuse any kind of 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:16.040 religious associations if you want, um witnesses. Uh, well, we'll 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:19.800 get to all that. But the witnesses arrive at this point. Um, 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:21.640 they're kept away from you though. They don't get to 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.920 like walk by and say things to you. No. As 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:28.200 a matter of fact, most witnesses are required well in 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:32.800 Texas they can take pot shots. Are over there shooters, Um, 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:37.880 sorry Texas. Uh. They the witnesses and pretty much across 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:40.720 the board I'm sure, are required to be totally silent 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.000 the whole time they leave and are brought into the 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.520 to the execution area. Yeah, not like the people outside 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.560 of prisons who are making lots of noise. Usually the 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:55.040 other protest or or kill them, kill them. That's as 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:58.800 ugly as this country gets. Man. When you see the 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:03.600 footage of people out side prisons, it controversial executions, it's 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:07.320 pretty bad. Uh. And then their final preparations, they're gonna 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:11.080 give you clean clothes, Uh, but you take the last 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:14.800 showers or shower get dressed. Uh, and then connect you 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:19.080 to the old e K g um, which is gonna 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.680 you know, let everyone know if you're gone, if we're 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:23.760 still with them. Yeah, they hooked the e k G 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:25.960 up to you. It's not hooked anything yet, but they've 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:30.840 got it like a you're wired exactly and then what's 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:34.280 your showered and dressed and wired up with the n 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:37.000 e KG and the warden and the chaplain are hanging 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:41.040 out with you. Um, at the predetermined time, they will 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:47.080 start to move you into the execution chamber and UM. 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:51.480 Meanwhile the witnesses are there. And let's talk about the witnesses. Like, 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:55.800 the fact that there are witnesses at executions is actually 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.680 the modern incarnation of a very long tradition. Like we 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:02.400 used to have public executions in this country. Yeah, like 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:06.320 thousands of people would show up. Sometimes they would charge admission. Uh, 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.639 And eventually that stopped and only a select number of 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:13.600 people were allowed to witness. But well, they're still witnesses. 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:16.080 You know. Have you read about the last public execution 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:20.600 there was? I didn't either, Okay, so I thought you're 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:23.840 asking just about it. Um. There was a guy named 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:27.080 Rainey Bethia in Kentucky who was hanged in nineteen thirty 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:30.639 six for rape and murder I think, um, and his 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:34.560 execution was attended by twenty people. The big reason was 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.200 it's not because they knew it was the last public execution. 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:39.960 I think they decided to stop that. After this execution. 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.479 There was a Kentucky basketball game after. Um, the sheriff 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:45.240 was a woman, So this is going to be the 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:48.720 first execution in US history ever conducted by a woman, 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:51.399 and people wanted to go see how badly she was 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:54.400 going to screw this up. And even though she didn't, 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.960 the press still wrote that she'd fainted. Um that like 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:00.480 everything had been botched or whatever. But that's why everybody 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:02.960 turned out. But there were charges from out of town 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:06.080 reporters that people were having hanging parties, that they were 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:08.919 drunk in the streets partying. That basically there was just 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:13.560 a sense of revelry that shouldn't attend uh an execution. 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:16.720 And that was the last draw for public executions in 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:19.640 this country. But it got. It got the the idea 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:23.840 that you need to have other people witness a death 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:26.400 when the states executing somebody, just to make sure it's 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:32.960 totally transparent. That was carried on with witnesses today and executions. Yeah, 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:34.560 I mean that's part of it too, And part of 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:38.000 it is also to give victims closure, the families that 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:42.080 is of victims. Uh, there will be sometimes family members 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:46.080 of the prisoner too, and they are generally kept apart um, 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:51.000 not all, not always generally yea. Um, the prison warden 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:54.200 is going to be there. Uh, you're gonna have medical 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:56.439 people on hand of course, to make sure it all 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:58.800 goes as planned, which is pretty controversial, as will find. 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:02.120 You got your spiritual advisor. Like we talked about unt 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:06.479 your guards, Um, state selected witnesses maybe, I mean there 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:10.200 might be members of the state government there to watch 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:12.880 it all go down. Yeah, you've got media there. Um. 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:16.639 You also have what are known as reputable citizens, and 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:21.680 those are basically just average everyday citizens that witness executions. 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:23.919 Is it like a lottery or something. No, it's like 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.240 you contact your state d O C and say, hey, 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:28.560 I wanna I want to witness an execution, and they 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.159 send you an application for him. You explain why you 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:33.640 have to be over eighteen. You have to explain why 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:37.080 you want to do this. But apparently the pool is 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:39.840 thin enough that they're not real selective. As long as 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:41.440 you don't say, like because I want to see him 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:45.440 like bleed or something like that, they they will let 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:48.720 you do this. Um. And apparently when there was a 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:53.720 surge in executions in the nineties, chuck Um. Departments of 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:56.280 corrections were so hard up because a lot of state 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.560 law says you have to have six reputable citizens or 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:03.479 twelve beautiful citizens. That their pool was running thin, So 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:07.920 departments of corrections were actually advertising looking for people to 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:14.399 witness executions. It's just that hold over from having the 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:18.199 public be a part of this state monopoly on violence. 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:20.040 It's stupid, but so much so that they're trying to 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:22.879 force it now. Well, I don't think it's a problem anymore. 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:24.680 It was just in the nineties, like they were killing 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:29.040 everybody in the nineties. Yeah, alright, so you've got your 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:34.880 witnesses there. Um, Your your execution chambers may have um 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:38.000 clear glass with a curtain pulled, maybe a one way 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:42.680 mirror where you can only see into the executed, into 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:46.840 the condemned. Um. It all depends on your state, basically, 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:49.440 but it's generally going to be a pretty quiet thing 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:52.040 no matter where you are. It's the whole group of 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:55.480 people that are just being utterly silent watching you, or 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:57.600 if it's there's too many family members, they might have 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:00.320 a close circuit feed going on in another room. Yeah, 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:03.040 if it's like, you know, it's not roomy. And apparently 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:05.360 in Illinois, if you're a family member, the only way 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:07.639 you can witness it is via close circuit TV in 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:13.160 another room in Illinois. In Illinois. All right, that's another state. 0:21:13.160 --> 0:21:15.240 That's a new one. We haven't mentioned Illinois. Yeah. Yeah, 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:17.680 we didn't really make fun of them, though, I guess 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:20.679 they're execution chambers. Small. Yeah, you can make fun of them, 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:24.800 the enemy seats in their nice state budget. Um, you've 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:28.800 got your timeline of events. It's all very much scheduled, 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:32.880 like down to the minute. Um, you're gonna have your 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:37.400 person properly dressed, You're gonna escort them into the chamber. 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:40.000 I was thinking about this when I was reading this article, Chuck. 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:44.159 Imagine like just taking a shower too fast, and so 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:45.679 you just kind of have to sit there on the 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:49.400 edge of the bed with the warden and whatever spiritual 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:53.640 adviser they throw at you, waiting to go be executed. 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:58.720 That has to be the worst wait ever. Yeah, Like 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:00.879 I can't imagine it being towards and that, because they 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:02.879 can't be like, wow, we'll just get this started early. No, 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:06.520 everything is on a very delineated schedule and they're just 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:09.240 gonna have to sit there until the time comes to 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:11.960 go to the execution chamber to get started. I just 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:14.720 to take a long shower. That stuck out to me. Yeah, okay, 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:19.800 the longest shower of your life. Um, the saddest shower 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:22.240 of your life for sure. Uh. You might be rolled 0:22:22.240 --> 0:22:24.760 in like restrained beforehand and rolled in on a journey. 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:27.560 Sometimes you're allowed to walk there yourself, and then you're 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:31.840 restrained once you're in there. And at that point they 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:35.320 are going to go ahead and pre rig you with 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:40.159 the ivy tubes um to lead you in there. And 0:22:40.160 --> 0:22:42.919 then those once you get in there and you're strapped in, 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:46.320 they will be fed into what's called an anti room 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:52.600 where the actual uh death cocktails await and the executioner awaits. Yeah. 0:22:52.680 --> 0:22:56.800 It's like an enclosed room away from the eyes of everybody, 0:22:56.840 --> 0:23:01.320 including the condemned and the witnesses. But you have two tubes. 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:04.800 Most states required two. There's a backup to one to 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:07.719 serve as a backup. At this point, you have your 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:11.520