Disinformation Book of Lists (10 page)

24

Tommie J. Smith

July 18, 1996; Indiana; lethal injection.
Because of unusually small veins, it took one hour and nine minutes for Smith to be pronounced dead after the execution team began sticking needles into his body. For sixteen minutes, the execution team failed to find adequate veins, so a physician was called. Smith was given a local anesthetic and the physician twice attempted to insert the tube into Smith's neck. When that failed, an angio-catheter was inserted in Smith's foot. Only then were witnesses permitted to view the process. The lethal drugs were finally injected into Smith 49 minutes after the first attempts, and it took another 20 minutes before death was pronounced.

25

Pedro Medina

March 25, 1997; Florida; electrocution.
A crown of foot-high flames shot from the headpiece during the execution, filling the execution chamber with a stench of thick smoke and gagging the two-dozen official witnesses. An official then threw a switch to manually cut off the power and prematurely end the two-minute cycle of 2,000 volts. Medina's chest continued to heave until the flames stopped and death came. After the execution, prison officials blamed the fire on a corroded copper screen in the headpiece of the electric chair, but two experts hired by the governor later concluded that the fire was caused by the improper application of a sponge (designed to conduct electricity) to Medina's head.

26

Scott Dawn Carpenter

May 8, 1997; Oklahoma; lethal injection.
Carpenter was pronounced dead some eleven minutes after the lethal injection was administered. As the drugs took effect, Carpenter began to gasp and shake. “This was followed by a guttural sound, multiple spasms and gasping for air” until his body stopped moving, three minutes later.

27

Michael Eugene Elkins

June 13, 1997; South Carolina; lethal injection.
Because Elkins' body had become swollen from liver and spleen problems, it took nearly an hour to find a suitable vein for the insertion of the catheter. Elkins tried to assist the executioners, asking: “Should I lean my head down a little bit?” as they probed for a vein. After numerous failures, a usable vein was finally found in Elkins' neck.

28

Joseph Cannon

April 23, 1998; Texas; lethal injection.
It took two attempts to complete the execution. After Cannon made his final statement, the process began. A vein in Cannon's arm collapsed and the needle popped out. Seeing this, Cannon lay back, closed his eyes, and exclaimed to the witnesses, “It's come undone.” Officials then pulled a curtain to block the view of the witnesses, reopening it fifteen minutes later when a weeping Cannon made a second final statement and the execution process resumed.

29

Genaro Ruiz Camacho

August 26, 1998; Texas; lethal injection.
The execution was delayed approximately two hours due, in part, to problems finding suitable veins in Camacho's arms.

30

Roderick Abeyta

October 5, 1998; Nevada; lethal injection.
It took 25 minutes for the execution team to find a vein suitable for the lethal injection.

31

Allen Lee Davis

July 8, 1999; Florida; electrocution.
“Before he was pronounced dead…the blood from his mouth had poured onto the collar of his white shirt,” reported the
Gainesville Sun
, “and the blood on his chest had spread to about the size of a dinner plate, even oozing through the buckle holes on the leather chest strap holding him to the chair.” The execution was the first in Florida's new electric chair, built especially so it could accommodate a man Davis' size (approximately 350 pounds).

Later, when another Florida death row inmate challenged the constitutionality of the electric chair, Florida Supreme Court Justice Leander Shaw commented that “the color photos of Davis depict a man who—for all appearances—was brutally tortured to death by the citizens of Florida.” Justice Shaw also described the botched executions of Jesse Tafero and Pedro Medina, calling the three executions “barbaric spectacles” and “acts more befitting a violent murderer than a civilized state.” Justice Shaw included pictures of Davis' dead body in his opinion. The execution was witnessed by a Florida State Senator, Ginny Brown-Waite, who at first was “shocked” to see the blood, until she realized that the blood was forming the shape of a cross and that it was a message from God saying he supported the execution.

32

Christina Marie Riggs

May 3, 2000; Arkansas; lethal injection.
Riggs dropped her appeals and asked to be executed. However, the execution was delayed for eighteen minutes when prison staff couldn't find a suitable vein in her elbows. Finally, Riggs agreed to the executioners' requests to have the needles inserted into her wrists.

33

Bennie Demps

June 8, 2000; Florida; lethal injection.
It took execution technicians 33 minutes to find suitable veins for the execution. “They butchered me back there,” said Demps in his final statement. “I was in a lot of pain. They cut me in the groin; they cut me in the leg. I was bleeding profusely. This is not an execution; it is murder.” The executioners had no unusual problems finding one vein, but because Florida protocol requires a second alternate intravenous drip, they continued to work to insert another needle, finally abandoning the effort after their prolonged failures.

34

Claude Jones

December 7, 2000; Texas; lethal injection.
Jones' execution was delayed 30 minutes while the execution “team” struggled to insert an I.V. into a vein. He had been a longtime intravenous drug user. One member of the execution team commented, “They had to stick him about five times. They finally put it in his leg.” Wrote Jim Willett, the warden of the Walls Unit and the man responsible for conducting the execution:

The medical team could not find a vein. Now I was really beginning to worry. If you can't stick a vein then a cut-down has to be performed. I have never seen one and would just as soon go through the rest of my career the same way. Just when I was really getting worried, one of the medical people hit a vein in the left leg. Inside calf to be exact. The executioner had warned me not to panic as it was going to take a while to get the fluids in the body of the inmate tonight because he was going to push the drugs through very slowly. Finally, the drug took effect and Jones took his last breath
.

35

Bert Leroy Hunter

June 28, 2000; Missouri; lethal injection.
Hunter had an unusual reaction to the lethal drugs, repeatedly coughing and gasping for air before he lapsed into unconsciousness. An attorney who witnessed the execution reported that Hunter had “violent convulsions. His head and chest jerked rapidly upward as far as the gurney restraints would allow, and then he fell quickly down upon the gurney. His body convulsed back and forth like this repeatedly…. He suffered a violent and agonizing death.”

36

José High

November 7, 2001; Georgia; lethal injection.
High was pronounced dead some one hour and nine minutes after the execution began. After attempting to find a useable vein for 39 minutes, the emergency medical technicians under contract to do the execution abandoned their efforts. Eventually, one needle was stuck into High's hand, and a physician was called in to insert a second needle between his shoulder and neck.

Taken verbatim from a now-deleted page on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice website.

1

Stanley Baker, Jr.

Executed May 30, 2002.
“Two 16 oz. ribeyes, one lb. turkey breast (sliced thin), twelve strips of bacon, two large hamburgers with mayo, onion, and lettuce, two large baked potatoes with butter, sour cream, cheese, and chives, four slices of cheese or one-half pound of grated cheddar cheese, chef salad with blue cheese dressing, two ears of corn on the cob, one pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream, and four vanilla Cokes or Mr. Pibb.”

2

Odell Barnes, Jr.

Executed March 1, 2000.
For his last meal request, Barnes wrote: “Justice, Equality, World Peace.”

3

John Baltazar

Executed January 15, 2003.
“Cool Whip and cherries.”

4

Henry Dunn, Jr.

Executed February 6, 2003.
“Cheeseburger (extra cheese, pickles, onion, lettuce, and salad dressing), tray of French fries, bottle of ketchup, 25 breaded fried shrimp, four cans of pineapple juice, two banana splits, bottle of Hershey's syrup, and one jar of apple butter jam.”

5

Cornelius Goss

Executed February 23, 2000.
“One apple, one orange, one banana, coconut, and peaches.”

6

Danny Harris

Executed July 30, 1993.
“God's saving grace, love, truth, peace and freedom.”

7

Stacey Lawton

Executed November 14, 2000.
“One jar of dill pickles.”

8

Robert Madden

Executed May 28, 1997.
“Asked that final meal be provided to a homeless person.”

9

Gerald Mitchell

Executed October 22, 2001.
“One bag of assorted Jolly Ranchers.”

10

James Powell

Executed October 1, 2002.
“One pot of coffee.”

11

Miguel Richardson

Executed June 26, 2001.
“Chocolate birthday cake with ‘2/23/90' written on top, seven pink candles, one coconut, kiwi fruit juice, pineapple juice, one mango, grapes, lettuce, cottage cheese, peaches, one banana, one delicious apple, chef salad without meat and with thousand island dressing, fruit salad, cheese, and tomato slices.”

12

Juan Soria

Executed July 26, 2000.
“Chicken, three pieces of fish, burgers, pizza, fruit (grapes, plums, peaches, apples, tangerines), doughnuts, walnuts, chocolate candy bar, plain potato chips, picante sauce, hot sauce, salad with ranch dressing, Coke, and Sprite.”

13

Delbert Teague, Jr.

Executed September 9, 1998.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice notes: “Last minute he decided to eat a hamburger at his Mother's request.”

1

hanger

In order to keep prison garb looking nice, a prisoner named Angelo—author of
Prisoners' Inventions
—says that inmates will roll up a newspaper until its fairly stiff, then run a thin strip of bedsheet through the hollow center. Tying the ends together with plenty of extra length creates a triangle with the paper as the sturdy base. The contraption is then hung on an improvised hook made out of a paperclip and a wooden domino glued to the wall with contact cement.

2

immersion heater

Familiar to many campers, the immersion heater has a metal projection that gets hot and is used to warm up beverages. It's used this way in prison, where it's called a “stinger,” though it's also handy for branding, either for purposes of voluntary body modification or torture. One way prisoners make their own is to use metal tabs from paper binders attached to handles of toothbrushes. The two tabs at one end are inserted into a wall socket, heating the tabs at the other end, which are lowered into the drink.

3

condom

Presumably to prevent catching diseases, some jailhouse Romeos fashion condoms out of plastic wrap or sandwich bags fastened in place with thread or a rubberband.

4

muff bag

If you'd rather not have to worry about diseases at all, you can whip up a homemade blow-up doll of sorts. Although known as a muff bag, this contraption simulates a bountiful booty. According to Angelo, you tie together the corners of two plastic bags used to line small wastebaskets, fill with water, and tie off the openings. “Add rolled-up blankets to simulate the torso and legs and supply support, and you're ready to slip it to her.”

5

toilet paper maché

Wet toilet paper can me molded into almost any shape, which it retains after drying. Because of this, toilet paper maché has been made into dice, dominos, chess pieces, cups (lined with Saran wrap), and even sculpted works of art.

6

tattoo gun

Tattoos are common among inmates, but how do you get one behind bars? With devices made from a sharpened piece of wire, guitar string, pens, paperclips, rubber bands, and a motor from a portable cassette player (i.e., a Walkman), a slot car, an electric razor, etc.

7

pruno

Pruno, also called cellblock wine, is alcohol “brewed” in prison. The basic idea is to crudely ferment anything containing sugar by mashing it up with water in a bag, letting the contents stew for around a week while occasionally heating the concoction by running warm water over the bag. Pruno has been made from oranges, raisins, tabletop sugar, yams, Jello, honey, candy, cake frosting, ketchup, or combinations thereof. The guys behind the webzine
Black Table
made their own pruno as an experiment: “For lack of a better metaphor, pruno tastes like a bile flavored wine cooler. It tastes so bad, in fact, that it could very well be poisonous or psychedelic, which might explain the violence it induces in prisoners.”

8

shank

Also known as a shiv, a shank is anything that can be used to slash or stab. Trying to get a knife smuggled into prison is riskier than simply making one yourself out of available material within the prison. Shanks can be created from plastic, Plexiglas, wood, metal scraps, toothbrushes, pens, nails and bolts, spoons, screwdrivers, bed springs, and pretty much any other material or object you can imagine.