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Texas Death Row

Yes, there is life on Death Row

People are people everywhere, and despite the dramatizations on TV and in fiction, the reality of life on Death Row is far different. Sure, there are harsh conditions, there is abuse, there are madmen and troublemakers - but there is also warmth, respect, friendship . . . and many men, who have been condemned by society and forgotten by their friends and family, strive to learn, heal and change despite the systematic prejudice that says they are beyond hope.

Karl Chamberlain
December 2007

There are 369 people on Death Row in the state of Texas (March 2008). All of the men are housed in the Allan Polunsky Unit five miles (8 km) southwest of Livingston, a small town 60 miles (97 km) north of Houston.

The history of capital punishment in Texas is not a pretty one. In a recent BBC documentary a member of the public interviewed in a Livingston street recounted the retort made on TV by one of America's top comedians.

“There is a comedian Ron White. He says that the rest of the nation is trying to put a stop to lethal injection. Texas has put it in an express lane.”

There are currently 38 states (including FED and Military) with the death penalty in the USA. New Jersey abolished the death penalty in December 2007, the first since the reintroduction of execution in the USA in 1976. Texas has executed 405 prisoners since reintroduction up to the end of 2007. Over the same period Texas accounted for almost 37% of all US executions according to official Bureau of Justice statistics. SEE STATS HERE

There are five methods of execution in the United States: lethal injection, electrocution, lethal gas, hanging and firing squad. All states bar one use lethal injection, with Nebraska originally favouring electrocution although they have just outlawed its use deeming it as 'cruel and unusual punishment' and currently have not decided upon an alternative method of execution. The means of execution has varied in Texas.

In September 2007 the US Supreme Court heard the case of two Kentucky Death Row inmates who were suing the state saying three-drug injections (see panel at right) violated the US Constitution's ban on cruel punishment. The court is due to rule on the case in June 2008 in effect halting all executions using this method in the meantime. Karl was scheduled for execution on 21st February 2008. He received a stay of execution the same month.

"As we have maintained since the U.S. Supreme Court launched its review of the lethal injection issue, we believe withdrawing Karl Chamberlain' s current execution date is the smart thing to do until the Supreme Court renders its ruling." Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins February 2008

The original facility for holding prisoners sentenced to death was the Ellis Unit at Huntsville, 44 miles (71 km) away to the east of Livingston. From 1819 to 1923 hanging was authorised, with this replaced by the electric chair. Bizarrely built by inmates, the chair 'Old Sparky' killed 361 prisoners at Huntsville before being decommissioned. The Supreme Court ruled capital punishment 'cruel and unusual punishment' in 1972 and all 45 men then on Death Row had their sentences commuted to life by the governor of Texas. Following the 1976 reintroduction of the death penalty Texas adopted lethal injection as the means of execution in 1977, with the first execution in 1982.

Karl started his sentence at Ellis in 1997. However his stay there was shortlived. A failed escape attempt by some inmates in the fall of 1998 resulted in the transfer of Death Row to the Terrell Unit, which was renamed as Polunsky, in Livingston. Whether residents in Livingston share the same sick sense of humour as their counterparts in Huntsville is not documented. A fast food restaurant located across the street from Ellis advertised 'Killer Burgers'.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) Correctional Institutions Division on its website describes Polunsky as a male prison with a maximum capacity of 2,900 inmates. The facility, which resides on a 472 acre plot, houses 'protective custody' G1 - G5 prisoners as well as those on Death Row and has a total of 775 employees of which 576 are rated as 'security employees' and an additional 62 medical and 8 psychiatric contract employees. In July 2006 (the last time the TDCJ Polunsky page was updated) there was an official count of 2,842 inmates held there. Medical capabilities are stated as including an infirmiary with 15 inpatient beds, ambulatory medical, dental and mental health services and 'sheltered housing for visually-impaired offenders'.

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