December 11, 2000

Texas Baptist committee tours
the Death House in Huntsville
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___HUNTSVILLE--In a tiny building behind the imposing, red-brick walls of a downtown complex, the State of Texas kills more killers than at any other place in the Western world.
___Since 1982, when Texas reinstated capital punishment and adopted lethal injections as the method, the state has executed 236 convicted murderers in the Death House of the

CHAPLAIN JIM BRAZZIL explains his ministry to Death Row inmates to Texas Baptist restorative justice ministries committee members.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice Huntsville Unit.
___During the first 11 months of this year, Texas executed 37 prisoners, and another three executions were scheduled for early December. If those executions are carried out, Texas will end the year with a new record for the number of deaths by lethal injection in a single year.
___A small group of Texas Baptists recently toured the Huntsville Unit--better known as the Walls Unit for its 30-foot brick exterior--and visited with some of those who discharge their duties inside the Death House.
___The Baptists are members of a committee formed in response to a motion at the 1999 Baptist General Convention of Texas annual session asking the convention to explore the issue of capital punishment.
___Jim Young, coordinator of restorative justice ministries with the BGCT and former chaplain with the Department of Criminal Justice, arranged for the tour so committee members would have a clear sense of how the death penalty is carried out.
___Chaplain Jim Brazzil and Warden Jim Willett--both Baptists--and Assistant Warden Tim New took the committee step-by-step through the execution process.
___Years ago, Texas housed Death Row inmates at the Walls Unit. Today, 436 men on Death Row are held at the Terrell Unit in Livingston, about 40 miles east of Huntsville. Females awaiting the death penalty are at a separate facility.
___"None of us involved in this enjoy the job we have to do," Willett said. "We just try our best to do it professionally. We want to conduct it with all the dignity that is within us and treat everyone involved with dignity."
___The process begins when a prison van transports the condemned prisoner to the Walls Unit, backing up through a series of gates and a long alley to the Death House door at 1 p.m.
___He immediately is placed inside one of the eight holding cells within the small, brick building. He spends the afternoon passing time with Chaplain Brazzil.
___"I let the inmate set the pace. Sometimes we play chess or checkers or dominoes. Some tell jokes. Some want to talk or read Scripture or sing. I've led several to the Lord right here," he said, resting one hand on the bars of a cell.
___At mid-afternoon, the prisoner is allowed a 30-minute visit with his lawyer. Next, he is permitted 30 minutes with his personal spiritual adviser.
___Meanwhile, Brazzil goes a few blocks away to the Hospitality House, a Texas Baptist safe haven for inmates' families, where he visits with the family members of the condemned inmate. This offers an opportunity to relay messages between the convict and his family.
___"I walk through the process with them. I tell them what he is doing. It helps prepare them and give them a sense of bonding with their loved one," he said.
___Late in the afternoon, the condemned inmate eats his last meal. "I always eat dinner with them," Brazzil said. "I don't think a man ought to eat by himself, especially when it's his last meal."
___Sometime after 4 p.m., the inmate is given the chance to change clothes. He has the option of being executed in his white prison uniform or in street clothes, which most prefer.
___"That period after 4 p.m. is a very intense time," Brazzil said. Some inmates grow very quiet. Others want to talk about spiritual matters.
___"There have been many times when we've all been down on our knees--the prisoner and me, with correctional officers kneeling on either side. It's a very spiritual place back here."
___One inmate who made a profession of faith asked to be baptized, less than two hours before his execution. Brazzil explained the Baptist belief that baptism requires the total immersion of a believer, symbolizing death, burial and resurrection. There was no place to immerse anyone in the Death House. But the inmate insisted that he was a believer and wanted to obey God by being baptized.
___"I struggled with it, but I took a cup of water and did it the old Methodist way," Brazzil said. "In spite of my reservations, it was one of the most meaningful spiritual experiences I've ever had."
___At 6 p.m., Warden Willett's office receives two phone calls--one from the governor's office and one from the attorney general--instructing the prison personnel to proceed with the execution.
___Willett walks to the Death House with his hands in his pockets, calls the inmate by name and says, "It's time for you to get out and come with me."
___In Texas, the journey to the death chamber is nothing like the Hollywood image of a prisoner walking his last mile down a long, narrow corridor. At the Walls Unit Death House, it's just a few steps from the holding area to the adjacent death chamber. The prisoner is neither handcuffed nor shackled with leg irons.
___The death chamber is 8 feet wide and 10 feet long. Its brick walls are painted a pale green.
___A padded steel gurney takes up most of the room. It resembles the examining table in a doctor's office, except for the two stationary arm rests extending from either side and for the eight wide, tanned leather straps that hold the inmate in place.
___Once the inmate lies on the gurney, a tie-down team secures the restraints within half a minute. Four minutes later, members of the medical team insert the needles and hook up the IVs filled with $176 worth of lethal chemicals.
___Once the medical personnel leave, usually within three minutes, only three people remain in the death chamber. The inmate lies on the gurney. The warden stands at the head of the table. The chaplain stands at the foot of the gurney with his hand resting just below the inmate's knee.
___"I keep my hand there the whole time, giving a squeeze every now and then, just to let them know I'm there," Brazzil said.
___At 6:09 p.m., officers escort witnesses into two small viewing rooms, separated from the death chamber by thick glass. In addition to five media witnesses, the inmate is allowed up to five witnesses, and the victim's family is allowed five witnesses. A solid wall separates the inmate's family from the victim's family.
___Once the witnesses are in place, the warden asks the condemned inmate if he has any last words. He speaks to the witnesses through a microphone suspended above him.
___When the inmate completes his statement, the warden gives a signal to begin the execution. Physicians working on contract with the state of Texas--not employees of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice--push the plungers on syringes, injecting the condemned killer with a series of three lethal injections.
___The first chemical is sodium pentothol, administered at five times the dosage given to a surgical patient. The second chemical is pantrimonium bromide, a muscle relaxant. The final chemical is potassium chloride, which stops the heart.
___"One inmate went out singing 'Silent Night,'" Brazzil recalled. "You want to know how long it takes? 'Silent Night. Holy Night. All is calm. All is bright. Round yon virgin. Mother and child.' He choked out the word 'child,' and that was it."
___The warden waits precisely three minutes, then he calls for a medical examiner. He checks for respiration and pulse and shines a light in the inmate's eyes before pronouncing the time of death.
___The witnesses immediately are escorted out of the viewing room. After IVs are unhooked and the straps are unbuckled, the body is moved to a funeral home gurney and wheeled out.
___Time in the death chamber typically is less than half an hour.
___Sometimes, the family makes special arrangements with the funeral home to visit immediately.
___"On Death Row, there are zero contact visits. The funeral home will allow a family member to be there, quite frankly, to hold the body while it is still warm," Brazzil said.
___After the execution, Brazzil joins the family at the Hospitality House. Since 1987, directors Bob and Nelda Norris have made the Hospitality House a place of refuge for inmates' families through 145 executions.
___The Norrises and Brazzil help the family members process what they have experienced and begin working through their grief.
___"It seems that the one who hurts the most is the mother," Norris said. "When you hear the scream--the wail--of a mother whose son has just died, it will change your life forever. There is a victim at every level."
___ More than 155,000 offenders are incarcerated in the 110 prison units associated with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The total number of people incarcerated in Texas county, state or federal correctional institutions is more than 220,000.
___ The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has about 40,000 employees, including roughly 28,000 correctional officers.
___ Since 1982, Texas has executed 236 condemned inmates. As of Dec. 1, the state had executed 37 in 2000, with at least three more scheduled before the end of the year.
___ There are 436 men on Death Row at the Terrell Unit in Livingston. Seven women are on Death Row at the Mountainview Unit at Gatesville.
___

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