Summary
Cover Story
The Pennsylvania correctional facility that houses its condemned prisoners, located in Huntingdon County, is a 19th century structure known for its particularly strict death row regimen. Inmates spend only two hours a day outside their spartan cells. A first hand account of conditions is provided.See the full content of this document
Extract
Live from death row.
The last yard of the day is finally called. "Capitals! Fourth, fifth, and sixth tier--YARD UP!" the corpulent correctional officer bellows, his rural accent alien to the urban ear. One by one, cells are unlocked for the daily trek from cell to cage. Each man is pat-searched by guards armed with batons and then scanned by a metal detector.
Once the inmates are encaged, the midsummer sky rumbles, its dark clouds swell, pregnant with power and water. A bespectacled white-shirt turns his pale face skyward, examining nature's quickening portent. The rumbles grow louder as drops of rain sail earthward, splattering steel, brick, and human. "Yard in!" the white-shirt yells, sparking murmurs of resentment among the men. "Yard in! Shit, man, we just out here!" The guards adopt a cajoling, rather than threatening, attitude. "C'mon, fellas--yard in, yard in. Ya' know we can't leave y'uns out here when it gits ta thunderin' an' lightnin'." "Oh, why not? Y'all 'fraid we gonna get ourself electrocuted?" a prisoner asks. "Ain't that a bitch?" adds another. "They must be afraid that if we do get electrocuted by lightni...See the full content of this document
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