Oklahoma prison officials unveil new death chamber

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Oklahoma prison officials unveil new death chamber
By SEAN MURPHY, Associated Press | October 9, 2014 | Updated: October 9, 2014 7:07pm

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Prison officials unveiled the renovated execution chamber inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary on Thursday and expressed confidence that the agency would be ready for the state's next scheduled execution in November.

The $71,000 reconstruction of the death chamber and adjacent witness rooms gives executioners more space in which to operate. Department of Corrections also spent about $34,000 on new medical equipment, including $12,500 for a surgical table and $6,000 for an ultrasound machine to help locate veins.

New protocols require more training for the execution team and backup procedures in case a lethal injection goes awry.

Prison workers will begin training on the new protocols this week, and the agency will be prepared for the Nov. 13 execution of Charles Warner, who was convicted of raping and killing his roommate's 11-month-old daughter in Oklahoma City in 1997, said prisons spokeswoman Terri Watkins.

"We will be ready," Watkins said.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Oklahoma-prison-officials-unveil-new-death-chamber-5812907.php

[Turbineguy]

1. The Taliban

will be jealous.

[Politicalboi]

2. A firing squad would have been cheaper

And exact without fuck ups. Killed and raped an 11 month old. Shooting is too good for this scum, but it would be better than their botched executions. Who the fuck cares how he wishes to die.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

3. Ever notice how many of these guys commit suicide?

I say the best punishment is to make em live with what they've done.

[Nye Bevan]

12. Or a bullet in the back of the head.

But God forbid the witnesses see any blood or brain matter. Got to pretend that the whole thing is sanitized and humane.

[heaven05]

4. oh, that's very special

Last edited Sun Oct 12, 2014, 09:11 AM - Edit history (1)

I am slowly turning away from the barbarity that this action represents. And that's even with a sister having been murdered in a domestic violence situation, (on edit)and that's even with the unfair and racist incarceration numbers, of black males, in this society, racism and the racist people who perpetrate this hate, unless marginalized in an extreme manner, will never leave this society alone(end edit). Yet deep down I just can't see execution as a solution to this society's problems anymore. At the time of my sisters murder I would have garroted her husband myself, if he hadn't committed suicide. Yet as I watch this world and it's inhabitants on a slow spiral down towards who knows what fate, I am beginning to see just how devolved and desensitized we are becoming. War here, beheading there, terrorist incident over there, killing all manner of species that co-inhabit this world with us, unnecessarily. Huge 'calving' of one of our IMPORTANT ecosystems caused by greed and purposeful shortsightedness that will kill us ALL. And not enough people brave enough, in our 'leadership' to stand up and say enough. That's why I am losing hope. Who out there are getting fed up also? I'm voting and still, barely, hoping it makes a real difference. Sorry for the tangent rant.

[LiberalElite]

6. +1,000,000,000 n/t

[Judi Lynn]

10. You're not alone, not by a long shot. Many other also have watched the world with incredulity,

stunned, and disgusted beyond words.

For a while, it looked as if this country was going to take a higher road, moving away from capital punishment, toward desegregation, Roe vs. Wade, becoming more intelligent, spiritual, instead of religious, then the Republicans got control of everything in their furious reaction to national change toward the light.

They took us all down, Hostilities increased, violence increased, food and shelter, medical prices went beserk, and our government, local and national started falling apart, even as our roads started degrading, city services started disappearing, and criminality in our lawmakers started coming to the surface with, as we discovered they stopped even caring anymore about appearances once they learned there didn't seem to be any serious penalties any longer for corporate success at the total expense of the American people, not to mention the poor of the countries they have exploited for resources and labor, leaving them so much worse off than they were.

Can't imagine a cataclysm at the personal level like the one you were forced to experience. No conscious person could make it through that unscathed.

Your ability to perceive what has been happening around you isn't impaired, however, by your horrific trauma. The direction our country has taken has made so many people sick who were truly expecting things to get far, FAR better.

[Aristus]

5. Oklahoma Declares A State Holiday To Celebrate.

[greiner3]

7. Ive been thinking how I wanted my finished basement to look;

And THIS IS IT!

[LiberalLovinLug]

8. "We will be ready"

All that money and expertise spent on building a "death chamber". *shudder* My gawd. This is straight out of a horror movie! Maybe some here can't see the forest for the trees but we have lived in Canada without Capital Punishment for a long time now and sorry, this is ghoolish. It seems like a preview of some new torture porn movie.

By murdering a human because they murdered a human, the State, and by implication all of its citizens, have in effect, legitimized the inmates initial murderous actions. The inmates crime has now been watered down. By committing murder themselves, the State reduce the severity of the act of murder itself. To me that's a horrible thing to do not only the surviving family members of the inmate, but to the surviving family of the deceased.

Just because its all clean and sterile and shiny doesn't make it any less disturbing than a beheading in Iraq. Taking two human lives is NOT in some twisted logic way better than taking one human life.

[madokie]

9. I think death is too easy for these kind of animals

make 'm live as long as humanly possible. Give 'm time to think about what they've done. Too many of the condemned find god and go towards their death looking forward to the streets of gold and all that. Death is too easy for people like this one named in this thread. Raped and killed a 11 month old baby.

[LiberalLovinLug]

14. There should be consequences for sure

But one has to remove "revenge" out of the equation. I think that is the barbaric neanderthal aspect that does not belong in a progressive advanced society. If someone close to me was murdered in a similar horrific manner, I can't say that I wouldn't want to grab a rusty knife and go ISIS on him. But that's why we have laws in place for the greater good.

I am not a religious person, but I do think it all has spiritual consequences on a society when murder is fought with more murdering. Violence does beget more violence. Look no further than the Israeli / Palestinian conflict. When the State has decided that its OK to murder someone because they were "bad", it seeps into the conciseness of the citizens of that State. And so killing someone who pisses you off seems justified.

Of course if you simply looked at cases like the one you mentioned, you could say that individual deserves even MORE suffering than he will get, but he is the tip of the iceberg. Death row inmates crimes span the rap sheet from raping children to those convicted falsely who have not committed any crime.

I'd like to see the more heinous criminals have to have home movies and slides projected onto their walls 24/7 for a long time showing the faces of the people they murdered, their background, their life story and how promising a life they could have had. And their family members talking about them. Just so the inmate's actions and its consequences are at least pounded into his head, day and night. And he should have to do some kind of compensation action that either benefits the wronged family or the community.

[Nye Bevan]

11. Oh, how proud they must be of themselves (nt)

[Sunlei]

13. why the Circus OK?? take some heroin out of the evidence room and let the inmates SELF-suicide!

I don't understand why all the people Oklahoma kills just walk in quiet and lay down there on that table to die. They must drug them well in advance.

[babydollhead]

16. agree

heroin.

[AnalystInParadise]

15. Since the majority of voters in Oklahoma

have no problem with the DP, from their point of view, this seems to be taxpayer money well spent.

I don't live there, so not my problem.