Next week, three federal death row inmates will be executed in my city. There haven’t been any executions since 2003, so this is apt to bring a lot of reporters and protesters here. Because of covid-19, we’d just as soon they wouldn’t invade our town. It’s come as kind of a shock. Most of us weren’t aware that these notorious criminals had been living nearby for so many years. Do you wonder about life near America’s death row? What is it like to live so close to America’s only federal execution facility?
First and foremost, the United States Federal Prison Complex has been seen as a great source of stable employment in a town that’s weathered many economic ups and downs. It opened here in 1940, when we were just coming out of the great depression. They had an open house, and our family went through the facility. The father of one of my grade school playmates came here as a guard. They were Irish, with a family of eight children, and came from New York City. One of the sons later became a Hollywood screenwriter. The prison employs about 700 people from every educational background. If you’ve lived here a long time, you probably knew at least one or two people who worked at the prison.
Working for the feds has a lot of perks, including great benefits and pensions. They also have a beautiful venue that employees may use for special occasions. Over the years, I’ve probably been to parties at the prison at least ten times. Weddings. Graduations. Baby Showers. Birthday parties. And yet, as far as I know, I never saw an inmate.
I once knew a dietitian who worked there as a part time consultant. Her pay was outstanding. I think she made about triple the going rate for dietitians in the area. But after awhile, she had to quit. She never discussed her work days or any of her patients(prisoners). Obviously, privacy laws were in place. All she said was this: ” I got so I couldn’t stand those gates closing behind me, one after another, as I went into work. It was giving me nightmares. “
The three men who will die next week in the United States Penitentiary by lethal injection are all white:
Wesley Ira Purkey, who raped and murdered a 16 year old girl in Kansas and killed an 80 year old woman.
Dustin Lee Honken of Iowa, who killed five people, including 2 children.
Danny Lee of Arkansas, convicted of killing a family of three.
Scheduled to be executed in August:
Keith Dywane Nelson, who kidnapped a 10 year old girl in front her Kansas home, raped and strangled her in a forest.
Other death row prisoners at this men’s prison include: Dzhokbar Tasaraev, convicted for his part in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Dylann Roof, who shot and killed nine parishioners at a church in Charleston, SC. In 2015. They’ve been there for several years, now. You wonder what they talk about.
60% of Americans are in favor of the death penalty. Others, like the Sisters of Providence oppose it, and will stage a protest. I guess I’d be against something like a beheading, hanging, or crucifixion. But lethal injection sounds tolerable. And if someone in my family were one of their victims, I think it would seem right and just.