different story, same plot

With CPE winding down, not to mention Justin's internship, I've been really busy with getting papers done and handed in and going to dinners with just about every member from Justin's congregation. I had hoped to write more often like I did during the first half of the summer, but that just hasn't been the case. Now here I am with only four days left of CPE -- my, how the time has flown.

I had to take time to write about today, though. I should really be in bed, but today was especially interesting. Instead of doing our usual pastoral care Monday at Metro, our CPE group and our supervisor went to tour the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison. Since it's located in the city of Jackson, it's usually just referred to as Jackson. This prison is the maximum security facility for men in the state of Georgia. In a way, it's the male version of Metro.

With a capacity of 2200 inmates, Jackson is more than twice the size of Metro. Also, while there are only three women's prisons in Georgia, there are well over 30 men's prisons. Like Metro, Jackson is where all the inmates are initially sent to be classified and go through the diagnostics process. Also like Metro, Jackson is the max security prison and therefore holds the Death Row inmates. Unlike Metro, which houses the one and only female on Death Row in Georgia, Jackson holds over 100 men who have the death sentence.

The first of many differences I noticed as we began the tour of Jackson was that everything is indoors and connected by a series of sallyports and hallways -- as I've mentioned before, Metro is compiled of several buildings with an outdoor walk in the center. The person giving us the tour was Chaplain Stanley Harrell. He's the only chaplain at Jackson, and he's been there for nearly 25 years. He was very informative as we walked through the compound. I was very glad to already have spent nine weeks at a prison; it made the information Chaplain Harrell gave us easier to understand and more meaningful. Also, just being able to compare two different prisons was really interesting.

Chaplain Harrell took us to one of the GP houses (they're called houses instead of buildings, but they each have a letter, just like at Metro). What we saw was far more like the way prison is displayed in the movies that we were used to seeing at Metro. Each tiny room (which was originally built for one person) held two men. The doors had bars, which is more stereotypical of a prison -- Metro cells just have solid doors which are closed at night. Anyway, there was a very long hall of these cells, and above it a second floor just like it. The cells weren't facing across the room from other cells, however; instead, they were just facing windows made of what looked like cinder blocks. The shower area was completely open and exposed to anyone walking down the hall or into the house (and could also be seen through the yellow barred gate that separated the house from the hall to the main control room). On an even higher level than at Metro, privacy simply does not exist for the inmates at Jackson.

We walked past the chow hall and then stepped outside into the "yard." This was just a big empty field of grass surrounded by razorwire fences. While the women at Metro have to go outside in order to get from one building to the next, the men at Jackson are only allowed outside during alloted yard time. It's got to be really depressing always being indoors and rarely seeing natural sunlight.

We walked down the yard, laughing at the geese that apparently preferred to be on this side of the fence, and then Chaplain Harrell stopped outside of a red door with the number 34 on it. He unlocked it and led us inside. It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the inside, and the first things I made out were about four rows of wooden benches, much like church pews. I thought perhaps this was where the chapel was held. Then I took in more and realized I couldn't have been more wrong.

The benches were facing a window that looked into another room. In that room was what looked kind of like a dentist's chair, only there were straps all over it, and also slats sticking out of the sides with more straps (I assume for one's arms). No, we weren't looking at the chapel at all. We were looking at the Death Chamber.

This was the place where all the executions in Georgia take place (even the women, as Metro has no such thing). Since Chaplain Harrell hadn't told us where we were going, but rather just let us slowly register it, the effect was amazing. I had goosebumps all over, and I felt a general sense of unease around me as we each realized where we were. Chaplain Harrell took us back into the room with the chair. There was a pillow at the head, and I found that odd -- why attempt to make someone comfortable who is only sitting in that chair to be killed? Is a pillow really going to help ease that person?

Chaplain Harrell explained a little about the process of the execution and the days leading up to it. It used to be death by electric chair, but now it's lethal injection. For two days before an execution, the entire prison shuts down. The only people allowed in are the inmate's family. On the day of the execution, the inmate is brought down to the death chamber and housed in a cell on a room off to the side. He is given his last meal here, and the chaplain is the only one allowed back there with him. Executions are always scheduled for 7pm, but Chaplain Harrell said they rarely happen exactly at that time. The inmate is allowed to choose five people to witness his execution, but family members are not allowed. Usually they will pick the chaplain, the inmate's lawyer, and other people of the sort. Other witnesses to the execution include people from the county where the crime took place, press people, the Commissioner as well as other people high up in the system, and more recently, the family members of the victim, if they so desire. Chaplain Harrell said there are always more people than that at an execution, and that the small room with the benches is always packed full, like they're there to see a show. He said this with some disdain, and I can understand -- why would you want to watch someone being killed if you didn't have to?

As 7pm approaches on an execution day, the inmate is led into the death chamber and strapped into the chair. The Warden then comes out and announces to the audience that things will begin, then he goes to a room behind the death chamber where he and the Commissioner and other high up people sit. A nurse comes in to give the put in the needle, and then a machine in the back puts three shots into the inmate. The first one is enough to kill the man, like putting a pet to sleep, but the second one collapses the lungs, and the third one stops the heart. I guess they want to make sure the man is good and dead as soon as possible. As for the person who pushes the button that makes the machine give the shots, I believe there are multiple people who push buttons, but no one is told whose button actually triggered the machine.

Chaplain Harrell said he's witnessed all the executions that have taken place since he's been there. The way he put it, a member of his congregation is dying, and he wants to be there with them. It makes sense to me, but I honestly don't know if I could go through with it. Even if it just looks like the person is being put to sleep, I would know it was really much more permanent.

After that, we saw the real chapel and then talked for a while in Chaplain Harrell's office, but it was definitely the Death Chamber that stuck in my mind, and still sticks now. I don't know, I guess seeing it in real life just made it all that more real to me. I've never been in favor of the Death Sentence myself, and seeing that chair and those benches facing it just enforced my dislike of the idea.

All in all, it was a really good day, and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to see another prison and compare it to what I have come to know this summer.