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    The Meaning of Death Last Words Last Mea

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    DESERVES Te DIE CONSTRUCTING THE EXECUTABLE SUBJECT Edited by AUSTIN SARAT and KARL SHOEMAKER University of Massachusetts Press Amherst & Boston Copyright © aor by University of Massachusetts Press Alrights reserved Printed in the United States of America 1c 2011006730 sax 9782-55849-883-9 (paper; toon g781-55849-882-2 (ibeary loth) Set in Seala with Typeface Six display Printed and bound by Thomson-Shore, Inc Libtary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data “Who deserves to die? : constricting the exestable subject 7 edited by Austin Sarat and Karl Shoemaker. pcm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN o7rssb4o-885-9 (pbk alk paps) — ISBN 978-155849-882-2 (brary doth: alk paper) 1 Capital punishmentMoral and ethical aspets—United Stats 2 Discrimination in capital punishtnent—United States i Sarat Auatin, i. Shoemaker Karl mB699.05W49 2011 364.660973--dea2 2011006720 British Library Cataloguing in Publication data are available. 7 The Meaning of Death Last Words, Last Meals Linpa Ross MEYER ‘What is the meaning of capital punishment? Retribution? Atonement? Euthanasia of the socially undesirable subnuman? Revenge? State-sanc- tioned murder? ‘The triumph of discipline and technique? Martyrdom? ‘The moment of authentic confrontation with finitude, individuality, and the conditions of autonomy? ‘The final, cautionary chapter of a life-of crime narrative? Blood sacrifice? None of these lebels seems adequate, Death chides the living. It also fascinates and grips our attention. Our avid interest in the details of executions throughout their history and the rituals we use to set them apart testifies to this fascination and effort to sive them meaning, | focus here on two rituals of execution that remain ‘with us, even in a world in which many rituals have been left behind: last meals and last words “The execution, as currently practiced, is the ultimate triumph of dehu- :manization and institutional control: inmates and their guards are gradu- ally stripped of identity, submitted to the totalizing prison institution. ‘The ‘passive “patient” lies strapped to a gurney, awaiting a medical “procedure” ‘that brings supposedly painless death, The equally passive execution teams are trained to do their piecemeal roles (“strap down right leg’) without thought, reflection, or emotion. Robert Johnson stresses, in Death Work, ‘that the primary goal of the execution team is a “controlled execution.” Execution team members are even assigned to converse with inmates in the final hours before their deaths “to keep tabs on the prisoner's state of mind, and to steer hirn away from subjects that might depress, anger, or otherwise upset him, Sociability, in other words, quite explicitly serves as, a means of social control. ... Knowingly or unknowingly, chaplains, law- yets, and visitors may play a role in the denial process. They, too, wish to distract prisoners from the ugly reality that awaits them.”" 176 ‘The Meaning of Death: Last Words, Last Meals 177 ‘The ritualls of last words and last meals also introduce an element of the unpredictable and unmanaged and human, even as they provide a controlling social “script.” Dan Markel's contribution to this volume (see chapter 8) demonstrates that retributive shetoric is key to the current judi- cial justification of the death penalty, even if the kind of retributive theory the courts rely on cannot, on close examination, do that justificatory work. And, as Vanessa Barker argues in chapter 6 of this volume, the state’s need for a controlled, justifiable execution with a stock storyline of retxi- bution and atonement leads states to retain the last-words ritual, while at the same time generating the possibility of subversion and revulsion, as the condermed's atonement or victimization narratives both undermine those retributive ideals. This chapter delves into the history and meaning of these rituals, arguing that, although the ancient rituals of death may be remnants, they are not banalities, and they still allow for a condemned to play a crucial role in inflecting the meaning of death, even in the context ofa dehumanizing execution process. The History and Symbolism of Last Words and Last Meals Last words and last meals have been aspects of executions for as long as human history records. Aztecs fed their “sacrificial” prisoners before ex- ecution,? dying Hurons participated in a farewell feast,’ the Romans and Greeks allowed prisoners a last meal, For modern Western executions, ‘however, much of the most historically powerful imagery and symbolism of our last words and last meals rituals derive from the Last Supper of Christ and the words spoken from the cross. In the Anglo-American world, Kevin Francis O'Neill traces a right oflast words at executions from 1388 in England.‘ Indeed, in seventeenth-centu- zy England, the last meal was often the Eucharist itself although richer prisoners were allowed more elaborate feasts.6 The public execution in the seventeenth century inchided a sermon, and the last confessions and absolution of the executed, delivered at the scaffold itself moments before death, were recorded (often not very faithfully) and sold as popular tracts.” “The bodies of executed prisoners became themselves sources of healing and salvation; even into the nineteenth century, a hanged man’s hand was used in folk medicine cures for tumors, gout, and other diseases.* The executed prisoner, through the rituals of execution, could even be transformed (ike the “good” criminal who shared Jesus’ crucifixion} into 4 saint, his agonies only speeding his way to heaven. 178 LINDA ROSS MEYER Last Words Last words at the gallows were traditionally expected to be confessions and apologies from repentant sinners.” Even though prisoners were coun- seled, bullied, and exhorted to confess and seek absolution, however, their last words were still their own. Some prisoners in both England and the United States in the eighteenth century took pride in dying “game,” with- out confession and absolution, but instead with last words of rebellion or even sedition. They were not muzzled; their last words were allowed to transform the event, according the cultural script set by the framing ex- ecution of Christ. As with the two criminals who die on their crosses next to Jesus, one repentant and capable of faith, the other not, the ultimate meaning of the execution remains open to the end, settled only by the prisoners’ reaction to it in their final moments. Shai Lavi points out that for sore Protestants," the final moments before death were decisive for salvation, and the drama of the convicted criminal was not complete until wwe find out whether he will manage to save his soul. And, in Dante's Inferno, all the punished repeat forever the words they said that sealed their damnation." O'Neill points out that every condemned, no matter how notorious or socially insignificant, was accorded the privilege of last words, even the Nazis hanged after the Nuremberg trials: “The most hated criminals were allowed to deliver a dying speech, including the assassins of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. Individuals conspicuously bereft of most rights were nevertheless afforded their last words. The privilege was ex- tended, for example, to Nat Turner, a black slave who led an 183: revolt in which 55 whites were shot, beheaded, or hacked to death, Even a Tennes- see lynch mob saw fit to afford its victim the right to deliver a last dying speech." ‘Why is it still so important in our secular world to listen to the prisoner at the very moment before death? One possibility is that earthly incen- tives to lie or dissemble are presumed to be gone (although clemency vwas possible in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries even at the last minute).! Speech is unfettered by concerns for legally binding zdmis- sions that might ruin one's chance to avert death. Its an almost-perfectly Kantian moment, when one has the chance to act without concem for consequences, when the pressures of finitude are lifted and our position almost resembles the perfect being of reason who has no inclinations con- trary to reason. Indeed, inmates have, in their last moments, told where the victim’s remains were" or confessed to crimes others had been con- victed of committing,’” ‘The Meaning of Death: Last Words, Last Meals 179 A second possibility is that the words of one facing death may have spiritual and religious significance for that person. Itmay even be that the free exercise of religion requires making this ritual available to the con- deroned, as a last opportunity to confess and request absolution, or a last chance to unburden the soul of other crimes or offenses, Or perhaps the moment is secular more than spiritual, but nonetheless an opportunity for the offender to make peace with the punishment by acknowledging its justice and reconciling himself or herself with his community before witnesses and his or her own family, or by refusing to do so. A third possibility is that the words of one facing death have a spicitual significance for us, who are not (yet) facing death. Death is the final mys- texy, and we listen eagerly. Perhaps teetering on the threshold of life, one may havea glimpse of what is to come, or a special insight into what has ‘been, or a precious idea for the future, that one can still at this last mo- ment share with the living and never again. Spoech is the only part of the person that can, at that moment, transcend death, Even today, in the hear- say exception for last words, we see the remnants of the special veneration accorded the words of one who is near death, Last words at the point of death are decisive, reliable, memorable, and prophetic, and perhaps they reassure us of the continuity of humanity even as humans die. Michel Deguy classifies speech at death as sublime, because it under- scores the moment that the dying one's incomplete life or doomed idea is transcended and given over to the witnesses, who still can take it up: Sublimity at once belongs to the moral curve and surmount it, overhangs it tangentially like a remarkable “turning point,” ... Pechaps the only present is at this moment, “snatched from the order of time,” as Proust will say, the present of salvation, ...'The éying one who says the word of the end carries it away, into the too-ate, He is vanquished, but in passing down 2 speech that can be taken up again... . The “ruinous” relation is reversed, something surmounis the “end? by making it pass on and serve as a recommencement: a sublime point of time of double value. The definitive becomes transtnis- sible. The event requites a witness. The addressee is the witness, and speech is the element in which transmissibility can be transmitted. The witness hears, receives, entrusts to language; he takes up speech “on the lips of the dying,” in order to promise to “realize” it, He will fail to "realize” it and will transmit in his tum to the survivor the transmutation of his failure.!® ‘The last-words ritual is at once 2 metaphor for our own mortality and the sinmultaneous natality of human meanring-making, a last leaving and a “passing on” of the prisoner's insights and injunctions to his or her witnesses, and a purified, motionless “present” in which salvation is pos- sible, #f ever, if at all. Speech at that moment, then, offers a gift to the 180 LINDA ROSS MEYER prisoner and to the witness: the possibility of transcendence, the possibil. ity of the sublime, Such sublime speech, however, is nearly impossible under the circum stances of impending death. The paralyzing fear of death, the fallback stock script of confession and repentance that appear to justify the state's Kalling, makes last-words rituals appear as a kind of subtle torture, like dancing coerced by a pistol.!” They seem to be words allowed too kate, after too many years of unmanning silence, a paltry little dignity afier too many humiliations, a mock robe and crown, Many condemned find they can say little or sometimes only mumble incoherently, Even a clear refusal to speak, which, of course, speaks volumes, requires a stout decisiveness unavailable to many. Perhaps for this reason, old accounts of_last speeches on the gallows were most often completely fictionalized to serve the justi- ficatory and narrative closure demanded by their audience. Still, despite the cruelty inherent in requiring or expecting meaning- ful speech from one facing death, despite the sense in which the ritual seems mere window dressing on siate killing, despite the “scriptednese” and “propaganda” of the retributive narrative to be capped by the ritual last words, the last words, many of which are quoted below, still speak for themselves. That is the subversive moment, the moment when the audience is moved by the humanity and often surprising eloquence of the soon-to-be-speechless, Last Meals The symbolism of the last-meal ritual is perhaps even richer and more multivocal than the ritual of last words. Certainly as an allusion to Pass- over and the Last Supper.” the last meal signifies unity, forgiveness of sin, and gratitude for salvation throughs the blood sacrifice of execution. ‘The metaphor itself is pre-Christian, however. Food itself is dead life that is sacrificed and consumed so as to cxeate more life, ‘The figure of life beyond death is inherent in the act of eating itself. Hating is accepting this sacrifice and the hope of the life “within” to be sustained and created byit. Puritans in colonial Massachusetts reportedly held feasts of reconcilia- tion with their condemned prisoners,” celebrating in advance their atone- ‘ment and the renewal of their covenant with God, in clear emulation of the Last Suppez. Consistent with the communel feast, executions were ‘times of communal atonement, for the commission of crime was a sign of the decadence of all and called for God's vengeance on the entire com- ‘The Meaning of Death: Last Words, Last Meals 181 munity, a vengeance that could be forestalled only by the atonement of the blood sacrifice of execution” Through communal atonement, not only the sinner was saved, but, Christ-like (or as in the pre-Christian scapegoat ritual), the entire community. ‘As a ritual meal of reconciliation, last meals may be an offering by the guards and prison administrators as a way of seeking forgiveness for the impending execution, Ealing a hearty meal also symbolizes a clear conscience, a mind at peace with itself, and with the host.” This point is illustrated, ironically, in the crime and execution of Robert Alton Harris in California, The peace of mind Harris supposedly exhibited by eating his murdered victims’ haraburgers became a refrain in the popular news accounts of his crime, deepening the audience's sense of violation and demonstrating his supposed lack of remorse. Meals also bring comfort to the grieving and honor to the dead; offer- ings of food are often associated with funerals, Ancient Greck tradition required a funeral feast to help speed the departed soul to Hades. ‘The wealthy King Sisyphus tricked the gods into extending his life by telling his wife to forgo his funeral feast and the coin for Charon, and, as he predicted, the gods sent him back to earth to punish his wife for her disre- spect, Many cultures, from the Kgyptians to the Tlingit, buried their dead. with food, either for the comfort of the dead in the afterlife or for their remaining sojourn on earth a& lingering spirits before they departed for good. . Even before death, however, food brings comfort, As one hospice nurse reports: “When family members cook for their dying ones, food and faith come together, The meals aren't just physical sustenance, Their prepara- tion is truly an act of love. ‘Time and again, I've heard families describe the last meals their loved ones ate, So often, in fact, their stories have come to represent a litany to me.” “The last meals of the executed fascinate us. Art has been made of the “ast meal” ordered by various prisoners A weblog, www.deadmaneat- ing, records the last meals and last words of executed prisoners and sells ‘Tshirts and other paraphernalia, Cookbooks of food served to condemned prisoners are available” ‘Many commentators view this interest in last meals as at east bizarre and, at worst, exploitative, sadistic, and prurient. The Texas Correction- al Authority took the last-meal information off its website, because the commercial use of it in popular books seemed to attract unseemly intet= est in the details of the execution and offended the condemned’s loved 182 LINDA ROSS MEYER ones, although last-meal information is still publicly available for the de- termined.” As capital defense attorney Stephen Bright said, “So often, these cases have very compelling issues—questions of justice, questions of mental capabilities, questions of age and maturity at the timc of their crime—and here we are, dealing with the most awesome and enormous ‘kind of thing that human beings can do, which is to take a human life, and we're focused on the trivial." To be human, though, is always to seck meaning where all seems meaningless, and in nothing more urgently than in the nothingness and banality of death, Death above all demands meaning, and last words and meals offer a chance to explore that meaning, At the very least, last-meal orders “humanize the most hated segment of our society” and connect us with the offenders; their orders make us hungry, too, and we understand and share their basic human need to seek food that brings back memories of happier times: a cuisp apple, butterbeans, french fries, a birthday cake with pink candles.” ‘These offerings also have important nonbanal meaning as “barbaric and cruel”: food that cannot nourish but will end up only in an autopsy eport; food inmates have been denied, Taxtalus-fashion, until they are too upset to eat or enjoy it; food that only makes more mockingly tangible the prisoner's own imminent reduction to meat and bones; food that is far ‘00 little compassion far to late; food that asks forgiveness for the unfor givable; food that symbolizes a false contract of security, forgiveness, and hospitality; and food that, if caien, symbolizes collaboration with one’s enemy. Covenant meals in the Old ‘Testament, for example, make plain that ritual meals offered to an enemy must come with an obligation of protection, and sitting down to a meal with an enemy who intends no such protection may be the deepest kind of betrayal.™ Hence, in the context of execution, the symbolism of the last meal may often be deeply ironic, pointing out only the absence of forgiveness, hos- pitality, reconciliation, protection, friendship, and nourishment. As in the ceremony of last words, the meaning of the ceremony of the last meal remains ambiguous until the prisoner acts. Did he or she refuse or ridi- cule the meal? Did he or she order it, but was not sufliciently at peace to cat it? Did he or she eat and enjoy it? Did he or she invite the guards to join the meal? Was his or her family allowed to eat with the prisoner? Did he or she thank the cook? Again, the meal provides the opportunity for ‘the prisoner to participate in creating the meaning of the event of execu- tion. The last meal, ike the last words, places an clement of the execution ‘The Meaning of Death: Last Words, Last Meals 183 outside the control of the authorities, leaving its meaning uncertain, its justice incomplete. Philip Smith's perceptive words about eighteenth- and nineteenth-century public executions still apply to these rituals today: Yet not all participants in executions behaved in ways that would give satis- faction to the authorities, Patterns of “resistance" among execution victims fall into two analytic groups. On the one hand some of those who are to ‘be executed exhibit a profound—and apparently authentic—attachment to positive social norms. Others may express commitment to deviant norms and identities. In both cases the victim redefines the narrative of the exect- tion, destroying or challenging the dominant cultural and political meanings ofthe exccution-as-text. ... In the case of a “deviant” performance the victirn Gislocates the genre of the solemn ritual into a farce or an act of “heroic” resistance, Paradoxically, “pious” performances that were very much of the type the zuthorities desired could have a similarly deleterious influence on the dominant semiosis. When well played they were able to deconstruct the orthodox execution-text end realign symbols and emotions in such a way ‘that the victim became the object of pity, veneration and respect.”> The Rituals Today ‘The rituals of last words and last meals remain in many, but notall, states that execute, but the circumstances and process vary dramatically. Some states have eliminated the rituals, others xetain them in a feebler form or sn contexts that make it much more difficult for them to mean anything, Here I am greatly in debt to Deborah Denno’s exhaustive work on ex- ecution protocols in her battle against lethal injection, for the protocols she collected also unveiled the details of the rituals of last words and last meals, During the last twenty-four hours, the inmate is waiched constantly by the execution squad. Although some states allow contact visits during this ‘period, Texas does not. Johnson’ portrays these last days and hours as a process of gradual dehumanization as the prisoner leaves his or her old cell and most of his or her personal effects, changes clothes, says farewells to family members, and is isolated from other prisoners. The last meal comes sometime within twenty-four hours of the exe- ution. Too close to the execution and it will adversely affect the lethal injection, too far ahead and the prisoner will be hungry. In some states, the prisoner asks for the last meal in person; in Texas, the prisoner writes the request on a preprinted form, During the last hours, members of the execution squad try to keep the prisoner calm, talking about other topics, allowing the prisoner to call 184 LINDA ROSS MEYER friends on the phone. The condemned may eat the last meal in the guards’ ‘presence—sometimes even sharing it with them—although “most eat little or nothing at all." Last meals or, more euphemistically, “special” meals are mentioned in the execution protocols of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut (at discretion of warden), Florida {under $20}, Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania (from 2 menu}, South Dakota (only food items normally available), ‘Texas, Virginia (any meal normally served), and Washington (from a menu). (Other states, like Louisiana and Georgia, may serve a last meal but do not mention it ina formal protocol), Kentucky, Nevada, and South Carolina do not have publicly available execution protocols.” Prison guards may make special efforts to give inmates their desired Jast meal, even when the “protocols” restrict them. Brian Price, death row cook, writes: "I did my best to give the men and women what they wanted, Tadded spices to the canned vegetables to make them taste fresh. 1 made ‘banana pudding by mixing the prison-issue vanilla pudding with fruit and crumbled cookies. I snuck extra cheeseburgers onto the tray of a prisoner whose menu had been reduced." Karla Faye ‘Tucker requested a banana, peach, and garden salad with ranch dressing for her last meal, none of which were normally available in the Texas prison. Price writes: About 3:00 that aftemoon, Captain Parkins came out of her office with the ‘makings of what would be Karla Faye ‘Iucker’s last meal. She walked up to the table where Moose and I were waiting, put down the litle plastic bag, and pulled out four peaches, 2 nectarine, two bananas, a cucumber, a pre- made garden salad, and a bottle of ranch dressing. “1 want this tobe displayed nicely, che said firmly. “Go get une. knife and lslice the peaches,” she added, ... After slicing the peaches and nectarine, Captain Parkins arranged them in a circle ona floral-printed paper plate, and then set the two bananas in the center. Our five-oottall captain then took a sep back wiped her hands on towel, and eighed. "Well that's the best we can do. ‘Tucker, however, never touched her last meal. In unusual cases, the last meal can reserible the feasts thrown by the richer prisoners in eighteenth-century-England’s Newgate Prison. Be- fore Gary Gilmore's execution in Utah, he was treated with umusual leniency by prison officials. ... He was, for ex ample, allowed to hold a party on the eve of his execution, during which he vwas fice to eat, drink, and make merry with his guests until the early morn- ing hours. ... For the record, Gilmore served Tang, Kool-Aid, cookies, and coffee, later supplemented by contraband pizza and an unidentified liquor. ‘The Meaning of Death: Last Words, Last Meals 185 Periodically, he gobbled drugs obligingly eupplied by the prison pharmacy. He played a modest arrangement of rock music albums but refrained from dancing? And, during Donald Cabana’s wardenship of Mississippis Parchman Prison, the prisoner's family was allowed to share the last meal. In Geor- ia, there used to be a ritual last drink with the warden, now abolished with the general prohibition on alcohol. ‘These cases are outliers, however. As Johnson cautions: “The subjects of typical executions remain anony- mous to the public and even to their keepers. They are very much alone at the end.” After the last meal and before the prisoner is taken to the room to prepare for execution, he or she must distribute all his or her persons] effects: They have already given up many of the things that they possessed in their death row cells; terns ruled to be either superfluous... or potential weapons ‘were confiscated at put aside when the prisoner arrived at the death house, in accordance with regulations, The staff, at this point, inventories all of the prisoner's possessions, including those already put aside, records them on a one-page checklist form, packs them in boxes, and marks them for disposi- tion to family and friends, Prisoners are visibly saddened and even moved to tears by this procedure, which at once summarizes their lives and under- scores the imminence of their death.° ‘When electrocution was the method of execution, the next procedure was shaving the prisoner’s head and leg and changing into “execution” clothes without zippers. “As one officer put it bluntly, ‘Come eight o'clock, we've gota dead man. Fight o'clock is when we have the man. We take his identity, it goes with the hair.'"*” Although the personal invasion is not quite so extreme in preparation for lethal injection, there is stil] humilia- tion: inmates must change into prison denims and “a Chux incontinence pad" ‘Then there is the final wait. Johnson writes: “Held in this increasingly lifeless milieu, the prisoner can normally count on his atlorney, a chap- Jain, and a personal counselor for emotional support and advice. Like the team officers, these people sce the prisoner's despair and deterioration, Unlike the officers, however, they try to help the prisoner cope on his own terms."? Physical contact is “vital.” Before one man's execution, “there was a moment that was really moving, He was holding two people's hands, as well as a cup of coffee; someone had a hand on his knee, and another person had a hand on his shoulder.” 186 LINDA.ROSS MEYER Finally, there is the last walk to the execution chamber. Writes John- son: “Prisoners ... agonize over their last walk, fearful that they will break down and leave behind a legacy of cowardice, As one man put it, ‘Don't nobody want to go out and the word you left behind is that you broke down.'"*! The guards do their best to keep the prisoner calm and on his or her feet, for they don’t want an ugly scene. Continues Johnson: “The prisoner, obviously in distress, is admonished to walk to his death like a man, in conformity with the official script; the executioners, in control of themselves and the situation imply that, in exchange, they will do the job cleanly and without a hitch. A fatal collusion ensues. ... It is the unanimous view of the officers that the inmates want to ‘hold up for ‘the row." In some states using lethal injection, the prisoner is strapped to the gurney before being wheeled into the execution chamber, for an eddi- tional level of control. In Virginia and Louisiana, the prisoner walks into the chamber, where he or she can sce the witnesses waiting behind a glass, and is only then strapped onto the gurney, The additional measure of dignity of being allowed to see the witnesses before being strapped down means additional risk of loss of control, For those strapped in be- fore the witnesses appear, the wait is often very long, as a saline intrave- nous drip is begun sometimes more than an hour before the lethal drugs are injected. In Texas, after the prisoner is strapped down in the gurney, the wit- nesses are allowed into the viewing room and the prisoner can see the witnesses standing behind a plastic barrier. The warden lowers a micro- phone so that the prisoner can make a final statement, In this setting, the prisoner is looking at, and speaking to, loved ones, victims’ families, and, press and official witnesses. The last words of prisoners in ‘Texas reflect this audience. (The official Texas execution protocol does not mention the last-words ritual, but it is recorded in a history book). In other states, execution protocols also leave out any mention of last- words ritual. Last-words rituals are mentioned only in Florida,“ Georgia,” Louisiana,* Mississippi,” North Carolina,“ Ohio," South Dakota? and ‘Tennessee.® In New Jersey, before it abolished the death penalty, prison- ers were to be given morphine 45 minutes before the execution, so it is unlikely the prisoner would be coherent enough to make a statement. Also in New Jersey, unlike most other states in which the warden and execution team stay with the prisoner during lethal injection (and some- times a prison chaplain as well), the prisoner was to be absolutely alone in The Meaning of Death: Last Words, Last Meals 187 the room; executioners were to be hidden in an adjoining room to protect their identity, and they were to administer the chemicals through tubes ‘that fed through the wall. Although Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas, and Utah allow the pris- oner to make a verbal last statement in the presence of witnesses, in California, Nevada, and Virginia, the prisoner has no microphone, so wit- nesses cannot hear these words until they are related after the prisoner's death by the warden. Maryland and North Carolina have the prisoner re- cord his or her last statement only in the presence of corrections officials and not witnesses,® and in Llinois, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina, only writien statements are allowed, released after death by the warden. Clearly, the manner and matter of a last statement may be dramatically affected by the members of the audience and how the prisoner is allowed to address them (standing or strapped down, in writing or verbally,” at the time of execution or later, mediated through the lawyer or warden or communicated directly, with good clothes on or in “execution wear"). States more concerned about “painlessness” and keeping “control” of the execution, as exemplified by New Jersey's (unused) protocol, may forgo ‘the last-words ritual completely, ‘The reliance on written statements in many states is especially problem- atic, because prisoners have been speaking in court pleadings, through stheir attorneys, for years, The chance to speak to official witnesses in per- son, in one’s own voice, is the only way to cut through the perception of insincerity that has built up in the “record” of the case, because one Joses over and over again. In many of the “last words” from Texas, where inmates are allowed the opportunity to speak to the witnesses, including victims’ families, itis clear that they want to reach across the inauthentic- ity created by years of litigation and speak to witnesses and victims and the wider audience of press and public in thelr own personas and in their ‘own voices, ‘The Tropes of Last Words (in Texas) Alsough the last words depend on audience and context, last words of ex- cuted inmates in Texas reflect the spontaneity of verbal dialogue and the presence of both crime victims’ families and condemmed’s family among the witnesses. The Texas Department of Corrections records these state- ments and puts them on its website—except for profanity and Spanish, which are censored from the record.” Like the execution pamphlets of 188 LINDA ROSS MEYER old, the words are made public so that the virtual audience can judge “how they died.” The tropes of these last words are much the same as they were in the eighteenth and nineteenth conturies—some die repentant, some die protesting, some die game—but the more intimate audience is reflected here, too. Most of these “last words" are words of love for family and friends who are present. The execution begins to resemble the death. ‘ded more than the public forum. ‘Table 7.2 shows a content-based break- down of the kinds of statements made in executions in Texas, through the 4osth execution. ‘Tamtz 7.1. Frequency of Common Themes in Last Words of Texas Inmates through Execution 405 “The frat colton shows the therve expressed the second the wiumbor of exec tions (out of total of 405) in which the theme appears, and the tied the percentage of executions in which It appears. Express love for friends and family Express faith in God Acknowledge guilt and apologize Fapress gratitude to friends and family Believe they are going to better place Acknowledge victim's families feelings [Express regret or sorrow for victims Protest death penally or injustice of trial Norecard Refuse to speak Assert innocence Ask victims’ families for forgiveness Fargives others: “no hard feelings” Ask forgiveness from others besides victim. Other Disagree with victims! perspective Incoherent Express faith without mentioning God Express gratitude to lawyer Joke or try tobe “game” Use profanity Protest racism Sce theit deaths as “examples of faith” 385 40 303 4 92 86 7” 54 50 49 B “4 Ey 30 3° 6 5 3 9 6 4 3.2% 25% 2.2% 15% 1.0% 3% Content enaiysix from Last Statements of Texas Inrnates as reported at wave ‘dejstate-tous/stat/exccutedoffenders him ‘The Meaning of Death: Last Words, Last Meals 189 Why does the Texas Department of Corrections place these statements on the Internet? No other state does so; other last words must be gleaned from news accounts. As Vanessa Barker argues in chapter 6 of this vol- ume, the statements both support and undermine the penalty. Some lend themselves to the standard interpretation of the executions as a final atone- ‘ment of the repentant or “deserved” penelly for the unrepentant, but the statements also bring home that these are real people we are killing, with friends, families, aspirations, regrets, anger, remorse, confusion, courage, fear, and sadness, ‘The proceedings remain meaningful, but the meaning. remains contested. And the Texas Department of Corrections most likely also knows that those about to be executed will know that their words will survive them, giving them both 2 moment of autonomy and a reason not ‘to show fear, struggle, or fight their guards—an audience and a script for dying well—and in a “controlled” fashion. Atonement (confession and absolution) Confessions and expressions of remorse are common, sometimes hedged or qualified, sometimes extremely moving. Here are two examples from the Texas Department of Corrections website: _Jessifer where are you as? I'm sorry, Tdid not know the mars but for a few seconds hefore I shot him, Tb was done out of fear, stupidity, and insmaturity It wasrtt until I got locked up and sav the newspaper. I saw his face amd his sulle and T new he-was a good raan. I amt sorry for all your family and nsy disrespect he deserved better. Sorry Gus. Thope all the best for you and your daughters. 1 hope ‘you have happiness ffora here on out. Quit the heroin umd methadone. T love you ad, Devin, and Walt, Were done Warden —Jonarsta Moore, executed January 17, 2607, for shooting a police officer ‘who conftonted him during s burglary. ‘To my family first and foremost—I love you all. The calmness tsat Twas telling: you about, I sill have tt. You are Mario's Uncle, correct? I just wanted you to know that I wronged your farsty. I received nothing, I was nok paid, 4008 his life forthe love ofa frend. Tove you all, [just want you to know thot. Flow he does, 1 fee it, Pm alright. Make sure momma knows, stright. Jermaine, [love you too man, Alright Warden, —Donnvect Jackson, executed November 1, 2606, for killing « man who was ‘to testify against the man who hited him in an aggravated assault case Love and Strength and Solidarity Most of these last statements are primarily expressions of love and sup- port for family and friend witnesses present behind the glass, lawyers, or 190 LINDA ROSS MEYER fellow inmates, Here ate a few, also from the Texas Deparment of Cor. rections website: ‘Yes. Man, [just want you to know how much Tove them, Twant you to be strong and gt throughs this time, Do not fall back. Keep going forward. Dor lt this hinder you. Let everybody know Tlove them (several names listed), Kevin—as well 4s everyone else in the family. Tell them that [love them and stay strong. This is kind of hard to put words together; am nervous and isis hard to put my thoughts together. Sometimes you dort know what to say; hope these words give you com~ for, I don’ know what to say. [want you fo know [ove you; just stay strong and dont give up. Let everybody know I love them ... and love is unconditional, as Mama has alias told us. I may be gone in the flesh, but Tam always with you in spirit, Hove you. —Smanmon ‘Torowas, executed November 16, 2006, forthe drug-related execution-syle shooting of a roan and his two children, Yes sin. To Bile, Tom, and and [sic] Carma—Tlove all you all. appreciate all your support. [Tove you Margherita, Father Guido, and Father Angelo. t appreciate your spiritual support and all those that were ins prayer for me. Twill be O.K. Lam ‘it peace with all ofthis and T wor have towake up in prison any more. Love you all, totally surrender to the Lord, 1 am ready, Warden, —Brvan Wonrs, executed May 18, 2005, for the robbery and murder of an eighty-fouryear-old wornan, Yes sir. Darling Kerstin, those last few years have been blessed having you in. my life. And to all my friends that have been out shere, thank you for your friendship «ad support ond al you have done for me. The guys back there waiting, keep the {faith and stay strong and put your faith in the Lord. Mary times in life we take ‘the wrong road and there are consequences for everything. Mistakes are made, but with God all things are possible, So put your faith and trust i Him, We tall about «reprieve or stay from the Supreme Court, but the real Supreme Court you must face-up there ani not downs here. Keep your heads up and stay sirong. 1 Tove you al, That i ib. Stay strong. Thank you, Janne BurzA.oe Jr, executed January 31, 2006, fo shooting two men after a ar fight between them and im and his father. Yes. Well here we are again fol, isthe catacombs of justice, You know there is lot 1 wanted to soy—a lot I though’ I'd say—but there is not a whole lt to say There are people thas will be mad thinking I try to seck freedom from this, but as Tong as 1 see—frcedom belongs to ine and J keep on keeping on, The shackles cand chains that just might hold my body oar hold may ind, but will kill me oth enwvise, Hove you momma, and Misty and Annette, Brenda and Anthony-—and all my friends and everybody that supported me. F leave my love here; Lam mever _gping fa stop loving you. My love is going to stay here. —Farprnice MeWr1z1Ans, executed Novernber 10, 2004, for Kiling a man in a carjacking after a robbery and murder ‘The Meaning of Death: Last Words, Last Meals 191 Yes Warden, Ido. Well Mom, sometimes it works out He this. Love lif; live Tong. When you are dealing with reality, rea is not chuays what yo want it to be. Take care of yourselves. love you, Tel my kids | Tove them. God is real He is fixing to Jind out some deep things that are real. Bounce back, baby. You know what I'm saying. You all sake care of yourselves. That is it Mancus Corton, executed March 3, 2004, forthe robbery and murder of an assistant distcict attorney ‘Thanks to Fellow Inmates, Lawyers, and Prison Officials Some inmates end with thanks to fellow inmates, lawyers, or prison of ficials, making clear that the formation of relationships does not end with prison, From the Texas Department of Corrections website: Twwould Hike to say—T just hope Ms, Fielder is happy now. I would lke to thank my lawyer, Newsy, for her help on ney case and for being with me now. —

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