Days like today really suck. Few people can even begin to understand what all of us here on death row go through when they put one of us to death. A few hours ago the State of Florida put Oba Chandler to death by lethal injection. For those who even knew of this event, at best it amounted to nothing more than a few seconds on the sic o’ clock news, summarily reporting that at 4:00 PM this afternoon Oba Chandler was put to death at Florida State Prison. As the story was told on the news, they may have seen the white hears pulling out of the prison gate carrying his body back out to the real world, but that’s it.
For those of us here, it was an all day ritual that cumulated in the death of someone who lived among us for 17 years. Myself, I did not personally know Oba Chandler, as |I was never housed on the same tier as him. We live in a small world, but it is a methodically segregated world where each of us are continiously kept in individual solitary cages until they are ready to put us to death.
Unless you’re actually housed on the same floor in proximity of others, you may never cross paths with many others as the only other time you might meet others is in the death row yard or in the “visiting park” And in the 17 years Chandler spent on Florida’s death row he never once had a visit. Many of the guys back here never get a visit – nobody cares to come see them, not even when the state prepares to kill them. Prisons are full of tragic stories. Nobody should have to face death without someone there to reach out in compassion. In the weeks leading up to the death of Oba Chandler we heard many on the local news zealously arguing why simply putting a 65 year old man, who allegedly killed 3 people over 20 years ago, by lethal injection was too humane. These people wanted him to suffer, as in their opinion taking his life was not enough.
I honestly don’t know what to say about those who are compelled to advocate torturing a condemned man to death. For over a quarter century I have lived among those that society has labeled to be the worst of the worst, but when I hear these people talk I have to wonder who the real monsters are? Even if I am to assume that these condemned are actually guilty of whatever heinous crimes they were convicted of, I know that inflicting that same measure of death upon another would only make me just as much as a monster.
What I know is that Oba Chandler’s last days and hours were not easy. I cannot imagine how anyone of moral conscience could say that forcing a person to quite literally count down the final hours, then minutes until they are deliberately put to death is humane. I have been there myself comig within hours of being executed and although tat was now almost 22 years ago this month, I still have nightmares about my own death watch experience. ( see
http://mikelambrix.blogspot.gr/2009/01/facing-my-own-execution.html )
I personally know a lot of the staff who work here and I was troubled by what I heard. Up until recently, when executions are scheduled the warden would do all he could to make it appear to be just another day. But not warden Singer. He apparently thrives on the whole ritual, making it an all day event that every prisoner here cannot ignore. Warden Singer wants us to know that it is a special day, that it will be a day that one of us will die. From early morning hours he has ordered the staff to wear their “dess uniform” (class A), which is only done on execution days. From breakfast through dinner the meal schedule is deliberately thrown off, breaking te normal routine and causing stress and anxiety among all prisoners.
Up until warden Singer took ver, previous wardens would at least try to show compassion to the condemned - but humanity comes from being humane, and just because you’re a man doesn’t make you humane. I was troubled when I was told that contrary to long standing tradition warden Singer did not allow Oba Chandler to have a last meal. Instead, all he got was a brown bag with a state peanut butter sandwich. If we can not find that measure of compassion and basic humanity when taking the life of another person then we really have to wonder who the real monsters are.
Michael Lambrix
Please check out my website
http://www.southerninjustice.net
