Gabi Uhl
Die Todesstrafe in Texas
Welcome to HUNTSVILLE!?
Texas and the Death Penalty
The City of Huntsville is part of Walker County in east Texas approximately 70 miles north of Houston, and 170 miles south of Dallas/Fort Worth via Interstate 45. Huntsville was founded in 1836,
and the population today is about 36.000. A big university, more than 70 churches - and 7 prisons belong to Huntsville. The most famous "son" of the city in the 19th century was Sam Houston, the
founder of the state Texas. In rememberence of him the university is named after him - and there is this white alabaster-statue of Sam Houston near the Interstate, as tall as a church-tower and
with a weight of 60 tons.
For more than 170 years Huntsville is the "prison-city" of Texas. When Austin had been chosen to be the capital of Texas, as a compensation Huntsville was made to the center of the texan
execution of the sentence. Today every third or fourth citizen of Huntsville is a prison-inmate - the information varies between 9.000 and 15.000 inmates who are in the prisons of Huntsville.
Therefore the TDCJ (Texas Department of Criminal Justice) is the biggest employer.
In Huntsville or its vicinity there is also the Death Row of Texas. About 200 prisoners are awaiting their execution - sometimes waiting more than 20 years. The average time is over 11 years. The
shortest time on Death Row prior to execution was 252 days, the longest 31 years. 27 of the 50 states of the USA still have the Death Penalty in their law, but in executions Texas is clearly
number one of all the states. Since the reintroduction of the Death Penalty in the USA, Texas did execute more than 570 human beings in the time from 1982 until July 2021 - 37 in the year 1997,
35 in 1999, and 40 (new record) in 2000.
Some dates about the history of the Death Penalty in Huntsville/Texas: Hanging was means of execution between 1819 and 1923, then Texas authorized the use of the electric chair. The chair -
called "Old Sparky" - was built by inmates, and 361 human beings lost their life between 1924 and 1964, being executed with this electric chair. Today the chair can be seen in the Prison Museum of Huntsville. When capital punishment was declared "cruel and unusual punishment" by the
U.S. Supreme Court in 1972, there were 45 men on Death Row in Texas and 7 in county jails with a death sentence. All of the sentences were commuted to life sentences by the Governor of Texas.
After the reintroduction of the Death Penalty in the USA in 1976, Texas adopted a year later the lethal injection as means of execution - which was used first in 1982.
For the lethal injection the condemned man (or woman) is strapped unto a gurney, with needles for injection in both arms. First some water with common salt shall clean the veins. When the inmate
has spoken his last words, the executioner starts the procedure and in former times three different chemicals flow into the body: 1. a very high dose of the narcotic Pentobarbital (before: Sodium
Thiopental), that makes the man fall into coma; 2. Pancuronium Bromide, a muscle-relaxant which causes the collapse of diaphragm and lungs; 3. Potassium Chloride to stop the heart beat. After the
tremendous problems US-states had in the last decade to obtain the chemicals for executions, Texas changed its rules and uses only one drug nowadays: Pentobarbital.
Witnesses of the execution are some officials of the media, and up to five relatives of the condemned inmate. They stand behind plexiglass, but very close to the gurney. Since 1996 relatives of
the victims are also allowed to witness the execution. Therefore the witness-room was divided with a wall into two parts. To avoid any trouble both different "parties" are strictly separated from
each other.
The executions take place in the oldest prison of Huntsville which is called "Walls Unit" (officially: "Huntsville Unit"). The Walls Unit is in the very center of Huntsville. Until 1965 the
inmates with a death sentence also lived there. But when the number of death sentences increased, Death Row became a part of "Ellis Unit One" which is about 12 miles away from the city of
Huntsville.
After a failed attempt to escape of some inmates in fall of 1998, the then around 400 Death Row inmates were moved to the "Terrell Unit" in Livingston, which a short time later was renamed into
"Polunsky Unit". In the Polunsky Unit the inmates live in total isolation. More about the conditions in Polunsky is to be read here: http://www.deathrow.at/welcometohell/.
The citizens of Huntsville appreciate the friendly atmosphere of their community - and in fact they are hospitable and ready to help. The many executions often are hardly noticed, because
meanwhile they are common in Huntsville - as common as the special offer of the "Killer-Burger" at the fastfood-restaurant "Mr. Hamburger", which is located just across the street from the Walls Unit. Even one called "Old Sparky" can be found on the menu.
More information about the City of Huntsville is to be found here: https://www.chamber.huntsville.tx.us or http://www.huntsvilletexas.com or https://huntsvilletx.com/ - and
the latest news every day in "The Huntsville Item", the local newspaper, in the Internet under the address https://www.itemonline.com. Under "Local News" there is a report almost after each execution.
The prison-cemetary of Huntsville:
Only the inmate-number and the date of death is to be found on the white crosses - and an "X" when the inmate was executed. Meanwhile this practice was changed and the deceased or executed prisoners get a tombstone with their name.
