What Next: Oklahoma's Upcoming Execution Spree

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News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 August 2022

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Despite its fraught history of botched executions, the state of Oklahoma is preparing to begin a 29 month execution spree this week. 25 dates have been set for men with severe mental illness, personal histories of childhood abuse, inadequate legal representation, or claims of innocence. Though these inmates have been deemed "the worst of the worst," activist nun Sister Helen Prejean implores the world to look at fuller pictures of their lives, and seek out an alternative to the death penalty. Guest: Sister Helen Prejean, anti-death penalty activist and author of Dead Man Walking, The Death of Innocents, and River of Fire. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	In July, the state of Oklahoma set execution dates for 25 people, all of whom have been
0:12.6	on death row for years, some decades.
0:15.7	The first person the state intends to kill is James Coddington.
0:19.7	I ask Sister Helen Prajon, America's leading advocate against the death penalty, to tell
0:25.2	me about him.
0:26.2	I'm going to start with where James Coddington is right now.
0:31.4	Oklahoma has the added cruel.
0:33.4	Well, when a person is going to be killed by the state, 35 days ahead of time, they send
0:40.5	them into this cell, right adjacent to the killing chamber.
0:44.9	It's totally made of stone.
0:47.9	The bed is stone.
0:50.4	Everything in it is stone.
0:51.8	And there are several video cameras trained on you, watching you every second.
0:58.8	When you breathe, when you go to the toilet, watching you, and you can hear the sounds
1:04.9	very clearly coming from next door as they get the gurney ready, as they do their practice
1:12.0	things to kill you.
1:14.2	In 1997, Coddington killed his friend Albert Hale with a hammer.
1:19.4	At the time, Coddington was addicted to drugs, and Hale refused to buy him more.
1:24.9	In a recent hearing, Coddington delivered a five-minute presentation to the Oklahoma
1:29.6	pardon and parole board.
1:31.8	He said, I can't apologize enough for what I did.
1:36.0	Hale was one of my friends, and he tried his best to help me.
	...

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