麻豆约拍

What happens in the death chamber is a push and pull between the desire of a victim鈥檚 family for justice, and the need to follow the letter of the constitution. In this episode we鈥檒l see how the system tried to balance those needs.
Former prison guards show us the final hours of a prisoner鈥檚 life. What does that tell us about the future of the US death penalty?
Join Livvy Haydock as she takes us deep into Death Row in the USA. While support for the Death Penalty in the US remains at over 50 per cent, there鈥檚 been a steady decline in the number of executions 鈥� from the modern era peak of 98 in 1999 to just 20 in 2023 so far. Only a handful of states actually carry out the killings. It鈥檚 even become more difficult to get hold of lethal injection drugs, which is what led Livvy to a surreal story about a man in West London, who was supplying these ingredients to state penitentiaries in the US, and on to the macabre world of Death Row 鈥� and the people who live, work, and die on it.
Whether it鈥檚 the bizarre hunt for new lethal injection supplies, or the tip of the glasses that mark an executioner鈥檚 signal, Livvy goes behind the scenes into the chamber itself to examine the pressures on the system that have left just 5 US states actively carrying out executions this year and around 2,400 Death Row prisoners in limbo. We鈥檒l hear from an inmate waiting to die, and one saved at the last moment. We鈥檒l chat to the wardens who make it happen, and campaigners who want to stop it. And throughout, we鈥檒l discover the possible future for Death Row in the only western democracy still carrying out capital punishment.

New episodes released weekly. If you鈥檙e in the UK, listen to Gangster Presents鈥� Killing Death Row first on 麻豆约拍 Sounds: bbc.in/40W5Chz

Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series producer: Anna Meisel
Sounds design and mix: Richard Hannaford
Editor: Clare Fordham
Production coordinator: Janet Staples