Sounds from Death Row
Hear from reporters on the steps of a Texas prison, a former warden in charge of executions, inmates describing life in solitary confinement, and more voices from inside and outside of America’s death rows.
Sounds recorded by Anne-Fréderique Widmann and Patrick Chappatte
Michael Graznyk
Jason Clark
Phil Archer
Jim Willett
Luis Castro Perez
Abel Ochoa
Kevin Cooper with Anne-Fréderiqué Widmann and Patrick Chappatte
Michael Graznyk, AP correspondent
The journalist who has witnessed the most executions in the U.S. on which ones of those nearly 400 he remembers.
Recorded in Huntsville, Texas, on May 12, 2015
Jason Clark, Public Information Office, Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Coming out of Huntsville prison, the official reports to the media, minutes after an execution.
Recorded in Hunstville, Texas, on May 12, 2015
Phil Archer, reporter, KPRC TV Houston
On witnessing an execution for the first time.
Recorded in Hunstville, Texas, on May 12, 2015
Jim Willett, Texas Prison Museum Director
The former warden at Huntsville, who has presided over 89 executions, explains his role and the procedure of capital punishment.
Recorded in Hunstville, Texas, on May 13, 2015
Luis Castro Perez, death row inmate, Polunsky Unit
A man who has been there for 17 years describes an average day on death row.
Recorded in Polunsky Maximum Security Unit, Texas, on May 13, 2015
Abel Ochoa, death row inmate, Polunsky Unit
On the hardship of Texas’ solitary confinement, and how not to get crazy.
Recorded in Polunsky Maximum Security Unit, Texas, on May 13, 2015
Kevin Cooper, death row inmate, San Quentin State Prison
An inmate tells about the day he was taken for execution, and came back alive.
Recorded on telephone, June 23, 2015
WINDOWS ON DEATH ROW MULTIMEDIA PREZ
In a TED-style prez using inmate art, video interviews & sound, co-founders Widmann and Chappatte offer a glimpse into the unseen reality of incarceration. Their are joined on stage by former death row inmate, artist and activist Ndume Olatushani, and the lawyers who helped get him out of prison. Recorded on September 19, 2017 at Columbia Law School during the New York opening of the show.
A DOCUMENTARY FILM AN AN ONLINE COMICS REPORTAGE
The founders of Windows on Death Row pursued the conversation on capital punishment through their own creations: Anne-Frédérique Widmann produced and directed the film Free Men, focusing on the fight for justice of Arkansas death row inmate Kenneth Reams, and Patrick Chappatte made the first comics reportage series ever published by The New York Times, Inside Death Row, a 5-part series online and partially in print. More below:
