He tossed, he turned, he moaned, he burned. Clayton Lockett, on the death gurney of Oklahoma’s DOC, spoke words, struggled and reportedly kicked his legs for 43 minutes after a toxic cocktail was administered to him to kill him. That cocktail: an experimental mix of chemicals designed to stop his respiration, still his heart, and do so relatively painlessly, failed to do so, as he apparently never lost consciousness. Some 10 minutes after the execution was called off, Lockett’s heart went into arrest. A heart attack, and he left this life.
American death states are experimenting with various mixes because international chemical companies are now refusing to service the U.S. death penalty machine. Left to their own resources, they’re literally experimenting, and as the Lockett execution has demonstrated, they are doing it badly. The American way of death is sloppy. Their way, bears an uncanny resemblance to torture, for in Locket’s case, his veins reportedly burst from the pressure of the lethal IV.
The U.S. death penalty system is torture; the psychological torture of sustained isolation in solitary confinement, and then after the soul is dead, the poisoning of the body – the American way of death. From prison nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
