Warden: Texas Prison Life and Death from the Inside Out by Jim Willett, Ron Rozelle

From the Publisher

The story of the author’s 30-year career in Texas prisons, from his first night as a shotgun-wielding guard to the last man he accompanied to the death chamber, Willett remembers not just the big events of his career but the small ones that give prison life its texture. In measured but powerful prose, he describes the efficient actions of the “tie-down team”; the prisoner’s often meandering last words; and the way that he himself lifted his glasses from his nose to signal the executioner to start the IV flow.

The Backgate

"Well worth the read . . . should be required reading for any new employee walking through the doors of a Texas prison."-

Huntsville Item -

". . . one I'll gladly pick up and read again."

San Antonio Current

". . . a quick, riveting read."

Associated Press - Michael Graczyk

"tragic, humorous, grim and personal..."

Library Journal

This volume is bound to raise the hackles of those who oppose the death penalty. For 30 years, Willett worked in the Texas prison system, most notably as senior warden of Huntsville State Prison, where he supervised 89 executions. He retired in 2001. Now, with the help of Rozelle (A Place Apart), he recalls his experiences. Willett tries to humanize himself by devoting a chapter to his marriage to a coworker, showing his children photographed with prison trustees, and crediting himself with bringing academic, vocational, and morality-based programs to the inmates. But it is his matter-of-fact description of the executions that will stay in readers' minds. Willett describes the efficient action of the "tie-down team," the frequent struggles of prisoners on their way to the death chamber, some prisoners' last words, and the dramatic way that he himself would lift his glasses from his nose to signal the executioner to start the flow of the intravenous lethal injection. In the final chapter, in which he is talking to visiting high school students, Willett states that, in carrying out the "precise order of a court," he was merely doing a warden's job. For its unutterable point of view, this volume is probably essential for a crime collection. All things considered, it also gives a good picture of the Texas prison system as it flourishes today.-Frances Sandiford (ret.), Green Haven Correctional Facility Lib., Stormville, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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