You stick with your own race. You dont talk to other people. You might stare at a person and he might consider that a sign of disrespect. Any inmate will tell you, thats the set of rules you follow first. On their first morning of shooting at utah state prison, the lockup crew entered the wasatch a cell block, home to some of the prisons most violent convicts. We met a group of inmates playing cards and talking about who really runs the prison. Guards dont run this. Its all run by the inmates. They pretty much tell what goes on. A guard does your section but inmates pretty much, if they dont get along, they force them out. Or theyll get moved. Sergeant danny herring was one of only two officers assigned to manage the 95 men on wasatch a that morning. Yeah, they can take the block, but theyre not going anywhere. What are they going to do. That doesnt really bother me. I dont have a control issue that way. They let us control and manipulate how they live and what they do. They got their
got out of the army. divorced my wife. had custody of my children. reconciled with my wife. the reconciliation didn t work. and i hit her. i struck her. she got custody of the children. and pretty much factored me out of the picture. then on november 30th, 1997, holton picked up his four children ranging in age from 4 to 12 to take them christmas shopping. instead he shot each one through the heart. i miss them, but no, i can t say that i feel any remorse. while many death row inmates file numerous appeals to delay their execution, holten dropped all of his. i do think that the death penalty is appropriate in some cases. and i ve got a low tolerance for someone claiming that they didn t do something that they actually did. there was no factual dispute about what happened.
this is the electric chair, which is maintained by the kentucky state penitentiary in order to complete executions by electrocution. it was originally built somewhere in the 1900s. it s just leather and wood and metal like any other chair, but there s this unmistakable feeling. you know people died there. some of kentucky s death row inmates can choose between the electric chair and lethal injection. that s also the case in the neighboring state of tennessee. when we visited there, we met a death row inmate who soon would face that decision. and as far as daryl holton was concerned, the sooner the better. convicted of four counts of first degree murder. my children. throughout the entire interview, holton spoke in a calm, coherent manner about what led to his nightmarish actions.
there was nothing. it wasn t a question of who did it. there s no doubt. i m not going to sell out. i m not going to change my views on the death penalty just because i m facing the death penalty. holton was not only ready to face his death sentence, he had chosen to have it carried out in the electric chair, but to his dismay, he had seen his execution date come and go more than once. supposed they were serious about executing me last year and supposedly they re serious about executing me this year. if the past is any indication, i don t think they re very serious. and that s not bravado. it s more an issue of integrity. a deal s a deal. back at kentucky state penitentiary, randy haight made it clear he s not as eager to face death as holton.