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| William Van Poyck |
As his execution draws near, a prisoner writes about the grim, secret world of those awaiting the death penalty.
With his execution scheduled for this week, it appears that condemned prison guard killer William Van Poyck’s days are numbered.
Even the 58-year-old, convicted of the 1987 murder of Glades Correctional Institution guard Fred Griffis outside a West Palm Beach doctor’s office, acknowledges as much. In recent weeks, the missives he posts online with the help of his sister have addressed his looming demise, set for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Florida State Prison near Starke.
Until Gov. Rick Scott signed his death warrant May 3, the letters posted on the website, Death Row Diary, were often about the fate of others, and typically ended with a cheery, “That’s it for now, Sis.” Since 2005 he has offered his views on everything from prison food to movies to the blood lust of politicians who support the death penalty.
Since his conviction, Van Poyck, with a reform school education, has authored three books, one of which won first-place honors in the memoir category in Writer’s Digest 2004 Self-Published Book Awards.
Locked up with what the courts have deemed the worst of the worst, Van Poyck has opened the doors to a secret world few can imagine.
The following are excepts from Van Poyck’s dispatches during the last two years:
Watching TV while others die
We have another execution scheduled for tomorrow, which makes for a somber atmosphere here, at least for me. A surprisingly large percentage of these guys appear totally unaffected by the fact that one of their own is being put to death just 100 feet away. By habit, I meditate for the hour straddling the execution, which here in Florida is routinely scheduled for 6 p.m., and I’ve always gotta screen out the laughter of guys watching some sitcom, or other inane conversation going on. Some of these guys are actually unaware that an execution is occurring which shows you how clued in they are. Talk about lack of situational awareness!
The white hearse
Here on the row we can discern the approximate time of death when we see the old white Cadillac hearse trundle in through the back sally port gate to pick up the body, the same familiar 1960s era hearse I’ve watched for almost 40 years, coming in to retrieve the bodies of murdered prisoners …
An aborted stay
Robert Waterhouse was scheduled for execution at 6:00 pm this evening. In accordance with the established execution protocol he was strapped to the gurney and the needles were inserted into each arm about 45 minutes prior to his appointed time. Just before 6:00, however, he received a 45-minute stay which morphed into an almost 3-hour endurance test as he remained on the gurney as the seconds, minutes and then hours slid by at an excruciatingly slow pace, waiting for someone to tell him if hope was at hand, if he would live or die. Just before 9:00 he received his answer, the plungers were depressed, the syringes emptied and he was summarily killed.
Source: The Palm Beach Post, June 9, 2013
Read more from William Van Poyck at his blog, "Death Row Diary", HERE
