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Photographing the Community on Tennessee’s Death Row

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From 2010 to 2015 I was incarcerated in Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, the Tennessee prison that houses death row for the men’s system. On one side of a gate, 250 of us lived in a “support staff” unit working maintenance, landscaping, kitchen service or whatever else kept the facility operational. On the other side of the gate were maximum-security prisoners and those in protective custody, and a unit just for the condemned.
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The Killing Machine

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By Ronald W. Clark Jr.

I arrived on Florida’s Death Row on Friday February 22nd 1991. At that time there had only been 25 executions since it’s re instatement in the 1970’s. That 25th execution was Raymond Clark who had spent 13 years on Death Row.

Several months after my arrival the Governor would sign Roy Harich’s death warrant and scheduled his execution for April 24th 1991 four days after my 23rd birthday. I didn’t know Roy but I was around guys who did know him and I could see how it affected them. Back in those days the Electric Chair called ‘Old Sparky’ was used. Weeks before the execution the generator would be started several times a week in preparation for the execution. This took a toll on a lot of men. The next three men who were executed while I was still in the building were number 27 Marion Francis executed June 25th 1991, number 28 Nollie Lee Martin executed on May 12th 1992 and number 29 Edward Kennedy executed on July 21st 1992. I saw the stress that it put on the men who knew them. We could smell burnt flesh during these executions. Guys that were located in certain areas could watch the vans filled with witnesses pull in and out, watch the hearse pull in and out and pick up the body. Witnessing that was even more disturbing but it would be some years later before I’d witness that.

On February 23rd 1993 I’d get transferred form Florida State Prison to the new death Row housing unit at Union Correctional Institution (UCI) and on April 21st 1993 the 30th man to be executed would be Robert Henderson. Again I didn’t know him but over here at UCI it was as different as night and day. You were separated from the experience of the execution. The only way you knew about it was if you were keeping up with it through the news or newspapers.

The 31st execution would take place on May 8th 1993. I knew this man and lived around him. His name was Larry Johnson who we called Timebomb. He was only in his late 40’s but looked like he was in his 60’s. Life had not been kind to him at all. Number 32 would be Michael Durocher executed later that year on August 25th 1993. He was only on the Row for two years. He arrived a few months after I did. I didn’t know him but I had passed him in the hall and had seen him in Medical. The next three men were Roy Stewart executed April 22nd 1994, Bernard Bolander July 18th 1995 and Jerry White executed December 4th 1995. I had seen these guys around, been on the recreation yard with them but I wasn’t close to them.

Ronald W. Clark Jr #812974
Union Correctional Institution
7819 N.W. 228th Street
Raiford, FL 32036-4440 USA

Ronald has previously written a Letter for a Future Death Row Inmate and can be read HERE. He also has a website maintained by a friend: http://thedeathrowpoet.blogspot.com


Source: Minutes Before Six, Thomas Whitaker, August 6, 2011
Location: Floride, États-Unis
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