Florida death row executioner recalls moment he realised job wasn't for him

Ron McAndrew was once the head of Florida's execution programme but one death made him regret everything

A man that was once the head of Florida's execution programme recalled the moment where he realised the job wasn't for him, as he admitted he needed therapy to come to terms with what he'd seen.

Ron McAndrew, now 88, didn't aspire to be a correctional officer in any form, but after being hired in a Miami prison in 1979, he climbed up the ladder over the next decade and became a warden.

In what he now calls a 'wonderful career', he recalled moving to Florida State Prison, famous for holding the US state's death row inmates and for being the site where serial killer Ted Bundy was electrocuted to death.

Almost three decades on from his last execution, McAndrew reflected on his career and revealed how it really was to be the man responsible for ending three death row inmates' lives.

Speaking to The Sun, the former warden recalled: "I received a call from the Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections, Harry Singletary.

"He said: ‘Ron, I want to send you to Florida State Prison, but I need to ask you a very important question. Will you have any problems carrying out the death penalty?’”

Without hesitation, he took it and said that he supported the death penalty and believed 'an eye for an eye' mentality would stick with him for life.

Today, McAndrew remembers the men he executed down to their final meals and wishes, including murderer John Bush and John Mills Jr.

However, the execution of Pedro Medina, a Cuban refugee, was something McAndrew would 'never forget'.

Medina had committed several crimes, and the murder of his neighbour, school teacher Dorothy James, was what landed him on death row.

She had been gagged, stabbed and left to die.

However, even though the former warden recalled that he felt Medina was guilty, he felt sympathy towards the man's upbringing and backstory.

“His family was a little gang of boys that got together every day and found a way to get food. They begged tourists for money and did all sorts of things,” he told the publication.

But something went wrong when Medina was hooked up to the electric chair, as the warden explained: “We didn’t electrocute this man. We literally burned him to death.

“His body was on fire and there was no way I could stop it. I had to let it run its course.”

Flames came from the inmate's head, as a horrific smell spread across the chamber in what was a 'very, very sad day' according to McAndrew.

"That’s the day I had to sit down and have a real serious talk with myself about what I was doing," he admitted, with the incident resulting in the governor sending McAndrew to Texas to learn more about the lethal injection.

While Florida State Prison would adopt the new method, the former correctional officer stood in the 'death room' again, and said: "I came to a conclusion: I can’t do this again. I’m not going to do this again.

"I called the secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections and said: ‘Sir, get me the hell out of here'."

McAndrew was transferred to the Central Florida Reception Centre in Orlando and went back on his old beliefs, deciding the death penalty was wrong.

"I suddenly saw things very simply. We have a man here who may or may no be guilty. We have executed innocent people," he reflected.

The American went on: "He's locked inside a six-foot by 12-foot concrete and steel cage where he has a toilet and a sink and a bed."

Describing the conditions death row inmates are kept in before eventually being executed, he pointed out: "To keep him on Death Row for 30 years, a 35-year-old man who is now 65, half blind, and with diabetes; to take him downstairs and put him in the death cell and hook him up to electricity and kill him?

"That is a horrible joke."

He stated: "Some people call it execution, but I've got a better name. It is premeditated, ceremonial, political killing. That's all it is."

Now, McAndrew believes that life without parole is the better option, as it leaves the possibility of innocence open, and allows them to work and contribute to society.

McAndrew also revealed that he was forced to go to 13 years of therapy following his experiences on death row, and learned to 'have some peace within myself'.

Ultimately, If he could turn back time, he says he would turn down the offer he received in 1996.

Source: ladbible.com, Joshua Nair, April 27, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde