Execution Tour of North Carolina Death Row

A death penalty documentary short film (10 minutes) by Scott Langley.

RALEIGH - Captured on film, the warden of North Carolina's Central Prison (Marvin Polk) narrates the preparation and final hours before an execution in Raleigh, where the state execution facilities are located.

Warden Polk takes members of the press through the prison, detailing hour-by-hour the preparation, and carrying out, of a 2:00 am execution. Footage includes the deathwatch area, the table where the last meal is taken, the final holding cell, the IV preparation room, the witness room, and footage of Warden Polk and Captain Marshall Hudson wheeling the gurney into the execution chamber.

The short film includes candid discussion by the warden about the role of doctors in lethal injections as well as his own feelings on overseeing the executions.

Before each North Carolina execution (Fridays at 2:00 am, when scheduled), Central Prison offers a media tour on the preceding Monday morning to explain the execution protocol and answer questions from the press.

The film was shot during a media tour in November 2005, between the executions of Steven McHone (11/11/05) and Elias Syriani (11/18/05) by Scott Langley, a Boston-based photojournalist who has been documenting the death penalty for nearly ten years.