Electric Chair Usa

[Hazi-Hammenuhoth]

If a person under the death penalty in the USA was awaiting execution in the electric chair when they suffered a heart attack, would the authorities be obliged to revive them prior to execution?

[hc4361]

Yes, is has been decided in the US that to deny any prisoner medical treatment is 'cruel and unusual punishment'.

[Hazi-Hammenuhoth]

Thanks, I guess that answers my question!

[Peter Pedant]

yup
has actually happened

anyone on death row if you consider for a mo - gets medical treatment

[hc4361]

Some prisoners are on death row for many years before they are either executed or pardoned - one chap died if natural causes on death row, 40 years after he was sentenced.

[yogi-bear]

Good question, Hazi.....
Didn't know, but found this:

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080615020121AAV0ToH

Think the U.S law states that attempts to save them are undertaken, unless they have signed a DNR order, prior or while on Death Row.

[Jackdaw33]

It was the opposite in the UK. If for any reason a prisoner could not be executed within 90 days of sentence he would be reprieved. Condemned prisoners were watched by two warders 24/7 to ensure that they did not cheat the hangman.

[gollob]

I once remembered a man who used to service electric chairs in
Dallas but gave it up saying it was nothing more than death trap

[Jackdaw33]

The notorious poisoner, Dr William Palmer, who was publicly hanged in 1856, is reputed to have said, as he stood on the gallows and looked at the trapdoor, "Are you sure this is safe?"

[nailit]

^ lol @ both jackdoor and gollob.
Gallows humour! Gotta love it.

[nailit]

//jackdaw// Doh!

[Denton]

They even sterilise the needle for a Lethal Injection.

[Jackdaw33]

When Albert Pierrepoint came to hang Reginald Christie (10 Rillington Place) Christie complained while he was being strapped that his nose was itching. Pierrepoint's reply was, "Don't worry, it won't bother you for long!"

[nailit]

I read Pierrepoint's autobiography some years ago. Apparently it was a myth that he had a sign above the bar (he became a publican) that said 'No hanging around the bar'

[EDDIE51]

Another story about Pierrepoint is that he had to hang a man and it was raining very hard as they walked to the gallows. The prisoner made a joke about how bad the rain was. Pierrepoint said
'' It's all right for you but I have to walk back in it''

[Hazi-Hammenuhoth]

Thanks everyone for your answers and the excellent black humour!

[Jackdaw33]

I think that's a myth. In the 20C all executions were carried out indoors. Probably a tale from much earlier.

Incidentally, a few years back, there was a scare at Leicester prison when the information had bee translated into Polish and mistakenly described the exercise yard as the execution yard.

[Old_Geezer]

That's a shocker.

Clearly reviving someone so they can get the full experience of both the heart attack and the execution is cruel and unusual punishment. Or maybe not so unusual in the US then.

[douglas9401]

Our colonial cousins do like to dress up the gory business of (eventually, maybe) execution as science, clinical and clean when their favourite toy, the gun in all it's guises could do the job with less suffering and a lot less expense.
Unfortunately they do like fanfare and show.