ate to become unconscious, and at this point, strangle to death due to lack of oxygen. The individual should be brain dead within six minutes and heart dead in about eight. The report indicates that the individual may experience pain-briefly. However, an error in the hanging procedure could possibly result in instances where the spinal cord is not severed and the inmate is conscious during strangulation. A drop of too far a distance will result in the decapitation of the subject. In gas chamber executions, a cyanide pellet is placed in a container below the inmate's seat. A switch is thrown and the cyanide reacting with a sulfuric acid solution releases lethal gas. The inmate is denied air and thus suffocates. The time that elapses from the time that the prisoner is restrained to death is about 38 minutes, though it is believed that death occurs 6-18 minutes after the gas is released. According to the 1997 sate of Florida Corrections Commissions Annual Report Michael Radelet, chairman of the University of Florida sociology department has documented 22 cases where executions have been botched. For example, officials in Mississippi were forced to clear the room eight minutes into the execution of Jimmy Lee Gray after his desperate gasps for air repulsed witnesses. David Bruck, a writer for the New Republic, reported that Lee died banging his head against a steel pole in the gas chamber-while reporters counted his moans. Whitehead 9 Also documented is the case of John Evans. According to Radelet, after the first jolt of electricity, sparks and flames shot from the electrodes that were attached to Evan's leg. The electrode then caught fire. Smoke and sparks shot from underneath the hood that was attached to his head. Soon, Evan's flesh began to smoke and burn. Doctors rushed in, discovered a heartbeat and applied additional jolts. This continued for an additional 14 minutes despite the pleas of Evan's attorney. Lethal injection heralded by ...
