2008 Films

For fifteen years Rev. Carroll Pickett served as death house chaplain to the Walls prison unit in Huntsville, Texas. There he presided over ninety-five executions, including the first lethal injection to take place anywhere in the world. After each execution, Pickett would make an audiotape documenting his involvement with the victim and the distress he felt over his own role in the death chamber. He was particularly affected by the execution of Carlos de Luna, whom he firmly believed to be innocent; evidence later turned up by two reporters from the Chicago Tribune suggests he was correct. A stirring montage of photographs, sound, and raw emotion, the film offers an unflinchingly original commentary on the death penalty. ST