I don't know if I've ever met the author but she talks a lot about my friend, Larry Fitzgerald, her predecessor as spokesman for the Texas prison system. In fact, while reading her book, I went to You Tube to watch TV stories about Larry. He died about a year ago and I miss hell out of him.
Just think about the job Michelle and Larry had. They got to know Texas death row inmates. They often knew them for years. Then, one day they had to watch them die.
The Texas prisons do something interesting. Death Row is about 50 miles from the execution chamber. The inmate to be executed is transported from death row the day of the execution. That means that the people who actually do the executions don't know the inmate. But Michelle and Larry did.
Larry and Michelle had the reputation among reporters as straight shooters, a rare reputation for public relations people. I first met Larry when he was the p.r. guy for the State Bar of Texas and I was a reporter for the Houston Chronicle. I gave several talks to state bar leaders about dealing with the press. And, I told them to never, never lie. I used as an example a former prison system spokesman who would lie when the truth would have served his agency better. The guy would lie just to keep in practice. If the guy said the sun was going to come up in the east tomorrow morning, reporters would hold their stories until they could check if he was telling the truth.
After Larry and Michelle went to work for the prison system, I heard Larry repeat that story several times. They took the lesson to heart. Michelle's book has that same ring of truth to it.
After Texas prisons became smoke free, Larry would sneak cigarettes to the inmate in the holding cell a few feet from the death chamber. They were the only people the inmate knew who was around in those last hours. Did it wear on them.?
You bet.
After Larry retired from the prison system and Michelle took over, i helped Larry start a new career: testifying in death penalty cases about how the prison system can prevent even the most dangerous inmates from committing violent crimes. I'll never forget Larry testifying that the Texas prison system had more inmates than the City of Waco with a lower murder rate.
I haven't finished the book yet, but I hope Michelle talks about how the prison system ran her off. I don't know if it was because she was a woman or whether it was because she told the truth.
This is a good read. It give insight into some of the worst criminals and the people who deal with them. And, Michelle lets us know how seeing hundreds of executions changes you.
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Reviews with images
PLEASE READ THIS! 👏🏼 👏🏼
𝗜 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞! I cannot say that enough. I have always been so intrigued by prisons, death row, death penalty and inmates stories. 🫣While the death penalty is such a controversial topic… this book approached it with sensitivity and it was just so interesting and insightful. With two different perspectives of former TDCJ (Texas Department of Criminal Justice) employees; I honestly feel like this book was definitely written with so much knowledge and good information...I found myself somehow understanding the former employees empathy, confusion, defensiveness, and overall perspectives. It was relatable in a very strange way, since I’ve never experienced any of this! lolIt’s so cool to learn all these different inmates crimes, history, last meal, and even last statements.She did mention how the last sound she heard when witnessing executions was the inmates last breath, and that gave me chills!..NOW- I may be biased with this book and my thoughts as I myself did go to Sam Houston State University in Huntsville and I did live there for 7 years. 😂 (in fact I was walking distance from the walls unit/ execution chamber at one point!) with that being said; this book was oddly nostalgic and sentimental for me because I did find myself recognizing things mentioned since I first hand witnessed or heard things while I lived there!Some “fun facts” from the book that I knew before hand, but thought would be fun to share:•The stereotype that Huntsville is “one giant prison” 😂•There is no negative energy bc of the 7 prisons or death chamber•All executions in Texas are done at the walls unit•TDCJ (Prison system) is the biggest employer in the city•SHSU is there 🫶🏼•Protesters would stand outside walls unit on Wednesdays around 6 for executions•The Werner Herzog documentary - Into The Abyss- this is a must watch!• They say everything is bigger in Texas, even the crime!•Vocational skills are taught to inmates before they’re released•Joe Byrd Cemetery is for inmates who family didn’t claim them… walking through it does give very eerie and sad vibes.
Top reviews from other countries
Cathy
Fascinating and hard to put down.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 16, 2021Client d'Amazon
Très recherché détaille la vie du personnel pénitentiaire US
Reviewed in France on April 26, 2021