Warden Texas Prison Life and Death from the Inside Out			«Back
	Jim Willett and Ron Rozelle Hard Cover 6" x 9", 232 pages 55 b&w photographs History / Texas / Politics/Criminal Justice / Biography/Memoir / Non-Fiction 978-1-931721-50-9 February 2005 $24.95 Quantity: Gift Tie: YesNo
30% DISCOUNT applied at checkout "this book is recommended to general readers, students of corrections, and those interested in Texas History, not just for its descriptions of the state's prisons and inmates, but most of all for Willet's descriptions of small-town life." — Southwestern Historical Quarterly "Essential for a crime collection" — Library Journal "Tragic, humorous, grim and personal" — Associated Press
Jim Willett never intended to preside over more legal executions than anyone else alive. Warden is the story of Willett's 30-year career in Texas prisons, from his first night as a shotgun-wielding guard to the last man he accompanied to the death chamber. He saw first-hand the Carrasco hostage crisis, the longest prison siege in the history of the United States. He worked as an internal-affairs investigator, earning the resentment of his colleagues as he asked questions about guards' abuse of prisoners. And he watched the crowds gather when Texas reinstated the death penalty. In Warden, Willett remembers not just the big events of his career but the small ones that give prison life its texture. Most chillingly, Willett describes some of the 89 afternoon visits he paid to the condemned as they prepared for death. In measured but powerful prose, he describes the efficient actions of the "tie-down" team; the prisoner's often meandering last words; and the way that he himself lifted his glasses from his nose to signal the executioner to start the IV flow. JIM WILLETT is now director of the Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville, Texas. He narrated the radio documentary "Witness to an Execution," which aired on NPR's Morning Edition and won a Peabody Award in 2000. Ron Rozelle, Jim Willett's former college roommate, teaches creative writing. His novels include A Place Apart and The Windows of Heaven.