AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR

When capital punishment was reinstated in Texas in 1982, many residents of Huntsville cheered. The city was home to the Texas State Penitentiary where, over the next 13 years, Carroll Pickett would oversee the execution of 95 inmates by lethal injection as the prison’s minister. His far-from-envied role was to stay with each inmate from the morning of their death through their last, fateful words at midnight. A private man, Pickett took to a tape recorder to document his thoughts, feelings, and grief the day after every execution and reflect on his calling to serve in this capacity as a man of God. Adding to Pickett’s personal commentary, AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR follows the case of Carlos DeLuna, one death row victim whose presumed innocence may be realized too late. Once a firm supporter of the death penalty, Pickett’s intimate experience begins reshaping his definition of just punishment. AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR takes us down corridors of the infamously nicknamed “Walls Unit” to confront the corners of our consciences of right and wrong. —A.B.