Final moments with death row inmates

Two cases in recent weeks have reignited debate around capital punishment in the United States after the failed attempt to execute Christa Pike and controversy over – now abandoned – plans to live-stream another execution.

In our conversations we bring together three people who have witnessed prisoners being put to death to share their experiences.

“It’s very sobering,” retired Ghanaian army officer, Captain Budu Koomson tells us. “It has an eerie feeling of finality that something has been forever done and cannot be undone.”

We also hear from chaplains who have counselled criminals before their executions.

“We talk about everything from their case to what happens at the moment of death,” explains Father Dustin Feddon, a priest in Florida. “It's a lengthy and wide-ranging conversation in those weeks leading up to the very day of their execution.”

(Photo/credit: Father Dustin Feddon)

Presenter: James Reynolds
BBC producer: Megan Lawton and Ben Davis
Boffin Media producer: Richard Hollingham
Editor: Arja Haikonen and Harriet Oliver
A Boffin Media production in partnership with the BBC World Service Outside Source team.