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 POTOSI, Mo. (AP) - One after another, the condemned men arrive. Usually, this spartan room — deep inside the concrete-and-razor-wire fortress that is Potosi Correctional Center, Missouri's maximum-security prison — is used for parole hearings. But on this day, five CPs (capital punishment offenders) have agreed to be interviewed.
These are men who live in the shadow of death, even as shadows hang over the death penalty, itself. While a majority of Americans still favor executions, polls show a dip in support — perhaps because death-row prisoners have been proven innocent by DNA tests, or because of doubts about whether methods of execution are humane.
The debate, not surprisingly, reverberates on death row, but in a very personal way. Every day, these men struggle with the knowledge of how — though not when — they are likely to die.
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