Trevor McDonald Meets America's Most Dangerous Death Row Killers

[00:00:03]Thank you.

[00:00:06]>> My introduction to the prison was dramatic.

[00:00:09]The man who runs it, Superintendent Bill Wilson, agreed to take me to death row.

[00:00:16]So, this is actually the entrance.

[00:00:18]>> This is the actual entrance then and it's two floors.

[00:00:21]Uh we only have 12 men on on the row right now.

[00:00:32]>> You have to sign yourself in.

[00:00:34]>> Mhm.

[00:00:36]>> The superintendent comes to death row every week to check on how the inmates are coping.

[00:00:43]Superintendent, these are the pictures of people on death row.

[00:00:47]>> Correct. Uh these are the 12 gentlemen that are on death row um and it shows their cell locations so that staff never have to question where they're at. No staff members are allowed on the unit when the offenders are out.

[00:00:59]So, the offenders actually will secure themselves in the cells uh and then their cell doors will be closed or opened as they need to come in or out.

[00:01:06]>> Do you like any of these people?

[00:01:08]>> Like? Um they're all they're all different in many ways and I I am respectful of of who they are, what they are.

[00:01:18]Um would I call them my friends?

[00:01:22]No, but there's some characters here that have some personality characteristics that you would say are likable.

[00:01:33]>> He knows them all by name and they know him.

[00:01:37]>> McManus, it always amazes me how clean that cell is.

[00:01:40]Keep it up, kid.

[00:01:41]>> lot of time in here.

[00:01:42]>> I know.

[00:01:44]Stay out of trouble?

[00:01:45]>> Yeah.

[00:01:46]>> All right.

[00:01:47]Wilks?

[00:01:48]>> Hey.

[00:01:49]>> How's your eyes?

[00:01:51]You been over to medical at all?

[00:01:52]>> Yeah.

[00:01:53]>> Okay.

[00:02:00]>> I'm all right. How are you?

[00:02:02]>> Just one second.

[00:02:04]>> How you doing?

[00:02:05]>> All right. You?

[00:02:06]>> I'm doing all right.

[00:02:08]How you doing?

[00:02:09]>> Hi.

[00:02:10]>> Is tension high?

[00:02:12]>> Not for me.

[00:02:12]>> Okay.

[00:02:14]>> I'm good.

[00:02:15]>> All right.

[00:02:16]Richie?

[00:02:18]>> What's up?

[00:02:18]>> All right.

[00:02:19]>> this?

[00:02:20]>> Mr. Richie's wife, I believe is from England. Which part of England is she from?

[00:02:24]>> St. Albans.

[00:02:25]>> Uh-huh. In Hertfordshire.

[00:02:27]>> Yeah.

[00:02:27]>> Yes.

[00:02:29]>> Yeah, I met her about 4 years ago on a pen pal.

[00:02:32]And we hit it off instantly.

[00:02:35]And uh We She came over, visited.

[00:02:38]Couldn't get enough, and married me.

[00:02:41]>> How often do you get a chance to see her?

[00:02:43]>> Every weekend.

[00:02:44]>> Do you mind Do you mind doing this?

[00:02:45]>> Oh, no. No, not at all, man.

[00:02:46]>> Yes.

[00:02:47]It is very, very unconventional though, because the end game in this relationship is one that you know, and she knows.

[00:02:57]>> Well, yeah, kind of. Cuz a lot of guys can get off death row. A lot A lot of us are getting off death row.

[00:03:06]But cases like mine, and like another gentleman back here, you know, we didn't kill no women or kids. We We were charged with shooting a cop, a police officer. And they just don't let guys like us, no matter if you got good issues in your case or not, legal issues to let you off to let you off death row. It doesn't matter, you know what I mean?

[00:03:27]>> She knows that, and she married you.

[00:03:28]>> I know.

[00:03:30]I I found something now.

[00:03:32]See, I I was a stupid kid at 19 and 20.

[00:03:36]I made very poor decisions. I would make decisions I I would do things without without uh thinking about them. And I I didn't give a damn about the consequence at all.

[00:03:46]That kid to me now, 32 years old, that kid's gone.

[00:03:51]I'm not saying I'm rehabilitated.

[00:03:54]You know.

[00:03:55]>> You're not saying that.

[00:03:55]>> No, I'm not.

[00:03:57]But I am saying >> Cuz I'd be bullshitting. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you.

[00:04:02]I I'm the kind of guy that does need to be in prison.

[00:04:05]>> Why are you the kind of guy who needs [clears throat] to be in prison?

[00:04:08]>> Cuz I'm the kind of guy if I get fired from a job and I can't find a job, I'll do it the legal way, try to get a job, and I can't find a job I and I can't pay my bills, I'll go get a gun and I'll pay my bills.

[00:04:20]And I won't think no nothing about it.

[00:04:22]It won't bother me at all.

[00:04:24]>> You have described the person you are, but how do you see your life looking down [music] the line? Where does it Where does it go? Where does it end up?

[00:04:34]>> Man.

[00:04:37]Either in a box or doing a life sentence on in population.

[00:04:43]That's my choices right there.

[00:04:45]Doing a life sentence or being in a box.

[00:04:48]And I got to watch my wife grow old through these bars.

[00:05:01]>> [music] >> Out in the general population, convicts are allowed yard time, 2 hours recreation every day.

[00:05:15]Save for taking showers and meals, this is their only opportunity to mix and to make allies. [music] Have you been here a long time?

[00:05:28]>> 27 years.

[00:05:29]>> How many?

[00:05:30]>> 27 years.

[00:05:31]>> 27 years.

[00:05:36]>> [music] >> I was heading to the administrative segregation unit with Lieutenant Gillespie.

[00:05:50]The men here are among the prison's [music] most dangerous.

[00:05:57]>> This is Sergeant Fagan. This is unit.

[00:06:10]>> Many of the offenders here are gang members, drug dealers, and sexual predators.

[00:06:18]Everything they do is monitored and carefully controlled.

[00:06:24]Could you tell me what this list of names is all about?

[00:06:27]>> All right. This every cell house in Indiana State Prison has one of these.

[00:06:31]The idea behind this is to make sure we know where everyone's at, what they're doing, who they are, why they're here, etc. For For example, if someone would accidentally take out 508 and 509 together, and let's say they you know, 508 owes 509 money, so 509's mad about it, and they get put in the shower together and the door's locked, and he has he has a weapon on him, 508 could lose his life.

[00:07:00]Look at that.

[00:07:01]You know, just because someone made that mistake. So, that's why it's important to really understand this board.

[00:07:05]>> Do you feel that you must be constantly vigilant?

[00:07:09]>> These guys have nothing but time. Okay, we're going home, so we're thinking about going to dinner with the wife, going to dinner with the mom, whatever, you know. These guys have nothing but time. They're sitting here, you know, and they These guys they're smart. They don't forget. So, let's say you made a mad 2 weeks ago. You forgot about it.

[00:07:26]They don't.

[00:07:27]So, let's say you're sitting here, minding your business, doing something, come up behind you, and assault you.

[00:07:32]Yeah, you got to you got to be awake.

[00:07:34]You got to be on your toes.

[00:07:40]>> Prison.

[00:07:41]The offenders in this unit are locked down for 23 hours a day.

[00:07:47]And when they're allowed out for their 60-minute break, they're kept apart in individual steel cages.

[00:07:58]>> You all right?

[00:08:00]>> One of the men is 38-year-old Ronald L.

[00:08:04]Sanford.

[00:08:07]By any measure and in any prison community, his is an exceptional story.

[00:08:26]When did you When did you come here to Indiana State Prison?

[00:08:30]>> Oh, well, I came here in 1989 at the age of 15 years old. Uh I was actually convicted of the crime that I'm here for at the age of 13 years old. Um so >> And what was the crime?

[00:08:40]>> Double homicide.

[00:08:42]So, I committed a double homicide at the age of 13 years old. At the age of 15, my case had ran its uh course through the court and I was sitting here to this prison in 1989.

[00:08:51]>> Double homicide at the age of 13?

[00:08:55]>> 13, yes, sir.

[00:08:58]>> That's very, very young.

[00:09:00]>> It's tragic uh to say the least and it is very young, absolutely. It's um it's unheard of, you know? Um Wow.

[00:09:10]It's unspeakable, to say the least. Uh even reflecting on it almost 25 years later. Uh in August, it'll be 25 years since that crime took place. It's uh it's still very vivid. It still very poignant. It still resonates and it still has the same amount of uh tragic elements involved in it now as it did then. And it will always be with me for the rest of my life. Always say it's like an albatross around my neck. No matter where I where I where I go or what I do for the rest of my life, it'll always be with me.

[00:09:39]>> What were the circumstances which led up to the incident which led you in prison at the age of 15?

[00:09:45]>> Uh me and a friend had basically uh planned to get money to go to a fair.

[00:09:50]And to do so we were going to cut grass.

[00:09:53]And we went to a home basically and they said they didn't want their grass cut and rather than continue on the vein and go to the next home, we decided to push into the home essentially. And it ended in a double homicide. It's that simple.

[00:10:06]And uh for my complicity in that crime, I was sentenced to 170 years, 170.

[00:10:11]>> You got a sentence of 170 years.

[00:10:13]>> Yes, sir.

[00:10:14]>> However you cut that, you are not going to get out of here.

[00:10:19]>> I'm eligible for parole when I turn 100 years old.

[00:10:23]>> Have you ever thought about all the things that you have missed that other 15-year-olds go through as part of their normal lives?

[00:10:32]>> Absolutely. I've never been to the prom.

[00:10:34]I've never driven a car. I've never had a driver's license. I've never filed tax returns. Uh Uh I've never been on an airplane. I've never traveled abroad.

[00:10:45]Yeah. Should I continue?

[00:10:47]My life has been living in this prison and it seems as though I've been in this prison so long that I've never been free.

[00:10:52]Um 25 years in prison, you know, it's a long time.

[00:10:57]>> Especially when you come into the age of 15.

[00:10:59]>> Yeah, really.

[00:11:01]>> Ariel, thank you so much for talking to me. Thank you for taking the time.

[00:11:03]>> I appreciate you.

[00:11:11]>> My first meeting [music] with Sanford was a shock.

[00:11:14]But there were more disturbing cases at Indiana [music] State Prison.

[00:11:38]>> [music] >> One of the oddities [music] of the American prison system is that an inmate can spend 20 years on death row exhausting the appeals process before he's executed. [music] In all that time, convicts are confined to this cell block and have little contact with the rest of the prison.

[00:12:05][music] Paul McManus killed his wife and two young [music] daughters.

[00:12:12]>> Mr. McManus, the first thing I noticed about your cell that is terribly clean, very different from any of the others.

[00:12:18]>> Right.

[00:12:18]>> Why is that?

[00:12:19]>> Um I feel if I don't use it in a month, then I probably don't need it.

[00:12:25]>> Yeah, but it's it's it's more than that, isn't it? It's it's uh particularly clean.

[00:12:30]>> Well, me personally, I I don't read or write, so I have a lot of time on my hands. So so I clean cuz I don't write letters, I don't read books. There's only so much on TV you can watch before they show repeats. So that gives me a lot of time, so I just take pride in cleaning my cell.

[00:12:45]>> Was your life before you came to prison very similar? Were you very very tidy person then?

[00:12:50]>> Not so much. I worked a lot, so I was always busy. So I like to stay busy. It keeps my mind So it works both ways, I guess. You know, I keep busy in here, but I've pretty well done all I can do in here. I might have to move to a different cell and do the same thing, but I've been here over a decade, so I'm just now getting it where I like it.

[00:13:08]>> Does being on death row take a physical, emotional toll on you?

[00:13:13]>> Oh, it's definitely up and down.

[00:13:15]Definitely. Definitely.

[00:13:17]Now, I did weigh 250 lb uh almost almost 2 years ago, and now I weigh 166.

[00:13:25]Now, I have a pictures of them if you would like to see them.

[00:13:28]Um I got them right here, in fact.

[00:13:31]>> Yes.

[00:13:34]>> And you see the difference.

[00:13:35]>> So, this is um >> It's all me.

[00:13:38]>> This is all you. So, you you you lost a lot of weight.

[00:13:41]>> Right.

[00:13:43]As as as as is, you know, it's it's depression a little bit. Uh you know, and and it's also just uh I mean, it's like I said, it's it's a roller coaster. It's up and down.

[00:13:55]>> [music] >> McManus [music] sees more of Indiana State Prison than the other men on death row.

[00:14:13]He's a diabetic [music] and is allowed a daily visit to the prison hospital.

[00:14:18]The authorities [music] must treat him, although they will, in all the probability, put him to death >> [music] >> one day.

[00:14:34]Well, here we are, out of death row and into the sunlight. Is this the only chance you get to mix with the rest of the general prison population?

[00:14:42]>> Yes. We don't have a lot of contact with them. So, it is nice to be able to come out and see people that you've uh maybe been in locked up with that are not on the road no more.

[00:14:52]Um and every once in a while you can, you know, have a little bit of contact with that person just for a brief second.

[00:14:59]>> Were you on any kind of medication like insulin before you came before you came to prison?

[00:15:03]>> Absolutely none. Zip. Uh now, you know, I I take quite a few pills and the insulin shot. Um it it all comes down to the food and also how you, you know, you have your ups and downs where you gain weight and then uh stuff like that. So, I mean, that does play a factor.

[00:15:27]All my friends have gone with me.

[00:15:30]What's What's nice about Well, here's the nice thing about being a dad big is that you do get to get out and and come over to the hospital daily and then to be around regular people, it's nice.

[00:15:40]>> Yeah.

[00:15:45]>> Put you back to normal.

[00:15:48]>> All right.

[00:15:48]>> All right, thank you.

[00:15:49]>> See you later.

[00:16:06]>> The rest of the prison is distinctly different from the oppressive gloom of death row.

[00:16:16]>> [music] >> Lunchtime in cell block C.

[00:16:20]Prisoners have a chance [music] to spend time in the open air.

[00:16:28]>> [music] >> They can also earn privileges.

[00:16:33]>> [music] >> Some have jobs and can request a haircut twice a month.

[00:16:39]>> [music] >> All the barbers are convicts.

[00:16:48]Rick Parrish is serving three life sentences plus 10 years.

[00:16:53]I must say walking into this place is one of the most extraordinary experiences I've had for a long time.

[00:16:58]You wouldn't have thought that this was a barber shop or in a in a maximum security prison.

[00:17:04]>> Well, we we work hard to keep it unique in here cuz we like the atmosphere. We like being able to come in here and relax. It's neutral territory for gangs, for officers.

[00:17:16]>> I mean, if you come to the barber shop and you're a gang member, would you start trouble with a guy that's standing here with a pair of shears in his hand like this?

[00:17:24]>> I know I wouldn't.

[00:17:25]>> I suspect not, too.

[00:17:26]>> I That's why there's no trouble in here.

[00:17:29]>> There's still though, this feeling of unreality about people with instruments like these in a maximum security prison.

[00:17:38]>> I've been here 37 years. We've never had an incident in the barber shop. We've never had an incident with the shears.

[00:17:43]Never had a problem.

[00:17:45]>> You've been here since the '70s. That's a long time.

[00:17:47]>> January '75.

[00:17:49]>> Long time.

[00:17:50]>> Yeah.

[00:17:50]>> Yeah.

[00:17:51]>> Well, you know, if you do it a day at a time like most of us do, you do time a day at a time.

[00:17:56]Uh sometimes an hour at a time, sometimes a minute at a time, whatever it takes to get through.

[00:18:02]Uh then you look up one day and 37 years have went by.

[00:18:10]Here you go, young man. You have a good day.

[00:18:13]>> Thank you.

[00:18:16]Rick, what are we looking at here?

[00:18:17]>> A little history of the penitentiary and the barber shop. The shop was uh remodeled in August of '76, and that's the first picture taken in this shop.

[00:18:27]Yeah.

[00:18:27]>> Is that you there?

[00:18:28]>> Yes, it is.

[00:18:29]>> So, this is your wall.

[00:18:31]>> Yeah, I'm I'm all over the wall cuz it is my wall. And this >> And you're you're pumping iron here.

[00:18:37]>> Yeah, that was uh probably 20 years ago.

[00:18:41]When I was uh eating anything that didn't move and pumping iron at the same time.

[00:18:46]>> So, this is a catalog of your life in pictures.

[00:18:50]>> Yeah, I could you can see You can see the progress from what I looked like in '76 up here to where I'm at right now.

[00:19:00]Here.

[00:19:01]That's the newest picture.

[00:19:03]>> What emotions uh do they invoke?

[00:19:07]>> Wishing I was out there doing it right.

[00:19:11]Wishing I could start all over again at uh uh 29, 30 years of age and not make the mistakes I made.

[00:19:21]But, you get past after 37 years, you better be past all that.

[00:19:26]You know, have your head screwed on.

[00:19:28]You know, make the best of what you have.

[00:19:32]>> But, the pictures are constant reminders.

[00:19:34]>> Yeah, what was.

[00:19:37]You know, that's like, you know, all of us that got here were violent criminals to get here.

[00:19:41]>> What was your violent crime, Rick?

[00:19:43]>> Uh I'm in here for kidnap robbery. I pulled a robbery and uh the car I had uh wouldn't start, so I commandeered a vehicle and there was three people in it.

[00:19:54]>> All of the pictures here, you have it on mounted on cardboard.

[00:19:59]>> Yeah, it's on cardboard, so if I ever get out, I can take it with me.

[00:20:03]That's what uh that's what it's for. I fold it up and take it with me as a reminder.

[00:20:09]You don't want to go back.

[00:20:13]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> I went back to the administrative segregation unit to see Ronald L.

[00:21:00]Sanford again.

[00:21:03]His story haunted me.

[00:21:05]A killer when he'd barely entered his teens.

[00:21:13]>> All right. Hi. How you doing?

[00:21:15]>> I'm all right, sir.

[00:21:16]>> Good.

[00:21:25]How do you get accustomed to life in this environment?

[00:21:30]>> It takes some getting used to.

[00:21:32]It's tough. There was a young man on the range who was very young man, maybe 19 20 years old. He's exhibiting psychosis and they took him to see the the psychologist because he's having trouble adapting. This is an abnormal environment for a human being, certainly, you know. These are essentially cages. And to think that we stay in them 24 hour 23 hours a day, come out for an hour a day.

[00:21:53]It's it's taxing.

[00:21:55]>> And may I have a look in your cell about >> Absolutely.

[00:21:57]>> have a have a look at some of the books?

[00:21:58]>> Absolutely. You absolutely may, sir.

[00:22:01]>> Yes. Would you mind Would you mind opening up?

[00:22:06]I'd just like to have a look.

[00:22:07]>> Yes, sir.

[00:22:08]You can you can take whatever down you want to take down.

[00:22:15]>> And war against the weak. What the what what's that about?

[00:22:18]>> Eugenics.

[00:22:19]>> Eugenics?

[00:22:20]>> Yes, sir. America's attempt to make a master race, essentially.

[00:22:24]>> And and And this one is the tree of life. What's that about?

[00:22:26]>> Yes. Uh it's Kabbalah, actually. It's It's more uh metaphysics, essentially.

[00:22:32]Those those deep questions about man, where he comes from, where we're going, and who we are. Essentially, yes.

[00:22:38]>> I see [music] that you have, in addition to your books, you have some of your own writing on the walls here. Strength, well-being, and health.

[00:22:47]>> Yes.

[00:22:48]Just something I try to focus on. Uh if if there's anything I want I want to stay my mind on is as I always say, it's something progressive. So, being strong and having a uh good disposition and being in good health are certain certain things I definitely want to focus on.

[00:23:03]>> And you have written here, "No No man is your enemy. No man is your friend. Every man is your teacher."

[00:23:08]>> Yes, sir.

[00:23:09]>> I'm also standing here, and I think the these are the parameters of your of your existence.

[00:23:17]>> Existence, absolutely. These four walls.

[00:23:20]>> It's pretty isolating place.

[00:23:22]>> It really is, if you see it as such.

[00:23:25]It's isolated only to the extent that you you think it is, you know? I mean those books allow for a great escape, and for uh to be able to leave the the confines of the walls, so.

[00:23:38]>> But I'm only in here for a few minutes, and I I feel it as such. I feel it. I feel the isolation.

[00:23:44]>> Everybody in this building feels the the the the um the confinement that we're suffering uh here, you know? You don't You put an animal in a cage for too great of a length of a time, it goes crazy, you know? How much more so humans, you know? So.

[00:24:04]>> [music] >> This is what Sanford [music] looked like when he came here at the tender age of 15.

[00:24:23]>> [music] >> His murder of two elderly women in 1987 netted him the [music] meager sum of $5.

[00:24:38]>> [music] >> On that vile act he must reflect for the rest of his life.

[00:24:50]>> 501 501 Now, you have a mind to just come downstairs.

[00:24:58]247 >> Prison life [music] moves to the relentless and monotonous beat of an unchanging [music] routine.

[00:25:24]>> [music] >> Some inmates get the chance to relieve the tedium by working. [music] At the end of his shift, Rick Parrish, the barber, returns to what's called an honor cell, >> [music] >> to which only the most trusted prisoners are assigned.

[00:25:45]>> And they're all two-man cells.

[00:25:46]>> Two-man cells.

[00:25:49]This is my cell here.

[00:25:52]>> Rick, who opens the doors? Is that controlled >> by the computer up in the office. So, there's a computer controls all the doors, controls our water. Back home to your cell? Sure, please. Thank you.

[00:26:07]>> And this is your cellmate?

[00:26:08]>> Mike.

[00:26:08]>> Hi, Mike. I'm Trevor McDonald.

[00:26:10]>> Nice to meet you. How you >> How long have you been sharing a cell with Rick here?

[00:26:15]>> Oh, about 2 and 1/2 years. Isn't that about right, Rick?

[00:26:18]>> Yeah, that's correct.

[00:26:19]>> So, which which is your side?

[00:26:21]Oh, oh, this is your side.

[00:26:23]It strikes me, too, that there has to be a a rather clear division of what's yours and what's Mike's.

[00:26:31]>> That's uh that's Mike's cabinet over there. And he has all his commissary and stuff in there. This is my cabinet here, and I have my commissary and things in here. But, in general, we're sharing the space.

[00:26:45]>> You have to try to give the other person their privacy. If he's doing something and he's up walking around, I try to stay over there, and he does the same for me. You know, just you know, try to take turns doing things cuz it is close quarters.

[00:26:58]>> So, this is an improvement from any other part of the prison?

[00:27:03]>> You've been You've been in a regular cell house.

[00:27:06]You've seen how they live over there.

[00:27:08]You've heard the noise. You hear how quiet it is. It stays quiet like this most times.

[00:27:15]And uh sure you have to put up with another human being, but it's worth it.

[00:27:19]It's worth the sacrifice.

[00:27:23]>> Rick's honor cell does not insulate him from one stark reality.

[00:27:28]Death row is within shouting distance in the same block.

[00:27:34]What is it like to live so close to death row?

[00:27:39]>> Well, I just block it out. I don't I don't pay any attention to it. I'm a barber, and I won't even go over there and cut hair cuz I don't want to get to know any of them.

[00:27:48]You know, you lose enough friends uh through attrition in here as it is without uh them being on death row. So, I I don't even want to get familiar with them.

[00:27:59]>> Why don't you want to get familiar with them?

[00:28:01]>> Because uh you get friendly with them, you get to know them, they get executed, you know, you've lost another friend.

[00:28:09]>> Does the mood change perceptibly just before an execution in the the days before an execution?

[00:28:17]>> Yeah, it gets even quieter.

[00:28:19]Well, everybody knows uh last one I think was Wiggles. He stopped here, hollered down through there.

[00:28:27]I'll see you fellas.

[00:28:29]>> He said that?

[00:28:30]>> Yeah, he hollered down.

[00:28:32]Everybody's usually awake.

[00:28:35]We used to uh midnight we used to beat on the bars.

[00:28:39]>> And how many times has that happened since you've been here? How many executions have there been since you've been here?

[00:28:44]>> I've never kept track.

[00:28:46]Like I said, I try not to dwell on it, so keeping track of them would They'd be too many as far as I'm concerned.

[00:28:59]>> [music] >> Rick Paris says he's never kept track of the number of executions.

[00:29:05]Someone on death row obviously [music] has.

[00:29:16]>> [music] >> Every one of the 12 men on death row will one day be told the date [music] and time of his execution.

[00:29:26]>> [music] [music] >> That [music] common fate inspires unusual friendships.

[00:29:44]>> [music] >> John Stephenson was a member of an organized criminal gang.

[00:29:54]He assassinated three people.

[00:29:58]Benjamin Ritchie, who I'd met before, killed a police officer.

[00:30:03]>> Hi, how you doing?

[00:30:04]>> Pretty good, man. You been all right?

[00:30:05]>> Yeah. Yeah. Good to see you.

[00:30:06]>> Yeah. How you doing?

[00:30:07]>> Good to see you. Good.

[00:30:09]You two are in adjoining cells. How long have you been friends?

[00:30:13]>> About 11 years.

[00:30:15]Since I got here on death row. He was already here when I got here.

[00:30:19]>> How did this friendship come about? What what what drew you to each other as friends?

[00:30:25]>> Well, just we got the same interests. I mean, we play our music loud. We We play video games. We work out, play basketball, eat together. If goes down, we whoop a motherfucker's ass together.

[00:30:38]That's you know, that's how our friendship came about.

[00:30:41]>> Does that mean you have a lot in common?

[00:30:43]>> Yeah.

[00:30:44]Well, I thought we did.

[00:30:45]>> [laughter] >> You're not sure anymore?

[00:30:47]>> Uh no, no. I'm just I'm just kidding.

[00:30:49]>> I don't want you two friends to argue about that.

[00:30:51]>> not going to argue.

[00:30:53]No, I mean if if anything we always argue, but we've never come to blows over nothing. We're like you you and then half hour later, "Hey, what are we eating tonight?" You know, it's over. It don't matter it don't mean nothing.

[00:31:05]>> I'm always right in the end, so >> He's the voice of reason. You're the voice of anger from what you say.

[00:31:11]>> Absolutely, yeah.

[00:31:12]>> Is that right?

[00:31:13]>> He keeps a leash on me, yeah.

[00:31:15]Like I'd rather lash out at somebody like when I first met Boyan, he he hated me.

[00:31:20]Cuz I was just a straight up I'd be in your face, you, you know.

[00:31:24]Come on in the shower and let's fight.

[00:31:26]And I calmed way down since then.

[00:31:29]Yeah, and most of the police they couldn't stand my ass.

[00:31:32]And I got locked around older cats and they calmed me down.

[00:31:35]>> But from your point of view, what's this friendship based on?

[00:31:39]We learned from Richie what he he thought about it.

[00:31:41]>> Trust trust in each other, you know.

[00:31:45]And you know, basically that's you know, trust.

[00:31:48]>> Like if goes down, I got his back he's got mine. See, that's why they moved us cuz he got into it with a dude up here in here and uh almost killed him. But the police had to come in and stop it.

[00:32:00]And uh I mean after they broke it up and everything, administration got wind that I was going to try to kill the dude cuz he cut my buddy with a knife. And so they moved me and my buddy Tax here to the back and moved dude up in the front by himself. So nobody could get to the dude. Within the first 2 weeks of being on death row, I watched a man get murdered in front of me. Get stabbed up 42 times.

[00:32:22]Dispatched instantly.

[00:32:24]And that was my wake up to death row.

[00:32:28]Like if you you come here, you want to be a bully, you want to take from people, this is what's going to happen to you.

[00:32:36]The dude was just butchered.

[00:32:40]>> Although you witnessed something so horrendous, you still sound pretty angry.

[00:32:47]>> But see, here's the thing.

[00:32:49]If you show any sign of weakness in here, the sharks will circle.

[00:32:54]I won't be a victim.

[00:32:58]I'll be one of the sharks.

[00:32:59]>> Well, I think the sharks are going to circle regardless.

[00:33:28]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> The average sentence at Indiana State Prison is 52 years.

[00:33:55]In Britain, that might seem [music] like two life sentences, but it's infinitely preferable to having an [music] execution order hanging over your head.

[00:34:04]>> Hello.

[00:34:08]>> [music] >> Lieutenant Boyan has taken me to E Block to meet one prisoner who has escaped the [music] death penalty.

[00:34:18]>> What's up, Harrison?

[00:34:19]How you doing?

[00:34:20]>> Pretty good.

[00:34:21]>> Trevor, this is a offender Harrison.

[00:34:23]I've known offender Harrison for probably around 6 years. I knew him here, and also he was on death row before.

[00:34:32]>> How was it that you managed to move from death row, um which is not a particularly pleasant environment, to this which is comparatively much more pleasant?

[00:34:44]>> ordered me a new trial, and they gave me years instead of the death penalty.

[00:34:51]>> How did you get that new trial?

[00:34:53]>> The judge that was in my trial was biased.

[00:34:56]So, they ordered a new trial.

[00:34:58]And instead of taking the whole thing, I just went ahead and took the deal, which was 150 years.

[00:35:04]>> 150 years?

[00:35:06]>> Long time, isn't it?

[00:35:08]>> That's a very, very long time indeed.

[00:35:10]>> In other words, I'll die in here.

[00:35:13]There's no way I can make out. No way.

[00:35:16]I'm 62 now.

[00:35:18]My out date is 66.

[00:35:20]So, there's just no way in the world I can I can make it out.

[00:35:24]>> There are people who might think that there's not a lot of difference between being on death row and having been given 150 years at the age of 62.

[00:35:35]>> It was like you said, there's still hope there.

[00:35:38]There's no hope on death row.

[00:35:40]Once they put you to death, that's it.

[00:35:43]There's no more wondering what's going to happen. There's no more trying to work your way out of it. There's no more There's nothing.

[00:35:50]>> Still in a way a kind of death sentence.

[00:35:52]>> It is a death sentence.

[00:35:54]But, you got a lot more freedom out here.

[00:35:57]And you might as well take the freedom and live your life out here and having a job and being able to work and go to the chow hall and go to the chapel and do that than to sit up here and just wait to die.

[00:36:09]>> How long were you on death row?

[00:36:10]>> 18 and a half years.

[00:36:14]>> What was it like to spend so long knowing that you faced execution?

[00:36:21]>> It was very, very hard.

[00:36:23]Very hard.

[00:36:25]It's hard to do it up on X row. Sitting there waiting for your last your last meal, your last day, not knowing when it's going to come.

[00:36:33]>> Why were you on death row?

[00:36:35]>> They said I killed three people.

[00:36:39]When I was up there.

[00:36:41]>> You would probably have been executed.

[00:36:44]>> Executed, yes.

[00:36:45]>> Had the date been set for that?

[00:36:47]>> Yes, I had about two months.

[00:36:49]>> That was a pretty close run thing.

[00:36:51]>> Yes.

[00:36:52]>> What was that moment like for you when you heard that you had avoided execution?

[00:36:59]>> It was a It was a great moment.

[00:37:01]It was a great moment. Even though I still got a lot of time to do. Like you said, where there's life, there's hope.

[00:37:20]>> [music] >> As he said, >> [music] >> James Harrison will not leave this prison alive.

[00:37:30]But he knows he'll never be strapped [music] to a gurney and given a lethal injection just after midnight.

[00:37:39]Like most [music] of the inmates, Harrison now enjoys the strange freedom of not knowing the date and [music] time of his death.

[00:37:53]>> Stand by for 1 minute.

[00:37:55]Dead body found.

[00:37:57]>> Before leaving the prison at the end of my first week, I asked to see Benjamin Ritchie again.

[00:38:05]But this time face to face.

[00:38:12]In the year [music] 2000, he shot and killed a policeman.

[00:38:18]At the time, Ritchie was on parole [music] for burglary.

[00:38:31]>> Hi.

[00:38:32]>> With less of the bravado he showed in the company [music] of his friend, I wanted to hear his view of his life and his crime.

[00:38:41]Talk me through the incident which led you to be here.

[00:38:47]>> Well, my crime is shooting a police officer.

[00:38:51]Me killing him.

[00:38:53]And uh it started off, you know, pretty harmless as a a theft crime.

[00:38:59]Me and my friends would ride around and carjack people and take the rims from the cars from them.

[00:39:04]And my buddy's car was already full, so I decided let's get a van or a truck and we'd fill it up with some rims and take it back and we'd go sell everything.

[00:39:15]I got in a high-speed chase and wrecked into a house and jumped out and took off running.

[00:39:21]I was trying to get away, you know, but the cop was young and he was on my ass.

[00:39:26]And I thought maybe if I you know, take my gun out and fire it a couple times, it'd scare him cuz, you know, he's a Beach Grove police officer. It's kind of a good neighborhood. Like how many times has he been shot at, you know? You know, if that bullet would've hit just a little less than half of an inch lower, he'd be alive today and I I'd I'd have a long lengthy prison sentence, but I wouldn't be on death row, man.

[00:39:55]>> How were you apprehended? How were you caught?

[00:39:57]>> Well, I actually got away.

[00:39:59]Uh I made it back actually a few blocks away to some family's house and the girl I was seeing and got away.

[00:40:07]And uh I didn't know I killed him until I got back to the house and seen it on the news and that just destroyed me. I knew I hit him in the backyard, but I didn't know I he was he was dead, right?

[00:40:17]I fell asleep.

[00:40:18]Next thing I know I wake up and hear my buddy says they're outside.

[00:40:23]I wake up and it was like in the movies you see a whole bunch of red dots from their guns going in and out the windows.

[00:40:30]And I was like, yeah, it's bad, man.

[00:40:32]I told him go ahead and go out, leave the house.

[00:40:36]And I didn't know what I was going to do. I didn't have no gun. I couldn't fight no more, so I just gave up.

[00:40:41]>> What went through your mind when the court pronounced you guilty?

[00:40:49]>> Well, I was trying to portray a tough guy in court, so when they gave me the death sentence I laughed at them.

[00:40:54]And the prosecutor told everybody that's the voice of evil.

[00:40:58]Which I I would agree at the time, yeah.

[00:41:02]You know, I deserved the death penalty.

[00:41:04]I was young and and didn't care about anybody at all but myself.

[00:41:08]Or anything. And uh I deserved that I deserved that sentence at the time.

[00:41:14]And uh yeah, I just pretty much laughed at them when they gave it to me.

[00:41:18]But then, you know, when I was by myself it really sunk in like, man, you you're more likely going to be executed one day. And it just it hit me hard, you know.

[00:41:28]So, I put my face in my pillow, you know what I mean?

[00:41:32]Cried a little bit and >> Was it inevitable that sooner or later you would end up in a place like this?

[00:41:40]>> I always knew as a kid I'd probably end up in prison.

[00:41:44]Yeah.

[00:41:47]It's it's it's it's it's weird because when I was a kid I was I was fascinated with prison movies.

[00:41:53]Every time we drive by prison I would wonder, what are those guys doing?

[00:41:56]What's it like in there? What are they up to? You know what I mean?

[00:42:00]Why should I care? I'm I'm a kid. Why should I care?

[00:42:03]But I just cuz I just always knew I was going to end up in there cuz I just had a problem with the rules, with authority.

[00:42:09]And as you can see I'm here because of that.

[00:42:14]>> Uh because you killed a police officer, you face execution. If it does come to that, would you face that moment with deep regret, with remorse, or with defiance?

[00:42:32]>> I would I would I would definitely regret regret it and definitely have remorse.

[00:42:38]But I'd also have a little defiance.

[00:42:40]Like, why are you killing me? You said killing's wrong, but yet you're premeditatedly strapping me to this table and you're going to poison me to death. You're going to kill me.

[00:42:51]And uh that's what I would uh you know, resent.

[00:43:01]>> So, these [music] uh the steps which an inmate who is about to be executed would take into this into this area.

[00:43:11]>> [music] >> Next time, I talk to the man who could be next in line to be executed.

[00:43:18]When you sit here now [music] on death row and you reflect on what you did, what do you think?

[00:43:28]>> [music] >> I deserve to be here.

[00:43:35]>> I meet Rascal the cat.

[00:43:38]>> [music] >> Well, I expected a male cuz I put in for a male cat. And then, about a month later, I realized it wasn't a boy.

[00:43:44][music] >> And the killer who never knew his victims.

[00:43:49]You were offered money.

[00:43:51]>> Yes.

[00:43:52]>> To kill?

[00:43:53]>> Yes.

[00:43:55]>> [music] >> Yes, sir.

[00:44:04]>> [music] >> Fire in the hole.

[00:44:11]Fire in the hole.

[00:44:15]Fire in the >> [music] >> Fire in the