It was announced today that the Super Max State Prison on Youngstown's East Side will have a DEATH ROW, and that prisoners sentenced to be executed will be housed here.
The one and only time that a man was executed here was in 1877 when Charles Sterling was hanged in the courtyard of the County Jail when it was located next to the County Court House when it was located at the corner of Wick and Wood Streets.
WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT EXECUTIONS BEING PERFORMED HERE?
For those opposed to the death penelty, I commend to your attention the Youngstown Vindicator 6/17/1904 massive article on the execution of Michael G. Schiller who murdered a man on East Front Street. Schiller was electricuted at the Ohio State Pen.
Here are the articles headlines:
SCHULLER'S EXECUTION BOTCHED AND BRUTAL -- FIVE TIMES IT WAS NECESSARY TO APPLY THE DEATH DEALING CURRENT -- BODY PARTLY CREMATED -- SPECTACLE THE MOST HORRIFYING EVER WITNESSED IN THE CHAMBER OF HORRORS -- PAID THE PENELTY
The above article is available at the Main Branch of the Public Library in it's microfilm collection.
I have mixed feelings about the death penalty, but if the
state deems that a convicted criminal must be executed
I feel that they should use lethal injection - it is far
less cruel than the electric chair and the chances of
botching things up are pretty slim.
The referenced article is one of the most chilling accounts that I have ever read.
Granted the way that old time reporters wrote is much different than the way that the same story would be written today, and certainly you would not see an entire page of the newspaper devoted to that one event, giving a minute by minute account, but in reading it from the reporter's perspective, you could almost hear Schiller's dying screams and moans, and smell his burning flesh.
Thank goodness we no longer use the electric chair.
In that same article the paper tells of three other Youngstown men who were executed ... they were hanged, one here in Youngstown, and the other two in Columbus.
According to WYTV [Channel 33] while the Death Row prisoners will be housed here, they will still be executed at Lucasville
All I can say is this.
1. THERE ARE ONLY 2! Prisons in the US Which have the rank SUPERMAX. Here in Youngstown and one in Denver.
2. If its motto is the Worst of the Worst in Ohio. I see no bad reason to do this.
3. I am 100% behind it because it will give us more $$$$ and possibly a handful of jobs.