The series ends with three films which highlight the arguments, emotions and events in Florida earlier this year, when the State brought back the death penalty. 11: Old Sparky
Introduced by English lawyer Walter Merricks
Florida's Electric Chair was made in 1924 out of local wood by the prisoners themselves. They call it 'Old Sparky'. But 'Old Sparky' had not been used for 15 years, and more than 130 prisoners had built up on the Death Row of Florida's State Penitentiary.
So when Judge Fuller intoned the awesome formula of death on mass murderer John Errol Ferguson in 1978, there was something almost academic about the sentence. , .. Except that change was in the air in the form of a new Governor, elected on a mandate to tighten up on law and order. In Florida, as here, the issue of capital punishment divides. In the abolition lobby stands a man who has signed more death warrants than any other Florida Governor-ex Governor Collins. On the other side is a man who considers the process humane and dignified, retired Prison Inspector McClendon, who has officiated at 114 electrocutions - more than any other living American.
Film cameraman COLIN DEEHAN Film recordist JOHN RRITCHARD Film editor JOHN BAnNEs Researcher MO BOWYER
Executive producer ROGER MILLS Producer MARK ANDERSON