End of Line
“The last journey of death row inmates to the execution chamber.”
The exhibition “End of Line” deals with the last journey of condemned men in Texas. In this state, some 300 people sentenced to death are awaiting execution. They often wait for years, trapped in isolation in a small holding cell in the Allan B. Polunsky Unit.
The executions then take place in the Huntsville Unit, which is the oldest prison in Texas and about 60 miles away. This facility is also known as the Walls Unit. The pictures in this exhibition document the very last journey of those condemned to death row and offer personal insights into the lives of two of them. “End of Line” is intended to provide the viewer with a better understanding of what it’s like to spend your last days in a place like the Huntsville Unit.
In the course of the photo shoots, Jim Willett, a former prison guard, also talked about 89 executions he observed in his years in Huntsville. Snapshots of the condemned inmates Charles “Chucky” Mamou and Arnold Prieto Jr. were taken back in January 2014 together with an exclusive interview.
Since 1976, 506 prisoners have been executed in the state of Texas. In all of America, 3,359 people share that fate.
