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Article: Helping prison staff handle the stress of an execution.
- Article from:
- Corrections Today
- Article date:
- July 1, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 American Correctional Association, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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An execution is an intensely symbolic act, one that stirs heartfelt beliefs about capital punishment and fuels growing public frustration with violent crime. For those involved in carrying out an execution, the experience is particularly difficult and stressful. One cannot perform a more emotionally charged correctional duty than participating in the officially sanctioned taking of an inmate's life.
To help staff involved in executions at California's San Quentin State Prison, staff psychologist Maurice Lyons, members of the institution's in-service M"g department and I (as the prison's warden) developed a comprehensive pre- and post-trauma intervention program. ...