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CNN Live At Daybreak

McVeigh Execution: Former Warden Discusses Capital Punishment

Aired June 08, 2001 - 08:29   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, his defense attorney says Timothy McVeigh is saying goodbyes to family and friends. The convicted Oklahoma City bomber is scheduled to be executed Monday morning in Indiana. McVeigh decided yesterday to stop all appeals for an execution delay. Well, when Timothy McVeigh is put to death Monday morning, the last words he will hear will be from the prison warden.

Donald Cabana knows exactly what it is like at an execution. He's a former prison warden and author of the book, "Death at Midnight: Confession of an Executioner." He's in Jackson, Mississippi with us this morning.

Mr. Cabana, thanks for being here.

DONALD CABANA, AUTHOR, "CONFESSION OF AN EXECUTIONER": Good morning.

MCEDWARDS: You've written that "Every time a warden executes someone, a piece of him dies as well. Describe what that experience was like for you.

CABANA: Well, it's a very personal experience that, frankly, there's only one other person that can really understand and share it with you. And that's the condemned prisoner. You walk through the process together. And I think that, for instance, the prison staff in Terre Haute will find out by sometime later Monday morning that they had no idea what they were really in for.

MCEDWARDS: And why did you find it so difficult?

CABANA: Well, it's a process. It's one thing to talk about something like this in the abstract. But when you have to literally go to a cell and walk somebody out and strap them into a chair or onto a stretcher, and then run something through the veins or into their lungs, it's an entirely different kind of thing. As so often happens, reality is quite different from talking about something in the abstract.

MCEDWARDS: What about victims and their families who -- in this case, anyway -- in the Timothy McVeigh case, some of them feel that this is justice.

CABANA: Well, certainly, that's understandable, although I think, frankly, that execution is too good for this guy. He committed this crime to be a martyr. And he's using his execution for additional martyrdom. And, frankly, I think a far tougher punishment for him would be to give him exactly what he doesn't want and what's he's clearly said he doesn't want. And that's life in prison.

MCEDWARDS: So, Mr Cabana, if the death penalty, in your view, isn't the answer, what is?

CABANA: Well, for a crime like this, of course, this is a rather extraordinary kind of thing. It's a horrible act of terrorism. And even McVeigh's execution, as a single action, really doesn't do much in the way of accounting for the loss of 168 lives.

But one thing that people probably don't understand, for the most part, is that guys like McVeigh have a very tough existence inside prison. He's a child killer. And they rank way down on the list of people most liked by other inmates. Inmates are fathers too. And a tough thing for this guy to do would be to have to spend the rest of his life in a cell, surrounded by folks who he knows really have an intense dislike for him.

MCEDWARDS: Mr. Cabana, what -- describe how your personal experience in the correction system changed you.

CABANA: Well, it's kind of a roller-coaster ride, I think, for most wardens. I started out in my career early opposed to the death penalty. Having just returned from Vietnam, I think I was pretty much opposed to everything.

But a corrections career really shapes the warden, rather than the other way around. And you go through things like hostage situations and riots. And you see people die and get killed. And it has a way of reshaping your views. So, eventually, I came to the conclusion that the death penalty was probably a necessary evil in those few -- quote -- "worst cases." But in the end, in the final analysis, once I had to do it several times, certainly it took on a different meaning for me.

MCEDWARDS: Right. All right, Donald Cabana, thanks so much for sharing your experiences with us this morning -- appreciate it.

CABANA: Thank you.

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