In what seems like a cruel twist following the recent news of its closure, tonight sees BBC3 air one of it’s most powerful documentaries yet.
Life and Death Row is a three part series examining the lives of young people affected by capital punishment in America, with the first episode focusing on the cases of two of the youngest men on death row in Texas.
It makes for extremely affecting, if difficult viewing, with unprecedented access not only to the prisoners, but also their victims and the families on both sides. And with a recent poll showing 58 per cent of under-30s in the UK support the reintroduction of the death penalty for certain crimes, particularly timely. Here director Ben Anthony talks to The Debrief about why he wanted to make it.
The Debrief: Why did you feel this needed making?
Ben Anthony: Capital punishment is a subject that’s never far from people’s minds, especially in the light of recent high profile murder trials in Britain, such as Lee Rigby. People feel very strongly about questions of justice, so we knew it was something people would have an opinion on.
DB: The access you have is incredible – you get a real sense of just how many people are affected.
BA: It was essential to what we were about when we were making it. I felt that I’d seen many anti execution films but – while I don’t agree with capital punishment and don’t feel that it achieves what it necessarily sets out to do – I didn’t just want to preach to the converted. When you’ve got a subject where people are very clear on what they think you want to challenge that a bit on both sides.
DB: How did you choose which cases to feature?
BA: You don’t have a lot of choice. It just happens to be the cases that came around when we were filming. But it was important for me to have cases where there was no doubt about the guilt of the people involved. We didn’t want it to be a question of miscarriage of justice – as critical an issue as that is, it’s been covered before.
DB: How long did you spend speaking to the killers?
RA: There are very strict regulations about interviews. You’re given a time slot. You turn up and the clock starts ticking. It’s quite stressful, especially when you’re interviewing someone who has only got a short amount of time to live.
DB: The interviews with the inmates are filmed straight to camera, making them very intense. Was that intentional?
BA: I was clear from the start that I thought people should be able to look into the eyes of the person who is facing death. When you’re talking to someone with 24 hours to live, or a murderer, someone who you would never normally make eye contact with, I think that’s an extraordinarily powerful thing.
DB: With Richard Cobb especially, it makes for some uncomfortable viewing
BA: He was a very intelligent and articulate man. He expresses himself in quite a stunning way I think. But when he was interviewed he’d been awake for 72 hours. He had about 24 hours of life left. He also wasn’t somebody who believed in God. A lot of inmates facing death take solace in the fact that they’re going to meet God, or they’re going to a better place, and I don’t think he felt that. I think he was scared. The facial expressions and tics were expressions of that fear.
DB: What’s it like speaking to someone knowing they might only a matter of hours left?
BA: It’s very difficult to describe. It seems very surreal. You can’t quite believe that someone who doesn’t have any health problems is going to be killed. I’ve filmed in a hospital with people who know they are going to die, and it’s heartbreaking, but there’s a sort of acceptance that it’s part of life. That’s not present on death row. It’s being imposed upon them by somebody else.
DB: You use a lot of old photos, especially of Anthony Haynes. What were the reasons for that?
BA: That is Anthony Hayne’s life. It effectively goes up to the age of 18 [when he was jailed]. There aren’t any photographs after that point other than him sitting in that cubicle in prison. The one thing I really wanted to get across in the film was a sense of a wasted life. Anthony wasn’t from a disadvantaged family. He’s a middle class guy with respectable parents. He even says that – his parents gave him every chance to make good decisions and he choose to make bad ones. Those photos reflect that.
DB: Nikki Daniels, who survived being raped and shot by Richard Cobb, struggles to get closure from his execution.
BA: I think a really powerful moment in the film is how angry Nikki feels afterwards – she doesn’t get what she thinks she needs or deserves. Or she doesn’t see that justice has been done.
DB: And the two young daughters of Sgt Kent Kincaird, shot by Anthony Haynes, seem angry that they have to a view on the death penalty.
BA: That was one of the most interesting parts for me. It’s bad enough to lose your father, without getting embroiled in the arguments against the death penalty. They didn’t ask to feel a responsibility for this stranger’s fate. And they do feel guilty about it, because they understand that someone is going to lose their life and obviously that person has got a family. They resent having to feel guilty. Their motivation for wanting execution to take place is so it will be over. It’s not that they want Anthony Haynes to be dead, they just want it all to be over.
Life and Death Row is on BBC3 tonight at 9pm, as part of BBC Three’s Crime and Punishment Season.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.