On Death Row
On Death Row is a four-part documentary miniseries written and directed by Werner Herzog, originally produced in 2012 and featuring extended interviews with inmates awaiting execution at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit, a maximum-security facility in Texas that confines individuals convicted of capital murder.[1][2] The series delves into the inmates' accounts of their crimes, incarceration experiences, and confrontations with mortality, presenting raw dialogues that reveal psychological states ranging from remorse to denial among those sentenced for acts such as multiple homicides and contract killings.[1] Herzog, who explicitly opposes the death penalty, frames the narratives through his probing, philosophical inquiries, aiming to illuminate the human cost of capital punishment without scripted advocacy, though critics note the inherent sympathy elicited by such personal testimonies from convicted killers.[3] Notable episodes profile figures like Hank Skinner, convicted of bludgeoning and stabbing his girlfriend and her sons, and members of the Texas Seven prison escapees responsible for a police officer's murder during a robbery spree.[1] The production highlights the isolation and routine of death row—solitary confinement, limited contact, and pending lethal injections—drawing from direct observations rather than secondary reports, and has been praised for its unflinching intimacy while sparking debate over whether it humanizes perpetrators at the expense of victims' finality in justice.[4]Production and Development
Origins and Herzog's Approach
The television series On Death Row originated during the production of Werner Herzog's 2011 feature documentary Into the Abyss, which centered on a 2001 Texas triple homicide and the subsequent executions of two involved inmates. While filming Into the Abyss in Texas, Herzog interviewed several death row prisoners beyond the primary case subjects, including individuals whose stories did not fit the film's focused narrative on killers Michael Perry and Jason Burkett. These additional interviews, conducted amid strict prison security protocols, provided raw material that Herzog repurposed into a companion mini-series to broaden the exploration of capital punishment's human toll. The project expanded from this initial footage, incorporating further sessions to profile five inmates across four episodes, with production wrapping in time for a U.S. premiere on Investigation Discovery on March 9, 2012.[5][6][7] Herzog's directorial approach eschewed conventional true-crime sensationalism, instead prioritizing extended, introspective interviews that probe inmates' confrontations with mortality and self-perception. He opens each episode by declaring his personal opposition to the death penalty—"I am against the death penalty"—to establish a baseline stance while allowing subjects' words to drive the inquiry, often revealing inconsistencies between professed remorse and underlying rationalizations for their crimes. This method reflects Herzog's broader documentary ethos of eliciting "ecstatic truth" through unscripted dialogue, as seen in his emphasis on inmates' rare certainty of their death date, which he described as a motivating factor for the project after a spontaneous realization while in Texas. Critics noted the restraint in avoiding graphic reenactments or advocacy rhetoric, focusing instead on psychological depth and the absurdity of institutional processes, such as prolonged appeals that extend inmates' awareness of impending execution.[3][8][9]Filming and Interviews
Filming for On Death Row primarily occurred at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas, the facility housing male death row inmates for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.[3] Interviews with inmates took place in secure visiting booths separated by glass partitions, where participants were fitted with microphones and visible preparations ensured controlled interaction.[10] Herzog's sessions adhered to supermax security protocols, limiting initial interviews to approximately one hour, with follow-up visits permitted months later to capture evolving narratives.[11][12] Herzog employed a conversational rather than interrogative style, emphasizing authenticity to elicit unguarded responses from inmates attuned to insincerity.[13] He occasionally challenged statements directly or injected mordant humor, as seen in exchanges probing remorse or denial, while upfront stating his opposition to capital punishment.[5][3] The series incorporated footage from both Texas and Florida death rows, featuring five principal subjects—four men and one woman—awaiting execution, with on-location shoots capturing institutional routines alongside personal testimonies.[6][14] Access constraints shaped production, as death row regulations prohibited extended or unmonitored contact, influencing the episodic structure drawn from condensed profiles originally planned for multiple inmates. One episode documented the Texas Seven escapees prior to leader George Rivas's execution on February 29, 2012, highlighting the temporal pressures of filming near lethal injection dates.[15] These interviews, unscripted and focused on inmates' reflections on crime, incarceration, and mortality, formed the core of the series' humanistic exploration without endorsing guilt or innocence claims.[16]Release Details
The documentary series On Death Row, directed by Werner Herzog, premiered in the United States on the Investigation Discovery cable network on March 9, 2012, at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.[1] The four-part series aired weekly on Friday evenings, with episodes broadcast on March 9, March 16, March 23, and March 30, 2012.[17] Each installment focused on extended interviews with death row inmates at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Texas, serving as a companion to Herzog's 2011 feature film Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, a Tale of Life.[6] The series first aired internationally in the United Kingdom on March 22, 2012.[18] It was produced by Creative Differences and Herzog's own Skellig Rock, with executive production from Investigation Discovery.[19] Subsequent distribution included availability on streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, where it has been offered for on-demand viewing.[20] In 2017, Investigation Discovery commissioned a follow-up episode centered on inmate Richard Glossip, airing as part of an expanded exploration of capital punishment cases, though this was not part of the original 2012 run.[21]Synopsis and Featured Cases
Overall Narrative Framework
The documentary series On Death Row employs a narrative framework centered on extended, unscripted interviews with death row inmates at Texas's Polunsky Unit, where male prisoners await execution.[6] Herzog, who directs and appears on camera, initiates each episode by articulating his personal opposition to capital punishment, establishing an overarching lens of ethical scrutiny toward the practice without delving into legal defenses of innocence.[3] This declarative stance frames the series as a humanistic inquiry into the psychological and moral dimensions of impending death, prioritizing inmates' self-narrated life histories over prosecutorial recaps or victim testimonies.[22] The structure unfolds episodically, with each installment focusing on one primary inmate's account of their crime, upbringing, and incarceration experiences, interspersed with brief observations from family members, legal representatives, or prison staff.[23] Herzog's questioning probes themes of remorse, fate, and the absurdity of mortality, often eliciting raw, unfiltered responses that reveal inmates' coping mechanisms—ranging from spiritual conversion to stoic resignation—amid the isolation of solitary confinement.[24] Minimal external narration allows these monologues to drive the narrative, underscoring causal links between early trauma, impulsive violence, and systemic retribution, while visual motifs of empty corridors and execution chambers evoke the inexorable machinery of the state.[25] This framework eschews sensationalism for contemplative depth, drawing parallels across cases to question the retributive efficacy of executions without asserting universal redemption or condemnation.[3] By 2012, when the first season aired, Texas had executed over 470 individuals since resuming capital punishment in 1982, providing empirical context for Herzog's portrayal of death row as a limbo of deferred finality, where appeals prolong suffering for both condemned and executioners.[6] The series thus constructs a mosaic of individual fates to illuminate broader debates on deterrence and humanity, grounded in the inmates' unvarnished testimonies rather than abstracted policy analysis.[22]James Barnes Case
James Phillip Barnes was featured in the first episode of On Death Row, where Werner Herzog conducted an interview with him at Florida State Prison. Barnes, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998 for strangling his wife, Linda Barnes, to death in their Titusville apartment on January 1, 1997, and concealing her body in a closet, provided a candid account of his actions.[26] During the interview, Barnes detailed entering his wife's apartment, arguing with her, and using a cord to strangle her before hiding the body and fleeing.[27] In 2005, while serving his life sentence and after converting to Islam during Ramadan, Barnes confessed to an additional murder: the 1988 rape and beating death of 30-year-old nurse Patricia "Patsy" Miller in her Melbourne condominium. He admitted to breaking into her apartment on February 15, 1988, raping her, and striking her multiple times in the head with a hammer, leaving her body partially decomposed before discovery days later.[28] [29] This confession led to his 2007 conviction for first-degree murder, sexual battery, and burglary with assault, resulting in a death sentence upheld by Florida courts.[26] Herzog's episode portrayed Barnes as unrepentant and forthcoming, with Barnes claiming responsibility for further unsolved murders during the interview, including homicides in Florida and Texas that he alleged occurred in the 1980s.[27] These admissions were presented as part of Barnes's effort to "clear his conscience" post-conversion, though subsequent investigations by Brevard County authorities after his August 3, 2023, execution found no corroborating evidence for the additional claims, attributing them potentially to exaggeration or lack of leads.[27] [28] The segment emphasized Barnes's psychological profile, including a history of mental health issues and prior petty crimes, without delving into appeals or mitigation evidence like his reported IQ of 59 or diagnoses of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which post-conviction reviews had considered but not overturned his sentences.[30]Linda Carty Case
Linda Carty, a British citizen born on July 5, 1958, in St. Kitts and Nevis, has been incarcerated on Texas death row since her 2002 conviction for capital murder committed during a kidnapping.[31] On May 16, 2001, Carty and three male accomplices invaded the Houston apartment of 25-year-old Joana Rodriguez, binding and abducting her along with her three-day-old son, Ray Cabrera.[31] Rodriguez was subsequently suffocated, her body discovered locked in the trunk of a vehicle, while the infant was found alive and returned to family.[31] Prosecutors argued the motive stemmed from Carty's desire to claim the child as her own amid personal fertility struggles following unsuccessful in vitro fertilization attempts; she had misrepresented herself as pregnant to neighbors and prepared a separate apartment stocked with baby supplies.[32] At trial in the 230th District Court of Harris County, evidence included testimony from the co-defendants—Charles Arnold, Chris Williams, and Karlene Watts—who received reduced charges in exchange for implicating Carty as the orchestrator, claiming she hired them for $1,000 to execute the abduction.[32] Carty's actions post-crime were pivotal: she contacted police hours after the kidnapping, reporting her own "baby" stolen from her locked apartment (despite no infant being present), and later directed officers to Rodriguez's body while exhibiting evasive behavior.[33] Forensic links tied duct tape from Carty's apartment to bindings on Rodriguez, and phone records corroborated coordination with accomplices.[32] A jury convicted Carty on February 21, 2002, sentencing her to death by lethal injection two days later, finding her a future danger based on prior convictions, including a 1992 auto theft and impersonation of an FBI agent for which she served probation as a drug informant.[32] Carty's defense maintained her innocence, alleging frame-up by accomplices motivated by grudges and inconsistent statements, while highlighting her consular notification rights under the Vienna Convention as a foreign national—rights allegedly violated by delayed British embassy access.[34] Appeals have repeatedly failed: the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed on April 7, 2004; the U.S. Fifth Circuit denied habeas relief on September 23, 2009; and subsequent petitions, including a 2016 retrial bid citing new evidence of accomplice coercion, were rejected.[34][35] As of October 2025, no execution date is set, with Carty remaining at the Mountain View Unit.[31] In Werner Herzog's On Death Row series, Episode 1 ("Conversations with Linda Carty") features an extended interview with Carty at the Polunsky Unit, where she emphatically denies orchestrating the murder, portraying herself as a victim of betrayal by informants and inadequate counsel.[36] Herzog, known for probing existential themes, contrasts her protestations with insights from Harris County Assistant District Attorney Connie Spence, who details the trial evidence underscoring Carty's culpability, including her proactive role in concealing the crime.[36] The segment underscores the case's evidentiary weight against claims of innocence, while Herzog refrains from overt advocacy, allowing the inmate's demeanor and prosecutorial rebuttal to inform viewer assessment of guilt.[36]Hank Skinner Case
Hank Skinner was convicted in 1995 of capital murder for the December 31, 1993, bludgeoning deaths of his live-in girlfriend Twila Jean Busby, aged 40, and her adult sons Elwin Caler, 22, and Randy Busby, 21, in their Pampa, Texas, home.[37] Skinner, who had a prior criminal record including assault and was intoxicated with alcohol and codeine at the time, was found passed out nearby and arrested shortly after; prosecutors presented circumstantial evidence tying him to the crime scene, including blood on his clothing, while he claimed physical incapacity due to impairment and implicated Busby's nephew as the likely perpetrator.[38][39] In Werner Herzog's 2012 documentary series On Death Row, the episode "Conversations with Hank Skinner" centers on an extended interview with Skinner after nearly 17 years of incarceration, where he emphatically denies guilt, details his version of events—including alleged police coercion and ineffective counsel—and expresses frustration over denied requests for DNA testing on key items like a bloody windbreaker, ax handle, and knives found at the scene.[40] Herzog's approach elicits Skinner's reflections on mortality and justice, portraying him as a figure persistently challenging his conviction amid repeated execution dates, though the episode does not independently verify his claims.[3] Skinner pursued post-conviction relief through federal courts, securing stays including a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court halt 20 minutes before lethal injection and partial DNA access in 2011, but 2012 testing revealed his genetic material in blood mixtures on Busby's nightshirt and a hand towel, which Texas authorities cited as corroborating guilt rather than exoneration; further testing in 2014 similarly failed to support innocence claims.[38][39][41] Skinner died on February 16, 2023, from heart surgery complications while awaiting a fourth execution date, without resolution of his appeals or full forensic reexamination.[37] The episode underscores debates over evidentiary access in capital cases, with Skinner's narrative highlighting potential flaws in Texas's handling of biological evidence, though judicial rulings consistently upheld the conviction's validity.[41]Additional Inmates
The third episode of On Death Row profiles George Rivas and Joseph C. Garcia, two participants in the 2000 "Texas Seven" prison escape from the John B. Connally Unit in Kenedy, Texas, on December 13, 2000, during which the group of seven inmates overpowered four correctional officers—killing one immediately and leaving the others seriously injured—before initiating a multi-state manhunt.[42] Rivas, aged 40 at the time of escape and previously serving a life sentence for 13 counts of aggravated kidnapping and four counts of aggravated robbery in El Paso County, served as the group's leader, devising the plan that involved posing as maintenance workers to seize weapons and vehicles.[43] Garcia, then 29, joined as a subordinate member, having been incarcerated for burglary and other offenses.[44] The escapees' spree escalated on December 24, 2000, when they robbed a sporting goods store in Irving, Texas, and fatally shot 28-year-old police officer Aubrey Hawkins, who responded to the scene; Hawkins was struck by at least 11 bullets from multiple weapons before being run over by the fleeing group's vehicle.[45] Both Rivas and Garcia were convicted of capital murder under Texas' law of parties doctrine, which holds accomplices liable for co-defendants' actions in felony murders, with juries finding them each culpable in Hawkins' death despite debates over direct participation—Rivas as planner and Garcia as an active participant in the robbery.[46] The group was captured in Colorado on January 24, 2001, after a tip from a viewer of America's Most Wanted.[42] In Herzog's interviews, conducted at the Polunsky Unit, Rivas appears composed and reflective, discussing the escape's logistics, the group's dynamics, and his extended tenure on death row—over a decade by 2012—contrasting it with shorter waits for mass murderers elsewhere, while expressing limited remorse for Hawkins specifically but acknowledging the killing's gravity.[15] [22] Garcia, portrayed as more emotional, recounts his follower's role, the post-escape desperation, and internal group conflicts, with Herzog probing their psychological states and views on capital punishment amid the looming finality of execution dates.[47] Rivas was executed by lethal injection on February 29, 2012, at the Huntsville Unit, hours after a U.S. Supreme Court denial of stay; Garcia followed on December 4, 2018, also by lethal injection, marking the fourth Texas Seven execution.[48] [45] The episode underscores the inmates' narratives of regret over the escape's fallout while highlighting evidentiary challenges in group liability cases, though convictions rested on confessions, witness accounts, and forensic links to the crime scene.[46]Episode Breakdown
Season 1 Structure
Season 1 of On Death Row comprises four episodes, each approximately 43 minutes in length, that aired on Investigation Discovery beginning in early 2013.[49] The episodes are structured around extended, one-on-one interviews conducted by Werner Herzog with death row inmates housed at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit, a maximum-security facility in Livingston, Texas, where Texas death row prisoners are held prior to potential execution.[1] These interviews occur through a glass partition separating the inmate from visitors, limiting interaction to verbal exchange without physical contact, a standard protocol for death row communications.[20] Herzog's questioning probes the inmates' personal histories, circumstances of their crimes, trial experiences, and contemplations on death, often eliciting raw, unfiltered responses, while his narration provides minimalistic framing focused on human elements rather than legal advocacy.[4] Each episode centers on one or two primary inmates, supplemented by brief interviews with prosecutors, defense attorneys, victims' family members, or fellow inmates to contextualize the cases, though the emphasis remains on the convicted individuals' perspectives.[50] The narrative format eschews traditional reenactments or archival footage of crimes, instead relying on dialogue and static visuals of the prison environment to convey isolation and finality.[51] This structure allows for introspective depth per episode, with runtime allocated roughly 70% to inmate interviews and 30% to supporting testimonies and Herzog's observations.[52] The episodes are titled as "Conversations with [Inmate Name(s)]" and cover distinct cases:- Conversations with James Barnes: Examines Barnes, convicted in 1993 for the 1988 strangulation murder of his wife in Florida; he was transferred to Texas death row and executed on January 8, 2013, shortly after filming.[20]
- Conversations with Linda Carty: Profiles Carty, a British national convicted in 2002 for the kidnapping and murder of her neighbor's three-day-old son in Texas, highlighting claims of innocence and international appeals.[4]
- Conversations with Joseph Garcia and George Rivas: Features two members of the "Texas 7" prison escapees, convicted for murders during their 2000 spree, including Rivas as ringleader and Garcia's role in a police officer's killing.[20]
- Conversations with Hank Skinner: Focuses on Skinner, convicted in 1995 for the murders of his girlfriend and her two male relatives in Texas, emphasizing disputes over DNA evidence and execution stays.[53]