Former Warden Is Now Death Penalty Abolitionist

By Rose Scott

Atlanta, GA –
Earlier today, six retired prison wardens issued a letter calling on Georgia Corrections Officials and Governor Nathan Deal to allow what they describe as "any personnel to so inclined" opt-out of activities related to the execution of Troy Davis.
WABE's Rose Scott has this report on one of the former wardens that signed the letter.
This story does contain graphic description of an execution.

Ron McAndrew says he's not the same man that worked in corrections for more than twenty years.

"I walked straight into my adult years strongly supporting the death penalty because it was the right thing to do"

McAndrew is the former warden of three different prisons in Florida.
He says his stance on capital punishment changed after being directly involved in three executions as a warden:

"the problems were keeping me awake at night, I started questioning the death penalty, I started reading about, I started reading about it , I started actually even looking at the history of executing people and why we do it"

McAndrew says he wasn't finding answers.
He talks about another controversial execution the 1997 electrocution of Pedro Medina which also included a malfunctioning electric chair:

"I gave the executioner the order to put him to death and I was standing three feet away from him when his head caught on fire and the flames literally came up in front of my face I stood there and literally cooked a human being to the death"

Ron McAndrew says he understands that victim's families want justice.
However, he adds cases like Troy Davis that includes legitimate reasonable doubt should be enough to at least prevent the execution:

"I've seen men go to their death based on investigations that have serious holes in them, the Troy Davis proposed or scheduled I should say execution this evening is one of those examples and the holes are witnesses that are recanting"