Missouri has a new place for people to die. The state now has a specifically-designed place to execute criminals for the first time since the gas chamber was closed at the old state penitentiary more than 15 years ago. The new execution chamber at the Bonne Terre Prison is designed with large windows on three sides, but the condemned inmate can only see through one of the windows -to se his friends, relatives and supporters. The windows the media and victim’s representatives sit behind are one-way mirror glass. But there have been times when victims’ supporters want to be seen, such as the time several highway patrolmen watched a man die who had killed a fellow trooper. Corrections Department Spokesman John Fougere says that’s something that had not been considered designing the new death chamber. The windows are thick glass. Dying inmates often say final things to their supporters before losing consciousness, but the glass is so think they can’t be understood even if they are heard. Tuesday night’s execution was the first in the new chamber in Bonne Terre after more than 60 at Potosi.
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