NEW PODCAST: Former Prison Superintendent Frank Thompson on How Executions Affect Corrections Officers

In the February 2023 edi­tion of Discussions with DPIC, for­mer Oregon Superintendent of Prisons Frank Thompson speaks with DPIC Managing Director Anne Holsinger about how his expe­ri­ences as a cor­rec­tions offi­cer — as well as being a mur­der victim’s fam­i­ly mem­ber — have affect­ed his views on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Thompson over­saw the only two exe­cu­tions per­formed in Oregon in the past 50 years and was respon­si­ble for devel­op­ing the exe­cu­tion pro­to­col. He said the process of per­form­ing exe­cu­tions cre­at­ed ​“an addi­tion­al group of vic­tims” among the prison staff. Seeing the stress it caused him and his col­leagues even­tu­al­ly led Thompson to oppose the death penal­ty. Listen to the episode here.

Thompson brings a thor­ough under­stand­ing of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and first­hand expe­ri­ence with the sys­tem. He notes that the death penal­ty is ​“pro­hib­i­tive­ly cost­ly,” that it ​“in all prob­a­bil­i­ty kills inno­cent peo­ple,” and that ​“poor peo­ple, minori­ties, and men­tal­ly ill peo­ple are dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly rep­re­sent­ed on death row.” 

When Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced in December 2022 that she was com­mut­ing the sen­tences of all 17 peo­ple on the state’s death row, Thompson issued a state­ment prais­ing her deci­sion and ask­ing to be present for the dis­man­tling of the exe­cu­tion cham­ber. He called the death cham­ber ​“a rel­ic of the past,” com­par­ing it to ​“the stat­ues rep­re­sent­ing ante­bel­lum pol­i­tics in the South.” ​“I helped to con­struct this rel­ic of the past,” he said, ​“and I think it only appro­pri­ate to have me present to help destroy it.”