Larry Fitzgerald served as the offi­cial spokesman for Texas exe­cu­tions for eight years. He rep­re­sent­ed the state through 219 lethal injec­tions. Retired in August 2003, Fitzgerald left with what he refers to as a, ​“PhD in prison life.” Due to his exper­tise with the Texas prison sys­tem, defense attor­neys have been uti­liz­ing his tes­ti­mo­ny in death penal­ty cas­es to describe to the jury why the prison sys­tem offers a suit­able alter­na­tive to a death sen­tence. He tes­ti­fies about inmate life, edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties in prison, and most of all, about how secure the pris­ons are. ​“People,” he said, ​“just don’t under­stand all of what goes on inside a prison.” ​“My tes­ti­mo­ny [is] to show the prison sys­tem works. No mat­ter how bad this per­son is, the Texas prison sys­tem can han­dle him,” Fitzgerald explained. The for­mer spokesman for Texas’ exe­cu­tions added that he has come to believe that Texas uses the death penal­ty ​“way too much.”
(S. Mills, ​“Voice of death tes­ti­fies for life,” Chicago Tribune, June 12, 2008) (empha­sis added). See New Voices. Other Texas exe­cu­tion offi­cials who have expressed sim­i­lar sen­ti­ments include the for­mer war­den of the prison where Texas exe­cu­tions take place, Jim Willet, and for­mer death row chap­lain Carroll Pickett.

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