A sequence of specific protocols must be followed when an execution is carried out.
When Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant in June for 57-year-old Gary Ray Bowles, ordering his execution Aug. 22 for a 1996 murder conviction, his signature triggered a protocol within the state Department of Corrections that, except for the manner of execution, has remained essentially the same for decades.
It began when corrections officers at Florida State Prison near Raiford told Bowles the warrant had been signed, and they moved him to death watch — a specific area of the prison housing inmates under a death warrant. With about 30 more square feet than the standard 6-foot by 9-foot death row cell, his new housing affords Bowles a little more space.
From there, he’ll await word from his lawyers as they pursue an onslaught of appeals to halt, or at least delay, his execution.
Florida State Prison holds one of the state’s two death row facilities for men — the other being just down the road at Union Correctional Institution. Women are held at Lowell Correctional near Ocala, but all executions are carried out at Florida State Prison.
As Aug. 22 draws closer, assuming there is no legal delay, prison officials will identify the execution team, including medical personnel and a private citizen to be paid $150 as the primary executioner, along with a secondary executioner, according to the Department of Corrections. The team will begin checking equipment, planning for a last meal and arranging for witness credentials, including up to 12 media representatives.
The execution warden arranges for 12 official lay witnesses, often including family members of the victim, and Bowles can ask to have his lawyer and a minister of religion present.
On the day of the execution, the prison’s food service director will oversee preparation of Bowles’ last meal, and will serve it to him. Bowles will decide the menu, but the ingredients must be available at the prison, can’t include any alcoholic beverages and not cost more than $40.
After that, another member of the execution team will escort Bowles to the shower area, then return him to his death watch cell to put on the clothing he’ll wear into the execution chamber.
Since Bowles didn’t request death by electrocution, he’s scheduled to be executed by lethal injection. The electric chair hasn’t been used in Florida since 1999, a year before the Legislature adopted lethal injection as the state’s method for executing condemned inmates.
The team will ensure the telephone lines and public address system are functioning in the execution chamber, and the lethal injection drugs and related medical supplies are labeled and prepared for application. The warden will explain the lethal injection process to Bowles, and offer to administer an injection to ease his anxiety, according to the DOC.
The warden will use a cheek swab to check each member of the execution team and the executioners for chemical substances and a breath analyzer to check for alcohol usage, which could cause a member to be removed if either test is positive.
As the witnesses are seated in the observation room, and with the curtain covering the glass window between the witness room and the execution chamber closed, team members will escort Bowles to the execution chamber. He’ll lie on the gurney and the warden will read the death warrant to him. Then the team will secure him with body restraints.
They’ll place two heart monitors on his chest and insert a needle in each arm — a primary line and a secondary one — to administer the lethal drugs, using saline solution to ensure the lines are flowing freely.
Communication lines will remain open to the governor’s office throughout the process, providing updates to the actions being taken.
Team members will open the curtain to the witness room, and Bowles will be given the opportunity to make a final statement.
With that, the executioner, whose identity will remain anonymous, will begin the three-step injection process.
Once Bowles is pronounced dead, a team member will notify the governor’s office and announce to the witnesses that the sentence has been carried out, and Bowles’ body will be taken by hearse to the Alachua County Medical Examiner’s office for an autopsy. ⬛
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