Trevor McDonald goes inside one of America’s most notorious maximum security prisons, Indiana State, where he comes face-to-face with 12 condemned men awaiting execution. Part 1: The broadcaster ventures inside Indiana State Prison, meeting 12 condemned men awaiting execution and some of the other inmates in the maximum security facility. Among those Trevor talks to are Benjamin Ritchie, who murdered a policeman, and John Stephenson, who killed three people on the orders of a gang boss, while James Harrison reveals how he escaped the death penalty with only weeks to spare after accepting a deal of life inside instead. Trevor also visits the 1950s-style barber shop where all the hairdressers are convicts, including Rick Pearish who explains why they are given permission to use cut-throat razors and sharp implements. Part 2: The broadcaster interviews Fredrick Baer, who has been on death row at Indiana State Prison for seven years following his conviction for the murders of a woman and her four-year-old daughter. Baer talks about his abusive childhood and explains what led him to a life of crime, before Trevor visits the chamber where the condemned man will one day be executed. There’s also an insight into the more privileged part of the facility, where inmates stay in a dormitory with cubicles instead of cells. There, he talks to John Serwatka, who was paid to kill two innocent strangers and will never be released.
