
Death Row Welcomes You
Visiting Hours in the Shadow of the Execution Chamber
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Tim Fannon
-
By:
-
Steven Hale
About this listen
In 2018, after nearly a decade's hiatus, the state of Tennessee began executing death row inmates, bucking national trends that showed the death penalty in decline. In less than two years, the state put seven men to death. It was an execution spree unlike any seen in Tennessee since the 1940s, only brought to a halt by a global pandemic. Award-winning journalist Steven Hale was the leading reporter on these executions, covering them both locally for the Nashville Scene alt-weekly and nationally for The Appeal.
In Death Row Welcomes You, Hale traces the lives of condemned prisoners at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution-and the people who come to visit them. What brought them-the visitors and convicted murderers alike-to death row? The visitors are, for the most part, not activists-or at least they did not start out that way. Nor are they the sort of killer-obsessed death row groupies such settings sometimes attract. In fact, in most cases they are average people whose lives, not to mention their views on the death penalty, were turned upside down by a face-to-face meeting with a death row prisoner.
Combining the fascinating topics of crime, death, and life inside prison, Hale writes with humanity, empathy, and insight earned by befriending death row prisoners . . . and standing witness to their final moments.
©2023 Steven Hale (P)2024 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Let the Lord Sort Them
- The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty
- By: Maurice Chammah
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1972, the United States Supreme Court made a surprising ruling: The country’s death penalty system violated the Constitution. The backlash was swift, especially in Texas, where executions were considered part of the cultural fabric, and a dark history of lynching was masked by gauzy visions of a tough-on-crime frontier. When executions resumed, Texas quickly became the nationwide leader in carrying out the punishment.
-
-
Very Slanted
- By appreciative reader on 02-07-21
By: Maurice Chammah
-
Our Little Secret
- The True Story of a Teenage Killer and the Silence of a Small New England Town
- By: Kevin Flynn, Rebecca Lavoie
- Narrated by: Aven Shore
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 20 years Daniel Paquette's murder in New Hampshire went unsolved. It remained a secret between two high school friends until Eric Windhurst's arrest in 2005. What was revealed was a crime born of adolescent passion between Eric and Daniel's stepdaughter, Melanie - redefining the meaning of loyalty, justice, and revenge.
-
-
A
- By Diana Hart 33 on 04-28-21
By: Kevin Flynn, and others
-
Watch Me Die
- Last Words from Death Row
- By: Bill Kimberlin
- Narrated by: Tom Lennon
- Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Step inside the death chamber and behind the walls of Ohio’s death row. Bill Kimberlin, PsyD, invites the listener on an extensive and unbiased journey inside Ohio’s death row in Watch Me Die: Last Words from Death Row. You will see how these inmates think as Kimberlin not only spends time interviewing them, but also eats meals with them and, in some cases, is the last person to speak with them before they are executed.
-
-
very good
- By Kindle Customer on 10-14-22
By: Bill Kimberlin
-
Under the Bridge
- By: Rebecca Godfrey
- Narrated by: Rebecca Godfrey, Erin Moon, Mary Gaitskill - introduction
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One moonlit night, 14-year-old Reena Virk went to join friends at a party and never returned home. In this “tour de force of crime reportage” (Kirkus Reviews), acclaimed author Rebecca Godfrey takes us into the hidden world of the seven teenage girls - and boy - accused of a savage murder. As she follows the investigation and trials, Godfrey reveals the startling truth about the unlikely killers. Laced with lyricism and insight, Under the Bridge is an unforgettable look at a haunting modern tragedy.
-
-
Powerful Account of 8 Young Teens Killing Another
- By Mary Burnight on 08-16-19
By: Rebecca Godfrey
-
The Incorruptibles
- A True Story of Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld
- By: Dan Slater
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early 1900s, prior to World War I, New York City was a vortex of vice and corruption. On the Lower East Side, then the most crowded ghetto on earth, Eastern European Jews formed a dense web of crime syndicates. Gangs of horse poisoners and casino owners, pimps and prostitutes, thieves and thugs, jockeyed for dominance while their family members and neighbors toiled in the unregulated garment industry. But when the notorious murder of a gambler attracted global attention, a coterie of affluent German-Jewish uptowners decided to take matters into their own hands.
-
-
Very Entertaining/Researched
- By ptr on 02-23-25
By: Dan Slater
-
The Book of Murder
- A Prosecutor's Journey Through Love and Death
- By: Matt Murphy
- Narrated by: Matt Murphy
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Examining murder from an insider’s perspective, Matt Murphy—a former senior deputy district attorney and current ABC News legal analyst—discusses cases from his career, how they strained his personal life, and how he found peace seeking justice for victims and their families. Part taxonomy of murder, part prosecutor’s handbook, and part personal memoir, The Book of Murder goes through a dozen cases and his recollections of his 26 years in the Orange County DA’s office (17 in the Homicide Unit).
-
-
Great book
- By Last Lemming on 10-04-24
By: Matt Murphy
-
Let the Lord Sort Them
- The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty
- By: Maurice Chammah
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1972, the United States Supreme Court made a surprising ruling: The country’s death penalty system violated the Constitution. The backlash was swift, especially in Texas, where executions were considered part of the cultural fabric, and a dark history of lynching was masked by gauzy visions of a tough-on-crime frontier. When executions resumed, Texas quickly became the nationwide leader in carrying out the punishment.
-
-
Very Slanted
- By appreciative reader on 02-07-21
By: Maurice Chammah
-
Our Little Secret
- The True Story of a Teenage Killer and the Silence of a Small New England Town
- By: Kevin Flynn, Rebecca Lavoie
- Narrated by: Aven Shore
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 20 years Daniel Paquette's murder in New Hampshire went unsolved. It remained a secret between two high school friends until Eric Windhurst's arrest in 2005. What was revealed was a crime born of adolescent passion between Eric and Daniel's stepdaughter, Melanie - redefining the meaning of loyalty, justice, and revenge.
-
-
A
- By Diana Hart 33 on 04-28-21
By: Kevin Flynn, and others
-
Watch Me Die
- Last Words from Death Row
- By: Bill Kimberlin
- Narrated by: Tom Lennon
- Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Step inside the death chamber and behind the walls of Ohio’s death row. Bill Kimberlin, PsyD, invites the listener on an extensive and unbiased journey inside Ohio’s death row in Watch Me Die: Last Words from Death Row. You will see how these inmates think as Kimberlin not only spends time interviewing them, but also eats meals with them and, in some cases, is the last person to speak with them before they are executed.
-
-
very good
- By Kindle Customer on 10-14-22
By: Bill Kimberlin
-
Under the Bridge
- By: Rebecca Godfrey
- Narrated by: Rebecca Godfrey, Erin Moon, Mary Gaitskill - introduction
- Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One moonlit night, 14-year-old Reena Virk went to join friends at a party and never returned home. In this “tour de force of crime reportage” (Kirkus Reviews), acclaimed author Rebecca Godfrey takes us into the hidden world of the seven teenage girls - and boy - accused of a savage murder. As she follows the investigation and trials, Godfrey reveals the startling truth about the unlikely killers. Laced with lyricism and insight, Under the Bridge is an unforgettable look at a haunting modern tragedy.
-
-
Powerful Account of 8 Young Teens Killing Another
- By Mary Burnight on 08-16-19
By: Rebecca Godfrey
-
The Incorruptibles
- A True Story of Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld
- By: Dan Slater
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early 1900s, prior to World War I, New York City was a vortex of vice and corruption. On the Lower East Side, then the most crowded ghetto on earth, Eastern European Jews formed a dense web of crime syndicates. Gangs of horse poisoners and casino owners, pimps and prostitutes, thieves and thugs, jockeyed for dominance while their family members and neighbors toiled in the unregulated garment industry. But when the notorious murder of a gambler attracted global attention, a coterie of affluent German-Jewish uptowners decided to take matters into their own hands.
-
-
Very Entertaining/Researched
- By ptr on 02-23-25
By: Dan Slater
-
The Book of Murder
- A Prosecutor's Journey Through Love and Death
- By: Matt Murphy
- Narrated by: Matt Murphy
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Examining murder from an insider’s perspective, Matt Murphy—a former senior deputy district attorney and current ABC News legal analyst—discusses cases from his career, how they strained his personal life, and how he found peace seeking justice for victims and their families. Part taxonomy of murder, part prosecutor’s handbook, and part personal memoir, The Book of Murder goes through a dozen cases and his recollections of his 26 years in the Orange County DA’s office (17 in the Homicide Unit).
-
-
Great book
- By Last Lemming on 10-04-24
By: Matt Murphy
What listeners say about Death Row Welcomes You
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Philip andrews
- 01-02-25
Compelling and tragic.
Well written, thoughtful and empathetic. An indictment of the “Good Christian“ Bill Lee and the many other governors of Tennessee who allow this barbarity.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Heather Neisen
- 08-28-24
Deep dive on death penalty in Tennessee
Lots of short stories of people who ended up on death row, how they got their, their family life growing up; and their life now.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!