I was ready for death: A woman who survived execution in the US speaks out for the first time
An attempt to execute Colleen Pike by lethal injection in the US state of Tennessee ended unsuccessfully. In her first statement, the convicted woman said she was experiencing severe physical and psychological suffering. Meanwhile, state officials have not yet commented on why the execution did not take place.
I was ready for death: woman who survived execution in US speaks for first time
50-year-old American woman Christa Pike, who was sentenced to death, made her first public statement after an attempt to execute her death sentence in a Tennessee state prison — where two injections failed to take effect.
Pike was administered an initial dose of pentobarbital, followed by a repeat dose, but she did not die. According to doctors' statements, an insufficient amount of the drug entered her circulatory system for her to die.
Pike described it as follows: "A month ago, on September 30, I walked into the execution chamber ready for death. I was resigned to my fate."
After that, according to Pike, she regained consciousness alone in the prison hospital, not understanding what was happening.
"Since that day, there has not been a single minute that I have not felt pain," Pike's statement reads. "My body hurts. My arms hurt. My hands hurt. My throat hurts. I still have difficulty speaking. And it's not just physical pain. The pain pierces my mind and my soul."
Following the failed execution, the 50-year-old Pike was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Later, she was returned to the prison where she had spent the previous 30 years of her life.
"I remain largely isolated in the prison medical unit, cut off from other people and the human connections that are so precious to me. This loneliness brings its own kind of pain. I spent 28 years in solitary confinement, and much of what I am experiencing today brings back memories of that environment," the condemned woman said.
Christa Pike was sentenced to death for a murder committed in 1995. She was set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in the last 200 years. Her case is the only known instance in history of surviving an injection.
Shortly afterward, experts pointed to a possible cause, suggesting that the injections may not have entered the venous system and that the poison remained in the subcutaneous tissues.