The electric chair is a specialized device used for capital punishment through electrocution. The condemned is strapped to a custom wooden chair and electrocuted via electrodes attached to the head and leg. Alfred P. Southwick, a Buffalo, New York dentist, conceived this execution method in 1881. It was developed over the next decade as a more humane alternative to conventional executions, particularly hanging. First used in 1890, the electric chair became symbolic of this execution method.
Yellow Mama is the electric chair of the United States state of Alabama. It was used for executions from 1927 to 2002.
Lyle Martin Alzado was an American professional football player who was a defensive end of the National Football League (NFL), famous for his intense and intimidating style of play.
Tapeheads is a 1988 comedy film directed by Bill Fishman and starring John Cusack, Tim Robbins, Sam Moore and Junior Walker. The film was produced by Michael Nesmith, who briefly appears as a bottled water delivery man.
John Louis Evans III was the first inmate to be executed by the state of Alabama after the United States reinstituted the death penalty in 1976. The manner of his execution is frequently cited by opponents of capital punishment in the United States. Evans was born in Beaumont, Texas, and was executed at the Holman Correctional Facility, then near Atmore, Alabama, at the age of 33.
Ernest Goes to Jail is a 1990 American comedy film directed by John Cherry and written by Charlie Cohen. It stars Jim Varney, Gailard Sartain, Barbara Bush, Charles Napier, Randall "Tex" Cobb, Bill Byrge, Barry Scott and Dan Leegant.
Creature is a 1985 American science fiction horror film directed by William Malone, starring Stan Ivar, Wendy Schaal, Lyman Ward, Annette McCarthy, Robert Jaffe, Diane Salinger, and Klaus Kinski. It features early special effects work by Robert and Dennis Skotak, who would go on to design the special effects for Aliens.
Stateville Correctional Center (SCC) is a maximum security state prison for men in Crest Hill, Illinois, United States, near Chicago. It is a part of the Illinois Department of Corrections.
The Oklahoma State Penitentiary, nicknamed "Big Mac", is a prison of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections located in McAlester, Oklahoma, on 1,556 acres (6.30 km2). Opened in 1908 with 50 inmates in makeshift facilities, today the prison holds more than 750 male offenders, the vast majority of which are maximum-security inmates. They also hold many death row prisoners.
Prison is a 1987 horror film directed by Renny Harlin and starring Viggo Mortensen, Tom Everett, Kane Hodder, Lane Smith, and Tommy Lister. It was filmed at the Old State Prison in Rawlins, Wyoming, with many residents on the cast and crew.
Mystery of the River Boat is a 1944 Universal movie serial directed by Lewis D. Collins and Ray Taylor. It co-starred Lyle Talbot, Robert Lowery and Mantan Moreland.
Frank Joseph Coppola was an American convicted murderer and former police officer from Portsmouth, Virginia who was executed for the 1978 murder of Muriel Hatchell. Hatchell was bound with Venetian blind cords and then had her head slammed repeatedly into the floor until she died. Coppola and his accomplices fled with $3,100 in cash and some rings from the crime scene. On September 26, 1978, Coppola was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in Virginia's electric chair. His conviction and death sentence were upheld after an appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia.
The Ohio Penitentiary, also known as the Ohio State Penitentiary, was a prison operated from 1834 to 1984 in downtown Columbus, Ohio, in what is now known as the Arena District. The state had built a small prison in Columbus in 1813, but as the state's population grew the earlier facility was not able to handle the number of prisoners sent to it by the courts. When the penitentiary first opened in 1834, not all of the buildings were completed. The prison housed 5,235 prisoners at its peak in 1955. Prison conditions were described as "primitive" and the facility was eventually replaced by the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, a maximum security facility in Lucasville. During its operation, it housed several well-known inmates, including General John H. Morgan, George "Bugs" Moran, O. Henry, Chester Himes, and Sam Sheppard. A separate women's prison was built within its walls in 1837. The buildings were demolished in 1997.
20,000 Years in Sing Sing is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film set in Sing Sing Penitentiary, the maximum security prison in Ossining, New York, starring Spencer Tracy as an inmate and Bette Davis as his girlfriend. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and based on the nonfiction book Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing written by Lewis E. Lawes, the warden of Sing Sing from 1920 to 1941.
Learning the Ropes is a Canadian-produced sitcom that aired on CTV in Canada and in syndication in the United States from September 1988 to March 1989. The series stars Lyle Alzado as Robert Randall, a teacher who works as a professional wrestler in the evening. Although his children knew about Randall's double life, the family was forced to keep it secret at school. The series featured guest appearances by many wrestlers of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The sitcom was shot in Toronto.
The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence) is a 2015 black comedy body horror film written and directed by Tom Six and starring Dieter Laser and Laurence R. Harvey, the leading actors from the first two films in new roles, Robert LaSardo, Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Jay Tavare, Eric Roberts, Bree Olson, Clayton Rohner, and Bill Hutchens as well as a cameo by Six. The film tells the story of a psychopathic prison warden and his accountant who create their own "human centipede" from the inmates. It is the conclusion to Six's The Human Centipede trilogy. The Human Centipede 3 was released both theatrically and on video on demand on 22 May 2015. The film was poorly reviewed from critics due to its overwhelming gore and repetitive plot to its predecessors.
Jolt is a 2021 American action film directed by Tanya Wexler and written by Scott Wascha. The film stars Kate Beckinsale, Susan Sarandon, Bobby Cannavale, Laverne Cox, Stanley Tucci, and Jai Courtney. It was released on July 23, 2021, by Amazon Studios
Screwed is a 2011 British crime drama film directed by Reg Traviss and starring James D'Arcy, Frank Harper, David Hayman, Cal MacAninch, Jamie Foreman and Noel Clarke. It is based on Ronnie Thompson's nonfiction book Screwed: The Truth About Life as a Prison Officer.
Grizzly II: Revenge is a 1983 American action thriller horror film that was not properly released until 2020. It was directed by André Szöts and is a sequel to the 1976 film Grizzly directed by William Girdler and David Sheldon. The film is about a giant grizzly named Tawanda who seeks revenge after her cub is killed by poachers. It stars Steve Inwood, Louise Fletcher, John Rhys-Davies, Deborah Raffin and Deborah Foreman; actors George Clooney, Laura Dern, and Charlie Sheen, who were all relatively unknown at the time, all had small roles in the film.
