At the Death House Door

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

At The Death House Door

Directed by	Steve James Peter Gilbert
Produced by	Peter Gilbert Steve James
Starring	Carroll Pickett
Music by	Leo Sidran
Cinematography	Peter Gilbert
Editing by	Steve James Aaron Wickenden
Distributed by	IFC
Release date(s)	May 2008
Running time	98 minutes
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

At the Death House Door is a 2008 documentary film about Carroll Pickett, who served as the death house chaplain to the infamous "Walls" prison unit in Huntsville, Texas. It was produced and directed by the team of Steve James and Peter Gilbert. They had previously worked together on the well-received Kartemquin Films documentary Hoop Dreams, on which James was the producer and director and Gilbert served as producer and director of photography.^[1] The film was produced by Kartemquin Films in association with the Chicago Tribune, which provided partial funding.^[2]

[edit] Synopsis

Pickett presided over 95 executions in his 15 year career, including the very first by lethal injection. He kept his feelings about his work from his family, instead audiotaping an account of each one. Initially pro-execution, he became an anti-death penalty activist.

Pickett was most affected by the execution of Carlos De Luna in 1989. He firmly believed in De Luna's innocence. Evidence uncovered by Chicago Tribune reporters Maurice Possley and Steve Mills strongly supports Pickett's view.^[3]