"A Young Chinese Girl is Executed by Lethal Injection"
By robblu (https://pastebin.com/u/robblu)

URL: https://pastebin.com/VtP8icDa
Created on: Monday 16th of April 2018 10:17:23 PM CDT
Retrieved on: Saturday 31 of October 2020 03:14:42 AM UTC


A Young Chinese Girl is Executed by Lethal Injection for Drug Trafficking
By Sam Sneed
I am a guard at a woman’s jail in the center of the province. It’s a jail, not a prison, and was built to only hold arrested women until they were transferred to a larger facility. It had been fine working there. Since it was a woman’s jail all the other guards were women, like me, and we made up a sort of family.
About six months ago, however, all that changed. The jail became in fact a death house, due to a ruling by the central government. Since then I have hated my job, a fact I have hid from my superiors. However, jobs are scarce in the province and provincials were discouraged from moving to the cities, which were already becoming overcrowded. My only other option would have been to marry some farmer or tradesmen and push out babies for him, which was totally unappealing. So I have spent the last months processing women and sometimes young girls to their deaths by lethal injection, a method which had taken over from shootings as the preferred method of execution in the province.
The story of Jinghua perfectly illustrates why I hate what I do. She had been arrested at a security checkpoint the previous day and had arrived at our jail that morning. After she had been processed me and a fellow guard took charge of her. The first stop was her trial, and if she was very unfortunate her last stop would be her death.
We led Jinghua into the courtroom. It was fairly spartan; at a table up front were the three judges, off to the side were three court secretaries who were fetching documents and drinks for the judges. Other than us and the young girl that was all there was. We sat her on a chair before the judges.
One of the secretaries placed documents before the three. The judges began to flip through them, looking very serious. I was apprehensive for the young girl. This province had been declared a ‘special’ zone by the central government, because use of narcotics, particularly heroin, had become so widespread. The designation meant anyone caught in any way carrying or selling narcotics could be condemned to death without appeal; the sentence being carried out that very day. In addition, the death sentence could be applied to people down to the age of 16, regardless of gender. That put this girl in danger, even though she couldn’t have been more than 17. And by her confused manner she probably didn’t realize what the ‘special’ designation meant in her case.
There was low chatter among the three. Then the one in the center spoke up. “Your name is Jinghua, and you are 17 years old” he said, sharply.
The girl nodded vigorously, too scared yet to speak. The judge went on.
“You were apprehended carrying a half-kilo of uncut heroin. It was located by a drug-sniffing dog while you sat on your bicycle at a checkpoint. You were immediately searched and the heroin was discovered taped to the small of your back. Is that true?” he said.
The girl nodded again. I began to get a very sinking feeling. The facts of the case appeared cut-and-dried. There didn’t appear to be any way the drugs could have been planted on the girl, so she was obviously carrying them deliberately. I wondered if she knew what terrible trouble she was in.
The judge demanded “how did the heroin enter your possession?”
The girl began to speak, nervously at first, then with more confidence. “A man in our town stopped me as I was cycling to my from my mother’s store a few weeks ago. He said if I carried a package to another man in the next town he would pay me $20 in American” she explained “that is more money than I had ever seen. So I did as he told and he paid me the next day. It was so easy I did it four more times. With the money I was going to move to the city and get a factory job.”
It was a sad tale, which I had heard variations of many times before. Drug dealers often used girls to move their product from one town to the other. The girls were so innocent and so bedazzled by that much cash in Yankee dollars that they would readily agree, especially since the task was so easy. Unfortunately, most like this girl were too innocent to take sensible precautions, like avoiding police checkpoints, or carrying the drugs in an open basket so they could later claim someone dropped them there without them knowing. By her admission she had sealed her fate, although the facts in evidence may have been enough.
The middle judge looked at the girl sadly, then looked at the other two judges in turn, both of whom nodded their heads with an equally pained expression. All three obviously detested what must be done, but were bound by party directives to do it.
“Sentenced to death” said the judge, who then looked down and began making entries on some papers. Jinghua pressed both hands to her mouth, too shocked to speak, and we quickly took her arms and ushered her out of the courtroom.
We hurried down the corridor to the ‘waiting room’. It was named that because we would hold convicted people there while preparations were made for their execution. As we went down the corridor the young girl breathed out “I’ve been sentenced to die?”
Neither of us said anything. The thing to do was to get a newly-sentenced person to the ‘waiting room’ as quickly as possible. We part hurried and part carried the young girl down the corridor.
We finally reached the waiting room and pushed open the door. A ‘counselor’ was waiting with a broad smile on his face. I hid my scowl – these ‘counselors’ were in reality paid liars.
We put Jinghua in a chair across from the counselor and retreated to stand near the doorway. That way we would be available if she suddenly became hysterical.
The counselor poured a glass of water and pushed it and a box of tissues across the table to Jinghua. The girl dried her eyes, then took a drink of water. This calmed her down somewhat.
“I’ve been sentenced to die” she sniffled “why? I only carried some drugs. I thought at worst I’d go to prison.”
The counselor smiled. “It’s mostly for show. You’ll be transferred to a juvenile detention center while your case is reviewed. It’s highly likely it will be commuted to a prison sentence.”
The girl calmed somewhat. I kept my face impassive, but inside I seethed. This lie was meant to keep those convicted to die calm until their execution. There had been too many hysterics; people wailing, needing to be bound hand and foot, fighting and screaming until the last. A few weeks ago a new official had arrived and had brought with him the ‘counselors’. Since then the process had gone smoother and more efficiently, but I was still troubled by lying to those about to be killed by the state.
The counselor continued to speak reassuring words in an oily kind of way. Jinghua continued to nod her head and sip from her water glass. He was just getting to the part I hate (“there will just be a quick medical exam before you are transferred”) when my cell phone buzzed. I checked the phone and it had the one word ‘ready’. I sighed and waived to the counselor.
“OK, they’re ready” he said “Be brave and everything can still come out alright.”
We took Jinghua under her arms and helped her stand up, then led her out the door. It was only a short walk to the death room, although the poor girl had no idea where she was going.
We went through the door into the room. It was flooded with sunshine, as there was a large (but barred) window behind the table and a ceiling window in the center of the room. The were some counters around the room with medical instruments; a nice touch. The execution table itself had been made to look harmless with a white covering around it which concealed the straps and the arm board.
Now was the part I hated the most. “Would you please disrobe?” I asked “it’s for the medical exam.” This was the only time I was required to lie to her, and I detested it. Part of the new procedure was the condemned were now executed in the nude; this made processing their corpses quicker.
The young girl nodded and began unbuttoning her blouse. I was relieved not ot have to argue with her, but most were put at ease by the apparent medical appearance of the room.
Jinghua undressed quickly, and as she removed an article of clothing handed it to my partner, who carefully folded them and laid them on the counter; the better to continue the charade of a medical exam, although the clothes would be burned later. Finally she stood shivering, completely nude. She was actually a very attractive young woman, with fine curves and small but pert breasts, and shapely hips framing a young lady bush.
I gestured to the table and asked her to lie down. She again did as she was told, but it was clear she was very nervous. She began breathing deep and looking out the skylight in an effort to calm herself.
My partner and I retreated to the entry door, and a moment later two men dressed in hospital scrubs came in. They wore surgical masks over their faces, and moved with serious purpose. Upon reaching
the table they pulled down the white covering and each pulled out a stout strap which they placed around Jinghua’s midriff. The pulled it tight enough so the girl grunted, then quickly put two more straps across her legs and tightened them. Jinghua just laid there and looked confused.
“Why are you strapping me down?” she asked, her voice filled with concern.
“We are preparing you for your execution” one of the men said.
Jinghua’s eyes grew wide and her face took on a look of pure horror.
“What…here…now?” she said confusedly.
“Yes” the man said “All death sentences are carried out on site, on the same day.”
“But the man said I was to be transferred, and there would be an appeal!” Jinghua shrieked, trying to push herself off the table. Both men pressed her down harshly and put a strap across her shoulders, securing her to the table.
“I’m sorry” said the man, without emotion “we’re required to say that to calm those about to be executed.”
“Nooo..Nooo…I don’t want to die!...I didn’t do anything that bad…I’m a good girl…” the terrified young girl moaned as she writhed under the straps. She didn’t know it but it was already too late – she would die in about 30 minutes and no power on Earth could stop it.
The anguished girl had brought both hands to her mouth as she began crying profusely. Each of the men now took an arm and separated them. The first man smoothly brought Jinghua’s left arm down and snapped to a handcuff secured to a bolt below the table, which incapacitated that arm. The second masked man brought her right arm to a board which has been snapped into position from below the table. Quickly both men strapped that arm to the board with three small straps, preparing where the poisons would be pumped into the girl’s body to kill her.
At this point we were allowed to leave, as the girl was incapacitated and the execution room attendants could handle things from here. In fact, my partner did take her leave at that point. I stayed, however, not because I’m fascinated with seeing an attractive young girl die, but to provide her with a somewhat friendly face. I had been with her since she had arrived that morning, and all the others in the room were wearing masks. There was another reason I’ll explain shortly.
As the strapping was completed one of the men leaned forward to just in front of Jinghua’s face, put his hand on her head, and went “Shhhhhhh…”. Despite her terror Jinghua calmed down somewhat, although she continued breathing rapidly. The man stood up and accepted a tablet computer from the other man. He made some quick movements on the tablet screen with his finger, then held it above Jinghua so the camera opening could see her face. Glancing at the screen I could see he was careful to only show Jinghua’s face so as to not reveal her nudity.
“You may now make a final statement. You can say goodbye to someone close to you, or simply state something before you die.” The man said, very clinically.
Jinghua looked at the tablet and gasped out “Mother, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry I have to die. I didn’t think what I did was this wrong, or I wouldn’t have done it. I’m so sorry not only that I am dying but that it’s in a way that brings shame to you. I’m only glad that Father is not alive to see this.”
The young girl shook her head to clear the tears from her eyes, then continued. “I know you will be alone now, just think of how much I loved you, right up until the end. And also, I kept my virginity until the end. You can at least be proud of that.”
I wiped a tear from one eye. These final statements are always the worst, as they say goodbye, especially since they were usually the only child of a household, since the ‘one-child’ policy had only been rescinded a couple of years before.
One of the men glared at me, probably thinking I was another emotional female. I glared back – I had no reason to be sorry for how I was feeling, and I could still do my duty.
“Say the full name of your mother and where she can be located” the man with the tablet said “your statement will be transcribed into a letter and sent to her.” At one time the statement videos used to be sent directly to loved ones, but after many of them had begun trending on the internet the authorities directed that only transcriptions would be sent. An image of Jinghua made from the video, however, would be posted on the national website as a warning to anyone else who might be tempted to become involved in drug trafficking.
Jinghua gave her mother’s name and address. The masked man with the tablet stopped the video, then made some entries in it with a stylus, while the other quickly sent a text with his smart phone. Jinghua looked over at me. I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring glance. It appeared to work, as she continued sniffing but began looking at the skylight above her.
The side door suddenly opened and a woman also wearing a surgical mask came in. She was wheeling in front of her a small apparatus with a long pole jutting above it. She wheeled the apparatus over close to Jinghua’s arm, tilted it vertical, then snapped a foot pedal which locked the wheels. She then looked up as one of the men showed her something on the tablet. The women, who was in fact an executioner, read the entries, then nodded. The entries, I knew, indicated all proper procedures had been followed to prepare Jinghua for execution, including the last statement. This meant she could proceed to execute the girl.
The masked woman took out an electrode attached to a long cord from the cart and stretched the cord out. I knew what the electrode as – a very sensitive microphone, tuned to the frequencies emitted by a beating human heart. The masked woman proceeded to place the electrode in the center of Jinghua’s chest, between her still heaving breasts. She then peeled a strip of tape from a dispenser on the cart and taped the electrode in place. The electrode jutted out between the young girl’s small breasts.
The executioner stood and took an IV bottle from the cart and hung it on the tall pole, stretching out the line from it. She then took a large rubber band from her pocket and quickly tied it around the upper part of the arm strapped to the board. Jinghua watched all this through teary eyes with occasional sniffs. The woman then produced a large needle from the cart. I knew from past experience that this needle had been used for several previous executions. It wasn’t sterilized afterwards but was only rinsed off. Needles were expensive, and no one was concerned with the risk of infecting those the needle would be used on.
The executioner rubbed the middle of Jinghua’s arm gently, looking for a vein. Finding a good candidate, she quickly brought the needle up and plunged into the arm. Jinghua bit her lip when she saw the needle, and moaned a little as it went into her arm. The masked woman held it in place while she tore off a strip of tape from the dispenser and taped the needle down. With that done the executioner then took the line from the IV and plugged it into the needle. She then tapped the bottle until she was satisfied the saline solution was flowing into Jinghua’s body.
With everything ready the woman bent low to Jinghua’s face. “I will first give you something to make you sleep” she said, in a smooth, practiced voice “once you are unconscious I will administer the narcotics which will end your life. Do you understand?”
Jinghua nodded her head, probably more out of habit of acknowledging someone giving her instructions, then closed her eyes and moaned softly. The executioner stood up and slowly pressed the plunger on a syringe which led into the IV tube. She would use a servo unit to inject the poisons, but since the whirring of the motor sometimes unhinged the victims she administered the sleeping agent manually.
After a couple of minutes the executioner released the plunger, as all of the agent had gone into the IV. She bent down near Jinghua’s face, looked at it a moment, then said to the girl “you should now be feeling very drowsy. Don’t fight it, just let yourself drift off, it will be easier that way.”
“For who?” said Jinghua in a whispery voice. The masked woman started at that, then stood up shaking her head. I had to suppress a smile – I hadn’t expected such a statement of defiance from the scared young girl as she died.
Despite the executioner’s instructions it was clear Jinghua did not want to go to sleep. She widened her eyes, opened her mouth like she was yawning. She lifted her chin and like she was trying to look behind her. Finally, she rocked her head back and forth while working her mouth open and closed. Finally, her eyes closed, her head rocking slowly stopped, and her head fell off to one side. She made no further movements.
The executioner had stared at her with arms folder while all this happened. A couple of minutes after Jinghua stopped moving the woman bent over the girl and moved her head back and forth. Satisfied she was unconscious, the executioner stood up. She looked at a small screen on the cart and threw a switch. A low but persistent beeping noise filled the room. This was the sound of the Jinghua’s heartbeat.
Satisfied, the executioner paused, and then pressed a small red button on the cart. A motor started whirring, and a few seconds later I could see the slight change in hue of the saline solution entering Jinghua’s arm. The poisons were entering the young girl’s body.
The two masked men stood aside and waited. The masked woman stood with her arms folded, looking at the readout from the heart microphone. The persistent beeping continued.
At this point I could have left, for I wasn’t even needed as a reassurance, but there was one other thing I was curious about. As was my habit I closed my eyes and started mouthing quietly a small prayer I had learned as a child.
After about five minutes one could detect an ever-so slight slowing of the beeping noise. The poisons were building up in Jinghua’s bloodstream in sufficient amounts to stop her heart. A minute later the beeping now began to slow at a clearly discernable rate, and the time between each succeeding heartbeat became longer and longer. Ten minutes on the beeps had become achingly slow, then they became erratic, then the beeping was replaced with a constant whine.
The executioner turned a switch and the whine stopped. She now turned a dial, and started watching the monitor intently. The microphone was now reading Jinghua’s respiration, which continued for a few seconds while the heart stopped beating. Finally, she turned off the monitor and nodded to the two masked men standing off to the side. One of them handed her the tablet computer. The masked woman took a stylus and made some entries, then handed it back to the men. The two of them then left the room by the main door, one of them taking time to glare at me again.
The executioner casually ripped the heart monitor from Jinghua’s chest, loud enough that the tearing sound made me jump. She then removed the needle and began packing up her death cart.
While she did I opened my eyes wide and began staring about the room. Jinghua’s body had shut down, and total brain death would happen about five minutes later. I checked my watch, and saw that it had been five minutes since the executioner had looked up as Jinghua’s respiration had ceased. I was looking to find out if I could see the young girl’s spirit departing her body. I had been at a couple of dozen executions like this one, and each time I tried to see some sign of the life force exiting the deceased. I had begun to see a fleeting shadow, like a dimming of the light coming through the windows. I had seen it so often I was concluding it wasn’t an illusion or hallucination.
There! For less than a second a shadow seemed to pass between me and the bright skylight. It looked just like the ones I had seen before, and I concluded Jinghua’s spirit had just left her. She was now finding out what lies on the other side, something we will all find out sooner or later. I hoped someone who loved her would be waiting for her.
I looked at the young girl, who might have been sleeping. The executioner, who had just unlocked the wheels of the cart, glanced at me quickly, then shrugged her shoulders and exited the side door. I’ll never understand the kind of person who could put people to death over and over again. Probably the same type who can listen to children screaming in pain and complain about the noise.
I looked at her once more. Her body would be left here for a half-hour to ensure that the poisons had done their work. Then the mortuary staff would come with a gurney. They would once more check for a heartbeat, and for respiration with a polished mirror. Then she would be unstrapped and carried away for cremation. The authorities didn’t like having bodies around for relatives and friends to get worked up over. Jinghua’s nude condition would mean she could be wheeled directly into the oven without having to undress her first – more efficient, after all.
I left the execution chamber. I checked the clock, and realized my shift was over. I walked down the corridor, past two of my comrades walking another scared young girl to the waiting room. I didn’t even look at them, but continued to the locker room where I changed out of my uniform.
I walked out of the front door, and through the grass and weeds to the back of the jail. I went to a window I knew belonged to the Evidence and Property room, and knocked quietly on it. A familiar face appeared and , recognizing me, asked “need a pedicure?”
I nodded sadly, and he handed me a small envelope. I handed him some money, and stuffed the envelope in the back pocket of my pants. That evening I would shoot the heroin into the webbing between my toes, hence the ‘pedicure’ remark. When the chief warder inspected us each week she only looked at use in our bra, panties, and socks, so she couldn’t see needle tracks in the feet. Most likely she just didn’t want to know.
I suppose, though, if someone of higher authority caught me, a prison guard, using heroin I would probably end up strapped to a table, naked, while a masked woman pumped poison into my body. After witnessing the number of young girls put to death that I had I would welcome such an angel of mercy.