Oklahoma recently reached a grim milestone. As pf this month, the state has been executing criminals for a century, according to The Oklahoman.
On Dec. 10, 1915, Henry Bookman became the first to be electrocuted in a chair at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Since then, 81 more men and women have paid the ultimate debt to society in that same chair. Another was hanged, and 112 have died by lethal injection. Only one other state, Texas, has carried out more death sentences.
10 inmates have been exonerated after being placed on Oklahoma's death row. Last years, a gruesome mistake during a lethal injection caused an inmate to writhe in pain for 43 minutes. A multi-county grand jury has been looking into the state's recent execution problems. Executions are now at a standstill as the court decides the future of the death penalty in the state.
