Inside Christa Pike's strict daily routine on death row before her botched execution

Christa Pike lived in extremely harsh conditions in the lead up to her botched execution last week.

Pike was supposed to die by lethal injection on September 30. However, those carrying out the execution failed to properly administer two separate doses of the drug and Pike, 50, survived.

She is now on life support at an unspecified hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, and is 'critically ill', her lawyer said in a recent update.

Pike was on death row for three decades before last week's debacle. She was handed the death penalty in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer a year prior.

Pike was only 18 when she carried out the murder, while Slemmer was 19 years old.

In the lead up to her execution, Pike had been housed at Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center northwest of downtown Nashville.

Reportedly she was in solitary confinement-like conditions until 2024, the Nashville Banner reported at the time.

That year, her lawyers finalized a settlement with the state that brought an end to her isolation and, on the basis that she behaved herself, she was given the same opportunities to the men on Tennessee’s death row. Some of these opportunities included more time out of her cell, allowed her to work a job, and to share meals with other inmates.

Angela Bergman, one of the attorneys who represented Pike in the lawsuit, said this would be 'life-changing' for Pike.

She said in a statement: "For the last nearly 30 years, Ms. Pike has been subjected to solitary confinement in a cell the size of a parking space, where she has had nearly no meaningful human contact. These conditions have had a devastating impact on her mental and physical health."

Bergman added: "For Christa, this not only means a reprieve from decades of harmful and unconstitutional conditions, but an opportunity to have a meaningful, positive impact on those around her."

Christa Pike was scheduled to be executed on September 30 (Tennessee Department of Correction)

On a day-to-day though, death row inmates in Tennessee have a strict schedule. According to the state's Department of Correction, offenders are woken up at 5:30am everyday.

It goes on to say on its website: "They are provided three meals per day Monday through Friday, and two meals per day on weekends and holidays. Breakfast is at 7am, lunch at 11am, and dinner at 5pm. Offenders are secured in their cells by 9pm daily."

It adds of female death row inmates specifically: "Female death row offenders are subject to similar policies as their male counterparts, however they are not housed in a separate housing unit because of the small number of females sentenced to death."

As it stands, another execution date has not been set for Pike. After her inital one went wrong on September 30, Gov. Bill Lee halted all pending executions in Tennessee for the remainder of the year.

The only other one that had been set to take place was that of Gary Wayne Sutton on December 3.