Christa Pike makes new prison plea as she reveals she's forced to clean in 'roach-infested shower'
Death row inmate Christa Pike has raised concerns about the conditions of her incarceration, claiming that she's already 'returned to the hospital emergency room once'.
Pike, 50, has now returned to jail after surviving an attempt to execute her by lethal injection on September 30, leading to a pause on executions in Tennessee pending an investigation.
She was discharged from hospital in Nashville on October 9, and has since filed an emergency motion to be reintegrated with other prisoners.
In a personal declaration about her incarceration, which was obtained by PEOPLE, Pike expressed concern about her well-being and her health.
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This includes worries about contracting infections while cleaning a shower she claims is infested with cockroaches, which allegedly places her at 'high risk of infection and further injury', as well as concerns that she would not be able to defend herself from assault due to the lasting effects of surviving two doses of pentobarbital.
"This pod houses inmates with significant histories of assaults and disciplinary problems," she wrote.
"In my two years living in this pod after entering into the settlement, I witnessed multiple assaults by close custody inmates of other inmates and guards, multiple individuals who were undergoing acute psychological breakdowns, and significant danger."
Pike claimed that her 'current physical condition' means that it would not be safe for her to go there, claiming that she 'could not defend myself or get away if another inmate attacked me'.
"I am afraid that I will be seriously hurt if I am moved to that pod while I am this weak," she added.
Pike also said that she wants to participate in 'group meals, group classes, lobby time, group religious services, work assignments, or shared recreation'.
Elsewhere in her declaration, she claimed that she'd 'returned to the hospital emergency room once', but 'was not readmitted for inpatient care'.
At present, the 50-year-old is in the infirmary alone for most of the time, except for when she meets her legal representatives.
Now, lawyers have until November 4 to respond to the motion Pike has filed, with her team then having until November 6 after that to respond.
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, Pike's legal team said: "The motion was filed on an emergency basis because each day of continued isolation causes further harm to Ms. Pike.
"It asks the court to order the State to end her isolation and restore the protections in the agreement as far as her medical needs and safety allow."
Pike was originally sentenced to death by electric chair when she was just 20 years old after being convicted of the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer.
As she was 18 at the time, Pike was eligible for the death penalty for the killing, in which she and her boyfriend at the time attacked Slemmer, before Pike bludgeoned her to death.
Subsequent appeals drew attention to Pike being the victim of multiple incidents of child sexual abuse, claiming that no attention was drawn to the traumatic impact this had on her during her initial trial.
When approached for comment, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction told UNILAD: "It is our policy not to comment on pending litigation."
Topics: Christa Pike, US News, Crime, Death Row
Kit Roberts
