I'm a Death Row psychologist and was left terrified after one inmate revealed his plot to me
A death row psychologist who has a 'unique relationship' with hundreds of inmates awaiting execution was left holding his breath after he realized he was part of one prisoner's plan to avoid losing their life.
Bill Kimberlin has attended a number of executions after one prisoner requested his presence, and as a result he's become very familiar with the whole process. But one experience in particular left him shaking in his boots.
Kimberlin was sat down eating a 'last meal' with one of the inmates just days before his execution, when the prisoner turned to him and said: "I've been thinking that if I killed one more person, if I killed somebody like today right now, then they can't execute me, right?
"Because they have to take me to trial," the inmate added, which he said was going to 'take years'.
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In the United States, inmates typically spend an average of 22 years awaiting execution, due to complex, mandatory legal appeals and post-conviction reviews. Timelines can vary depending on the state.
While this was ticking around in the inmate's head, Kimberlin recalls looking around the room, and realizing he was the only one there. He says there was a guard on shift, although at that moment in time, he wasn't in eyesight of the pair.
He then began to sweat, as he recalls thinking 'this guy's a big dude'.
"I'm sweating bullets thinking 'Oh I my god. don't know what I'm going to do'," he tells us of the moment.
However, Kimberlin's 'fight' kicked in, and to evade himself from becoming a potential target, he told the inmate: "They're still going to put you to death, they're going to try and abstentiate you out of here and bring more embarrassment to your family, so that's definitely not something you want to entertain."
Of course, the prisoner never confirmed his 'plan,' but Kimberlin feels like he had a lucky escape.
"That one will always be on my mind," he tells us.
Aside from that little 'blip,' Kimerblin says the inmates he speaks to and spends time with show him 'a lot of respect'.
"They're constantly concerned about my well-being, my family's well-being. And they'll ask that all the time, making sure everybody's okay. They'll ask me if I need anything," he says.
"The compassion that they try to show me from a psychological standpoint fascinates me."
One high profile killer the death row author has spent time with is Samuel Little, who was convicted of eight murders, but confessed to 93 murders between 1970 and 2005. He was recognized by the FBI as one of the most prolific serial killer in US history.
"It fascinates me that people like that are concerned about me and my family, but they had no concern for the people's lives that they've taken," Kimberlin says.
Little evaded law enforcement for decades due to the fact he avoided using weapons that leave forensic evidence, such as manual strangulation.
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Infamous death row meals
Victor Feguer
Feguer kidnapped and killed Dr Edward Bartels in July 1960. The doctor's body was later found in an Illinois cornfield with a single gunshot to the head.
Feguer was convicted of federal kidnapping and murder and executed by hanging at the Iowa State Penitentiary on March 15, 1963.
For his final meal, the 27-year-old murderer requested a single olive with the pit in it. Feguer apparently told guards that he hoped an olive tree would grow from his grave, 'as a sign of peace'.
John Wayne Gacy
One of America’s most notorious serial killers, Gacy was convicted in 1980 after murdering at least 33 boys and young men in the 1970s.
The 52-year-old was executed by lethal injection at the Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois on May 10, 1994.
Gacy opted for a bucket of KFC's original recipe chicken, French fries, 12 deep-fried shrimp, and a pound of strawberries for his last supper. In an eerie full-circle moment, it’s said that he previously managed several KFC restaurants owned by his father-in-law.
James Edward Smith
Smith was found guilty of fatally shooting Larry Don Rohus while he was robbing an office building in Houston, Texas, in 1983.
He was put to death by lethal injection at Texas’ Huntsville Unit on June 26, 1990.
The inmate asked for a lump of rhaeakunda dirt for his final meal, as part of a voodoo ritual, which he both practised and believed in, as he hoped that it would assist his journey into reincarnation.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, his bizarre request was denied, and the 37-year-old was given plain yogurt instead.
Timothy McVeigh
McVeigh was convicted of conspiracy, using a weapon of mass destruction, and destruction by explosives resulting in death for carrying out the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people.
On June 11, 2001, he was executed for his crimes via lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Indiana.
McVeigh, 33, chowed down on two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream for his final meal.
Lawrence Russell Brewer
Brewer was a white supremacist who, along with two other men, was convicted of murdering James Byrd Jr. in 1998.
Aged 44, he was executed by lethal injection at the Huntsville Unit in Texas on September 21, 2011.
For his last meal, the criminal infamously requested: two chicken fried steaks smothered in gravy with sliced onions; a triple bacon cheeseburger with fixings on the side; a cheese omelette with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, peppers and jalapeños; a large bowl of fried okra with ketchup; one pound of barbecue meat with half a loaf of white bread; three fajitas with all the trimmings; a Meat Lovers pizza; one pint of vanilla ice cream; a slab of peanut butter fudge; and three root beers.
However, when it arrived, Brewer refused to touch any of it - you can imagine how that went down. His actions ultimately led to the state abolishing the long-standing tradition.
Kiesha Dosanjh