When executions are done — whether they are via lethal injection or the electric chair — the act is carried out by several individuals, and the prison warden is responsible for choosing a person for each task. As Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Information Center said, "Nobody is responsible for everything" (via Vice). Furthermore, being an executioner is not a career, as there is no one individual with the sole job of taking death row inmates' lives. Those who are involved in the execution have other jobs within the prison system and are then called when an inmate is scheduled to be put to death. "What is commonly called 'executioner' is not a career," Frank Thompson, who worked as a death row warden, said.
Because of the nature of the job, the identities of those who are part of the "death team" are kept secret. However, there are some who choose to tell their story after they have retired. One of those is Jerry Givens, who was interviewed by The Guardian in 2013 regarding the nature of his work. Givens revealed that the execution team trains for the worst that could happen on execution day. They are also responsible for testing equipment and making sure everything goes smoothly.
