Revisionist History: The Alabama Murders – Part 4: The Protocol

Release Date: October 16, 2025
Host: Malcolm Gladwell
Production: Pushkin Industries

Episode Overview

In this emotionally charged episode, Malcolm Gladwell explores the little-examined realities—and misconceptions—behind America’s most common method of execution: lethal injection. Building on a decades-long Alabama case, Gladwell introduces listeners to Tom Perry Jr., a minister who chose to accompany death row inmates—most notably, John Forrest Parker—through their final days. The episode pivots to an in-depth investigation into how the lethal injection protocol was invented, the legal and ethical failures along the way, and the profound human consequences of a system that aimed for mercy but may have produced the opposite.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introducing Tom Perry and the Ministry of Presence

• Tom Perry Jr. served as a spiritual companion to 13 men executed on Alabama’s death row over two decades.
• Gladwell seeks to understand John Forrest Parker, a central figure in Alabama’s capital murder history, through the eyes of Perry—a friend, confidant, and witness.
  • [04:01] Malcolm Gladwell: "This is the story of someone who bothered to care and someone else who couldn’t be bothered at all."
• Perry describes himself humbly:
  • [03:17] Tom Perry Jr.: "I'm no really do Gooder. I’m just an old guy that’s fallen short every day. I just happened. The Lord uses me in the penitentiary setting because of my shortcomings, if that makes sense."
• He emphasizes the importance of perseverance and presence, not just words:
  • [10:37] Tom Perry Jr.: "Our ministry, more important than any words, was a ministry of presence."

2. Parker’s Story: Humanity Behind the Headlines

• The jury originally voted for life without parole, but Judge Inga Johnson overrode the recommendation and sentenced Parker to death.
• Perry recalls Parker’s hesitancy to engage:
  • [07:43] Tom Perry Jr.: "His first chance, he’d go back to his cell. But if we didn’t have food, John didn’t come out...he wanted nothing to do with [religion]."
• The trust built, especially after Perry’s conversation with Parker’s mother, underpins their relationship.
  • [08:18] Tom Perry Jr.: "[His mother] said, 'Next month...you tell him his mama said he better come out.' So I went and told him and he said, 'I'll be there.' And he never missed the next month."
• Parker, sober in prison for the first time since age 12, gradually confides his remorse without denying involvement:
  • [09:14] Tom Perry Jr.: "He said, 'You know, I didn’t kill Ms. Stinnett...but I was involved. And, and that's a horrible thing I was involved in.'"

3. The Final Days: Bearing Witness at the End

• Parker’s execution process is recounted in detail—from preparations and last visits to the moments in the chamber.
• Perry recalls the rituals surrounding execution day: gathering, praying, singing, and the strong efforts by correctional staff to maintain dignity.
  • [28:25] Tom Perry Jr.: "Anything they could do for John...within reason, they would do to make that last day as good as they could for the inmate."
• The description of Parker’s parting words and gestures is deeply moving:
  • [30:56] Tom Perry Jr.: "He looks up at me, you know, and he says, 'You know, I love you, brother, and I thank you for everything you did for me and, you know, take care of my mom and dad.'"
  • The “rolled hands” gesture, a sign of love from their ministry circle, offers a quiet, profound closure.

4. Origins and Flaws of Lethal Injection

• Gladwell reconstructs the history of lethal injection: Oklahoma invented the protocol quickly and with little evidence, seeking something “less traumatic” for both prisoners and witnesses.
  • [15:18] Malcolm Gladwell: "These are states terrified of journalists being able to videotape what's happening. So their concern is really with what this looks like to the world."
• The three-drug protocol was never tested; its theoretical basis was borrowed and never validated for the purpose of execution.

5. The Reality of the Protocol: Medical and Ethical Catastrophe

• Dr. Joel Zivett, an anesthesiologist, discovered from autopsies a common but unnoticed phenomenon: “heavy,” fluid-filled lungs in executed prisoners.
  • [20:15] Dr. Zivett: "All these lungs were heavy. Why were they heavy? They were heavy because they were full of. Of bloody, frothy fluid."
  • This finding suggests that lethal injection causes the prisoner to suffer horrific burning and suffocation while paralyzed and unable to communicate.
• The medical community largely ignored these warnings, and publication of findings was met with resistance due to their grisly nature.
  • [27:38] Dr. Zivett: "People don’t want to publish it. It’s so...I don’t know. Grisly. Unusual that...it just doesn’t. Can’t seem to find the journal for it."

6. Systemic Indifference and Willful Blindness

• The illusion of a “humane” death is maintained for the comfort of witnesses and society—not the condemned.
  • [24:08] Malcolm Gladwell: "Death penalty advocates were trying to satisfy the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, but their innovation only spared the suffering of the witnesses...not the subject of the execution."
• No one noticed the reality of suffering—even though the evidence was available in autopsies.
  • [25:35] Malcolm Gladwell: "Nobody noticed this till you?"
  • [25:37] Dr. Zivett: "Apparently not."
• Gladwell circles back to the James Keenan quote: "Sin is a failure to bother to care."

7. Aftermath & Memory

• The emotional cost to Perry is manifest; he cherishes a photo taken the day of Parker’s execution, framing it by his professional license.
  • [34:34] Tom Perry Jr.: "Yeah, actually, in the frame. I stick it in the frame and I keep it here..."

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tom Perry Jr. on his calling:
  [03:17] “I'm just an old guy that’s fallen short every day. I just happened. The Lord uses me in the penitentiary setting because of my shortcomings..."
• Perry on the effect of witnessing executions:
  [06:10] "...when it’s over, I usually need somebody to drive me home. But up until then you just have the strength to do it. But it's so hard, you wouldn't believe and it affects you."
• Gladwell on the bureaucratic invention of lethal injection:
  [17:13] "The lethal injection protocol was dreamt up on the back of an envelope. And until Joel Zivet came along by accident, 50 years later, none of the people who championed lethal injection could get around to wondering just how their preferred method worked."
• Dr. Zivett on why it took so long for anyone to notice the truth:
  [25:37] "Apparently not… You have to be curious, I suppose, or care. I mean, what’s astonishing to me is the fact that it was noticed every time by pathologists. No one said anything."
• Tom Perry Jr. on goodbye:
  [30:56] "He looks up at me...and he says, 'You know, I love you, brother, and I thank you for everything you did for me and, you know, take care of my mom and dad.'"
• Gladwell’s thesis:
  [33:22] "Well, yes and no. He didn’t appear to suffer. That’s because he was strapped down to a gurney and sedated and given a paralytic so he couldn’t struggle or cry out even if he wanted to. But of course, he suffered. His lungs were burning up from the inside..."

Important Timestamps

• [04:01]: Gladwell introduces the theme and the Keenan quote: "Sin is a failure to bother to care."
• [07:04]: Judge overrides jury, Parker is sent to death row.
• [11:40]: 23 years of monthly visits; appeals drag on.
• [12:43]: Detailed description of Parker’s last hours and execution.
• [14:08]: Origins of lethal injection in Oklahoma, 1977, and political context.
• [19:03]: Dr. Joel Zivett’s analysis of autopsies reveals a horrifying truth.
• [24:08]: Gladwell spells out the illusion of humaneness in lethal injection.
• [27:14]: Zivett struggles to publish his findings; societal reluctance.
• [28:25]–[34:54]: Detailed, emotional account of Parker’s execution day and Perry’s role as witness and family support.
• [35:44]: Gladwell’s closing reflection on who cares, who doesn’t, and what is actually at stake.

Tone and Style

The episode is somber, confessional, and at times quietly devastating. Gladwell is relentless, precise, and almost prosecutorial in his investigation, but the heart of the story is mediated through Perry’s humility, warmth, and vulnerability. The technical explanation of the execution protocol is direct and graphic, but always in service of exposing a larger truth about indifference, bureaucratic failure, and what it means to care.

Summary

This episode exposes how, in an attempt to alleviate suffering, states adopted a lethal injection system designed for appearances over substance, resulting in hidden cruelty while comforting its witnesses. Through Tom Perry Jr.'s long ministry to John Forrest Parker, Gladwell personalizes the devastating cost of capital punishment’s illusions. Crucially, the episode questions not merely the rightness of the death penalty, but the ease with which entire systems drift into "sin"—the simple failure to bother to care.