# Fiction set on Death Row **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 21, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-set-on-death-row/575495 "2011-03-21T18:59:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-set-on-death-row/575495/1 "2011-03-21T18:59:23Z")
The only book I can think of is Stepehn King’s The Green Mile. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-set-on-death-row/575495/2 "2011-03-21T19:23:43Z")
**[The Last Mile](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023117/)** is about a riot on Death Row. It was both a play and a movie. Technically, all of \*\*[Two Seconds](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023629/) \*\*actually takes place in the execution chamber (with flashbacks). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-set-on-death-row/575495/3 "2011-03-21T19:27:14Z")
[A Lesson Before Dying](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Lesson_Before_Dying) by Ernest Gaines (since made into a stage play and a movie) [The Chamber](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chamber_(novel)) by John Grisham (made into a movie starring Gene Hackman) One of Grisham’s short stories in [Ford County](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_County_(novel)) is _Fetching Raymond_, a story about a poor family going to see their totally-guilty-but-in-denial-about-his-execution brother/son in his last hours on death row. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-set-on-death-row/575495/4 "2011-03-21T19:42:08Z")
A big hunk of [A Man in Full](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/86172.A_Man_in_Full), by Tom Wolfe took place in prison, but I can’t remember if it was on death row or not. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-set-on-death-row/575495/5 "2011-03-21T20:15:17Z")
Well, let’s go for the classics: There’s Kafka’s The Trial, in a way, and the second part of Camus’ The Stranger, and a big deal of Capote’s In Cold Blood. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-set-on-death-row/575495/6 "2011-03-21T20:17:43Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > A big hunk of [A Man in Full](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/86172.A_Man_in_Full), by Tom Wolfe took place in prison, but I can’t remember if it was on death row or not. Not that I recall- just gen-pop at a medium security California facility. Not sure if it counts, but the movie _The Conspirator_ that opens next month is a largely fictional story set against the backdrop of Mary Surratt’s real life trial. [QUOTE=Sr Siete] \ a big deal of Capote’s In Cold Blood. [/QUOTE] Capote’s relationships with the murderers was fictionalized in two unrelated back-to-back movies- _Capote_ with Philip Seymour Hoffman and _Infamous_ with Toby Jones. Both had strengths and weaknesses but I liked _Infamous_ much more (though Perry Smith never saw the day he was within 7 standard deviations of looking like Daniel Craig [though his resemblance to Robert Blake in the 1960s IN COLD BLOOD movie was eeries]). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-set-on-death-row/575495/7 "2011-03-22T02:08:30Z")
Arguably, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-set-on-death-row/575495/8 "2011-03-22T02:35:55Z")
“Dead Man Walking” and a pivotal part of "Monster’s Ball (though I don’t recall if that was a book).