ABSTRACT
I find the sentence in the major book on private pri sons (Logan, 1 990, p. 59). There i s just thi s one sentence on capital punishment, squeezed in between examples of all the other tasks administered by private agents . So, for the rest we are free to use our imaginative powers . And I use mine: private contractors for capital punishment - who are they in modern times, and how do they operate? Do they advertise their service? Is i t a private, personally-owned firm, or is i t regi stered on the stock exchange as Pain-Delivery Ltd . Limited liabi l i ty - l imited to what? And what about the equipment needed, chairs, needles, poi son? Do they provide for it themselves, or sub-contract? And the training of the staff - do they use the avai lable know-how? Joseph Ingle (personal communication, but see also his book of 1990) has described the phe nomenon of the left-leg man - he who, in a team of s ix , specialises in fastening the strap around the left leg, in contrast to the right-legger. Six specialists, reducing the man to die to six parts of a thing.
