Mark Edwards, of the North Carolina Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty, penned a letter to the editor for the News Observer. He advocated for replacing the death penalty with life-without-parole and discussed the impact capital punishment has on corrections officers. Edwards said,
These public servants do not enter the field to carry out these executions. In states where the death penalty is the ultimate punishment, some of those hardworking people end up assigned to the surreal task of assisting in the taking of a life.
I understand that the prison staff is responsible for overseeing every aspect of life for each inmate. No matter how professionally the staff carries out its duties, a community is formed and relationships established with the prisoners, including those who sit and wait on death row. Then they have to participate in the inmate’s execution. That cannot be easy for these men and women.