Yellow Mama - Background Information

Background Information

Before 1923, executions in Alabama were the responsibility of the counties and were carried out by hanging. In 1923, legislation provided for state-performed executions to be carried out by electrocution. At Kilby prison in Montgomery, a special room was designated for this purpose. The Alabama electric chair became widely known by the nickname of Yellow Mama. This was because it was painted yellow with highway line paint donated by the adjacent State Highway Department materials lab. Inmate Ed Mason, a cabinet maker by trade who was serving 60 years for theft and grand larceny, built Yellow Mama for Kilby prison. . The electric chair remained there until 1970, when it was moved to Holman Prison. The first execution by electrocution in Alabama was performed in the Yellow Mama on April 8, 1927. Between 1930 and 1976 there were 135 executions completed using the Yellow Mama. 107 of the condemned prisoners were black and 28 were white. The minimum age for execution in Alabama during this period was 16. In 1983, the State Senate Judiciary voted in favor of using lethal injections in place of electrocutions. However, the bill failed. In 1997, a bill was discussed which would allow the condemned prisoners to be executed by the option of lethal injection.