Wendys Murderer Headed For Death Row

Convicted killer John Taylor who masterminded the murderous rampage at Wendys Restaurant in Flushing two years ago will wait out his date with death at the bleak Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora after he is sentenced in Kew Gardens Criminal Court by Justice Steven Fisher on January 8.
State Correctional authorities said last week Taylor will be taken from Rikers Island after sentencing and become the sixth prisoner to occupy one of the 12-cell units on "death row" in the upstate facility. He will live in a spartan cell measuring 7 feet 2 inches by 9 feet 6 inches, with a ceiling 7 feet 11 inches. It is equipped with a stool, bed, mattress and pillow. The blue cell door is a traditional open bar door with a horizontal slot, waist-high, to pass items such as meal trays and for the inmate to place his wrists for cuffing when he leaves the cell and uncuffing when he returns.
At the rear of the cell is a locked solid door that opens into a second cell. The inmate can bring his cell stool into the same area during visits, with visitors seated on the other side of the plexiglass window. The sliding door is opened to take the inmate for exercise through that second cell.Both the housing cell and the shower/visiting cell will be constantly monitored by video cameras.
The last execution in New York State took place on August 15, 1963, when Eddie Lee Mays was executed by electrocution at Sing Sing in Ossining.
Taylors case marks the fourth time that the Queens District Attorney has sought the death penalty and the first time that a Queens County jury has returned a death sentence since the penalty was reinstated in 1995.
Prison authorities said the condemned convict serving the longest on death row is Angel Mateo who arrived there on January 16, 1999. Darrel Harris has been on death row since July 22, 1998. Last summer he returned to court and his death sentence was commuted to life. According to Patrick Clark, spokesperson for the District Attorney, Taylor is being held in a segregated section of Rikers Island as a state prisoner until sentencing.
Once sentence is pronounced by Fisher, the prisoner will be transported to the maximum-security Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, a reception center for adult males. Its expected he will be quickly taken to Dannemora. Once there, his legal documents will be reviewed including a death warrant which will be automatically stayed until his case is heard on appeal by the New York State Court of Appeals. The law requires that the Court of Appeals review all sentences of death.
The only entertainment available to Taylor on death row is a pair of state-issued headphones that plug into a recessed jack in the cell wall. A selector allows him to choose among four radio stations that play rock n roll, easy listening, reggae and other music. He can also choose the audio feed from 12 television stations including three network affiliates, and WPIX, WTBS, CBC, PBS and AMC. After 60 days, Taylor will be allowed to buy a 13-inch black and white television set from the facility commissary. No radios or radio/tape players are permitted on death row.
Other amenities available for purchase by Taylor include personal items such as one religious book, one plain wedding band, one Kufi, Yarmulke, Khima or Fez, a maximum of 10 photographs, $20 in postage stamps, one carton of cigarettes per week; one prayer rug; one address book; one calendar; one bottle of shampoo; one shaving cream/soap and a maximum combined total of eight books, magazines or newspapers, excluding legal materials.
As he prepares appeals with the help of his attorney, Taylor has the right to store materials in one cardboard file box and can request materials from the facilitys law library. The prisoner can make one commissary purchase a month, spending a maximum of $25 of his own money on certain items.
Since he will not be given a work assignment, Taylor will earn $1.05 per day, the amount paid to prisoners involved in a work program. As expected, he will be closely monitored and mechanically restrained whenever he is moved off the unit Outside of his cell, he will be supervised by at least one sergeant and two correction officers. He will be required to place his hands through the cell bars so handcuffs can be applied before the cell door is opened.
Prison rules limit his non-legal visits to one per week. These visits are restricted to immediate family, members of the media possessing a court order, and a spiritual advisor.
Taylor will be able to make collect calls placed by the staff. He must make the calls from a portable phone in his cell and is only entitled to make one call every seven days for a maximum of 10 minutes and only to immediate family or an approved spiritual advisor.
As far as meals are concerned, Taylor will have the same menu as the general prison population. A recent dinner meal at the facility included beef stew, rice, mixed vegetables, chocolate pudding with whipped cream topping, and Kool-Aid. The alternative non-meat dinner available was soy bean stew.
Taylor is allowed three showers per week for a minimum of 10 minutes duration and is permitted a minimum of two shaves per week. Taylor is allowed one haircut per month, by a non-inmate barber.