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Christa Pike claims Tennessee prison makes her scrub a shower crawling with roaches
A new court filing says Christa Pike, who survived a failed execution in September, is being made to clean a roach-infested shower while still weak.
Christa Pike says conditions behind bars have gone from bad to worse in the weeks since her execution failed.
Her legal team filed new papers saying she is being ordered to scrub a shower overrun with roaches. The filing says she is still frail and worries the chore could leave her hurt or sick with an infection.
The papers say Pike's health took another hit recently and she ended up back in the emergency room.
Caught between two bad options
Pike wants to be moved out of isolation. At the same time the filing says she is afraid of going back to her former unit because she saw violent incidents there involving both inmates and guards.
Her lawyers want the court to step in on her behalf. They argue the state is not living up to a 2024 deal that was supposed to end her time in solitary confinement.
A failed execution
Pike was set to be executed September 30. She survived after receiving two rounds of lethal drugs and was taken to a hospital.
She had been sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of her classmate Colleen Slemmer.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has halted executions for the rest of the year. Pike's execution is still expected to be given a new date.
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