Yellow Mama

First installed at Kilby State Prison near Montgomery, Alabama, the chair acquired its yellow color (and from it, the nickname "Yellow Mama") when it was painted with highway-line paint from the adjacent State Highway Department lab. The chair was built by British inmate Ed Mason in 1927 and was first used to execute Horace DeVaughn in that year. Mason was rewarded for his efforts with a 30-day pass, but he absconded and was later found in a New York state penitentiary. The last person put to death in Yellow Mama was Lynda Lyon Block, who was executed in 2002. The chair has since been stored in an attic above the execution chamber at the Holman Correctional Facility. Before 1923, executions in Alabama were the responsibility of the individual counties, which carried them out by hanging in private gallows. In 1923, legislation provided for state-performed executions by electrocution. At Kilby Prison in Montgomery, a special room was designated for this purpose.