The Emperor of Death Row

Is Patrick McKenna the most dangerous inmate on Nevada's death row? As he was convicted of murdering another inmate, some might consider that case made out. At the time this documentary was made, he had by his own reckoning been behind bars for 38 years. The prison slaying - as he tells it - should have been adjudged manslaughter at worse. Whether or not you agree with him, he is believed to have committed other murders, and has been proved to have committed a number of other serious crimes, including rape.

One might then suspect him of being a truly odious individual; whether or not that is the case, for a man who has spent 20 years sitting in a box with little or nothing to do, he is extraordinarily eloquent. He also has one refreshing characteristic, or rather a lack of one, that almost all prisoners and all life's failures have. While others blame their predicament on society, child abuse, bad parenting, capitalism, racism, the patriarchy, the government, the weather...McKenna says he has only himself to blame, and that there are others worse off than him who deserved better. In short, he has no victim narrative, and takes total responsibility both for his own actions and for his sadly wasted life. As his brother is a lawyer, it is difficult to take issue with that. If only countless millions of others around the world had the same attitude as this otherwise odious individual.