Listen: 11 years, 280 executions, 1 book

When you watch an execution in Texas, it's usually good to get into town around 4 or 5. You park in the lot behind the gas station, next to this kitschy little sign that says they cash prisoners' checks there. The sign looks like it was designed a few decades ago, with these 80s-style bold colors and cartoonish fonts.

Across the street is the hamburger place where inmates go eat when they get out - there are burgers with names like The Warden and Old Sparky. And this is all in the middle of Huntsville, right across from the Walls Unit. That's where all the executions are.

READ MORE: Former Texas prison spokeswoman releases tell-all book after watching 280 executions

Beforehand, the reporters all wait in an administrative building across the street. The side street in front of it is roped off with police tape, and you have to show them your ID to even get near the building. Then, you call the spokesman and they buzz you in. You hole up in a little cubicle with the other four reporters - there's five press spots at every execution - and pull out your laptop, plug in and pre-write a story for whatever outcomes seem possible. Maybe you expect a stay, but probably you don't.

And then the press office phone rings, once all the appeals are lost. Sometimes that's right at 6 pm, the scheduled time; sometimes it's a lot later. They have till midnight. If it's not done by then, they have to set a different execution date. But once the call comes in, everyone heads over from the admin building to the Walls. You only have a pen and paper with you - nothing else.

Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle Members of the media wait outside the Huntsville Unit to talk with...

There's a loud vent that sometimes makes it hard to hear, and the viewing window is small compared to the number of people who are there. And it feels like a lot of people. It's not really that many, but it's a small room.

As soon as everyone files in, the warden gives the condemned a chance to say some last words into the microphone dangling over the gurney. He talks, and he finishes and then everyone watches him die. Then, the reporters go back across the street and frantically file their stories, and eventually drive home.

The drive home from an execution has got to be one of the loneliest drive in all of journalism.

On this episode of Behind the Walls, join me and co-host Lance Lowry - a former union head who works in corrections - as we talk with someone who's done that drive an awful lot of times: former spokeswoman Michelle Lyons. She started her career as a reporter at the Huntsville Item before switching sides and working for the prison system she once covered. In the course of all that, she ended up witnessing nearly 300 executions.

Photo: Provided Michelle Lyons released a book on her time covering death row,...

Last year, she wrote a book about it all, and last month we interviewed her about it. She's dark, and incisive and well worth your time.

You can use the player on this page, search for "Behind the Walls" on Apple Podcasts or go to your favorite podcast app and click subscribe.

Look for new episodes every two or three weeks and, in between, follow my prisons coverage in the Chronicle and follow Lance's news through his nonprofit, the Texas Correctional Institute.