JOLIET, Ill., May 8 -- Unless he gets a last-minute stay of execution, convicted serial killer John Wayne Gacy will spend the last two days of his life in a 6-by-12-foot cell under constant observation at the maximum-security Stateville Correctional Center.
Gacy, 52, has been held at a prison in Southern Illinois for most of his 14 years on death row. But he was being moved during the weekend to the prison southwest of Chicago where all Illinois executions take place.
Gacy was expected to spend Sunday in cell E1E, the same cell that housed convicted killer Charles Walker for the few days before his execution in 1990. Walker is the only person executed in Illinois since capital punishment was reinstated in 1977.
The cell sits at the end of the east wing of the old Captain's Court Building, which once housed mass murderer Richard Speck.
The cell is one of eight in the unit, and is only 20 feet from the death chamber itself. It has been specially fitted with a stainless steel toilet and sink, a steel-framed single bed and a makeshift writing table and chair.
Illinois Corrections Department spokesman Nic Howell said the cell's tile walls have been covered with reinforced steel plating 'to prevent any escape.'
Across from the cell is a desk, at which a prison guard will be placed 24-hours a day until Gacy dies.
Aside from the guard, the only other thing Gacy would be able to see is a small courtyard that was once used as a basketball court for death row inmates.
Howell said Gacy will not have to maintain any special routine on Sunday or Monday. 'What happens inside the cell is entirely up to John Gacy,' he said.
Gacy might be let out of the cell for a brief time to get some fresh air in the courtyard. 'We'll be as cooperative as we can,' Howell said.
Gacy will be permitted visits from family and friends on Sunday and during the day on Monday.
At about 6 p.m., prison officials will serve Gacy a final meal in his cell, which is tentatively fried chicken, french fries and strawberries, although Gacy reportedly wanted to change it to lobster and iguana.
'We don't care what he eats,' Howell said, adding he will have about a half-hour to eat.
Gacy family can remain with him until about 9 p.m., and a religious person can stay with him until 10 p.m.
Gacy has asked the Rev. Leo Hayes, a Roman Catholic chaplain at the Menard Correctional Center, to say mass in his cell Monday night.
At 11 p.m., Hayes would have to leave, and Gacy would spend his last hour of life with Corrections Department officials would begin to prepare Gacy and the death chamber.
Gacy would be offered a sedative to help calm him, if he so chooses, Howell said.
Then, shortly before midnight, Gacy would be strapped to a gurney and medical personnel will insert an intravenous needle in his arm and begin to administer a harmless saline solution.
Once in the death chamber, the saline would be removed at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and replaced by an intravenous line running to syringes in the 'delivery module' attached to the wall. Those syringes contain drugs to knock him unconscious, stop his breathing and stop his heart.
Gacy would be covered with a white sheet, except for his head.
Two executioners chosen by Corrections Department Director Howard Peters III would stand behind a one-way mirror, where they would be able to see Gacy's feet.
Howell said only one executioner would actually be administering the lethal drug combination, and the device randomly selects which one does it.
If all is successful, Gacy would be dead within 15 minutes.
