Jack Van Hay
Jack Van Hay is the prison electrician and switch-room operator at Cold Mountain Penitentiary, the man who controls the generator and executes the electrical current during electrocutions on E Block. Though he appears only at the margins of the story, his technical role is decisive: he is the one who, upon hearing the command "Roll on two," turns the knob that sends direct-current electricity through the condemned man's body. His knowledge of the equipment—and Percy Wetmore's exploitation of that knowledge—makes him an unwitting accomplice in the worst execution in the prison's history.
Role and Responsibilities
Van Hay works in the switch room, a small space separated from the storage room by a rectangular mesh window. Through that window he can see the back of the electric chair, but not the front. His primary duty is to operate the prison generator, which sits behind B Block. When Brutus Howell calls "Roll on one," Van Hay turns the knob that gooses the generator; the witnesses hear a steady low hum and the lights all over the prison brighten. When Howell calls "Roll on two," Van Hay pulls the switch labeled "MABEL'S HAIR DRIER," sending the lethal current through the condemned man. He also administers subsequent jolts—"Roll on three"—if the doctor determines the prisoner is not yet dead. During rehearsals, Van Hay participates alongside the guards, and during the actual execution of Arlen Bitterbuck, he gives the prisoner thirty seconds of current, then turns the juice off when the doctor signals.
The Dry Sponge Sabotage
Van Hay's most consequential appearance comes during the execution of Eduard Delacroix. Before the event, Percy Wetmore asks Van Hay a series of questions about the execution procedure. Most of these questions are camouflage, but the one Percy truly wants answered concerns the sponge: why it is soaked in brine, and what would happen if it were not soaked in brine. Van Hay explains that the brine-soaked sponge conducts the charge, channeling it into a kind of electric bullet to the brain. Percy learns that a dry sponge would not conduct properly. During the execution, Percy deliberately uses a dry sponge, and the result is catastrophic: Delacroix suffers prolonged agony, his eyes are blown out of their sockets, his face catches fire, and he screams for nearly two minutes before dying. Van Hay, watching through the mesh, is completely rattled and calls out, "Shouldn't I kill the juice, Paul?"—but Paul Edgecombe shouts back, "Roll, for Christ's sake! Roll, roll, roll!" because it is too late to stop.
Aftermath and Significance
Van Hay is never blamed for the botched execution; the fault is assigned to Percy's incompetence. But Van Hay's technical explanation of the sponge's function gave Percy the knowledge he needed to commit his act of cruelty. Van Hay himself seems to have no malice—he is simply a technician doing his job, and his panic during Delacroix's execution shows he did not anticipate the horror that would result. He remains a background figure, one of the many functionaries who make the machinery of state execution run, and his presence underscores how the system depends on ordinary men performing extraordinary acts of violence by rote.
