Raleigh, NC -- More than 1,000 inmates have been sent to North Carolina's Central Prison since 1910.
Most people will never see what it looks like inside but Thursday, News 2 got a rare look (video above).
As you'd expect, it's a confined, heavily guarded area which is separated into three sections an inmate has to go through before being put to death.
The first is death row, it is where they are sent upon arriving at the prison.
Death watch is the next step - it is where they are moved after all appeals run out. They are there for three to seven days and then moved to the death chamber.
Death watch and the death chamber haven't been used since 2006 when the state was last allowed to carry out executions.
There's a moratorium on executions as the state fights legal battles about whether lethal injection is cruel and unjust.
Meanwhile, 1300 Western Boulevard, with it's sprawling 129 acres, is set just minutes from downtown Raleigh.
It has two security towers and double-wire fence with razor ribbons.
Inside, the prison holds 152 death row inmates. Four others, women, are housed in the women's facility - also in town.
At Central, the cells in death row are narrow and everything from the bed to the writing table are all anchored down.
There's a dayroom outside the cells. It is where inmates can watch television and interact with each other during the day. The doors are painted a deep red and there's even a small-window to the outside world -- luxury compared to what's next for the convicts.
From here, an inmate is taken to "death watch" which can be about a week in isolation before execution. The walls there plain and white. The only color is from the blue blanket covering the single bed.
Then the final walk to room 111- a small sterile room known as the "death chamber."
An IV drip sits in the corner - right next to the bed with four black straps used to restrain the inmates right before the lethal injection.
And just over the double-glass window - the witness room where up to 11 people watch. They're there to confirm the judge's order is carried out.
You can learn more about Central Prison here.