Christa Pike says she was brought to ER once after return to jail, asks to end isolation in prison infirmary
Christa Pike, the Tennessee death row inmate who survived her botched execution, has written a personal declaration in which she said she had to be returned to the hospital emergency room once since she was discharged after the incident.
In a document obtained by PEOPLE Magazine, Pike wrote she had "returned to the hospital emergency room once," though she was "not readmitted for inpatient care."
Pike, 50, was supposed to be executed at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee, on Sept. 30 for murder. After receiving two doses of lethal injection drugs, however, she merely fell unconscious and was brought to a nearby hospital, where she received life-saving medical care.
On Oct. 9, she was discharged and returned to prison where she has since been kept in isolation at the infirmary.
In her personal declaration filed as an emergency motion, Pike wrote that the tasks she was made to do in prison, including cleaning her "roach-infested shower," placed her at a "high risk of infection and further injury."
She also said she wanted an end to her isolation at the infirmary so she could rejoin the prison population. However, she added she did not wish to return to the pod where she was detained before her botched execution.
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"This pod houses inmates with significant histories of assaults and disciplinary problems," Pike wrote. "In my two years living in this pod after entering into the settlement, I witnessed multiple assaults by close custody inmates of other inmates and guards, multiple individuals who were undergoing acute psychological breakdowns, and significant danger."
It was a place that would put her in danger in her "current physical condition," Pike added.
"I could not defend myself or get away if another inmate attacked me. I am afraid that I will be seriously hurt if I am moved to that pod while I am this weak," she continued.
Pike preferred to join "group meals, group classes, lobby time, group religious services, work assignments, or shared recreation," she wrote.
Currently, she is in isolation at the infirmary and only sees her legal team during their meetings.
"The motion was filed on an emergency basis because each day of continued isolation causes further harm to Ms. Pike," her legal team wrote in a statement sent to PEOPLE. "It asks the court to order the State to end her isolation and restore the protections in the agreement as far as her medical needs and safety allow."
The defendants in Pike's case have until Nov. 4 to respond to her motion; her legal team can reply to the filing until Nov. 6.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. With her boyfriend, Pike—then 18—lured Slemmer into the woods, where they tortured her, carving a pentagram on her chest before murdering her.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee temporarily halted executions in the state following Pike's botched execution.
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