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CourtTVnews.com reporters Lisa Sweetingham and Harry Swartz-Turfle interviewed death row inmate Willie Shannon on Oct. 25 at the Polunsky Prison Unit in Livingston, Texas. He was executed Wednesday, Nov. 8. The transcript below has been edited for length and clarity.

COURTTVNEWS.COM: What did you do for a living before you were sent to prison?

WILLIE SHANNON: Well, you got to understand I came very young, so I didn't really have that much of an opportunity for jobs. But I did a lot of odd jobs. I worked at McDonald's, carpentry, cut grass, whatever I could do. I was only 19 when I was arrested.

CTV: What is your happiest memory from your childhood?

SHANNON: Well, I don't know. It's possible ... I never really even thought about that. Because my childhood pretty much stopped at 14. Maybe video games, my first video game that I got, maybe Atari or Colecovision or something like that.

CTV: What happened at 14?

SHANNON: It was time to get out. Me and my mom, we weren't seeing eye to eye. Once I moved out of there I was with my granny, and being with my granny I got to do what I want when I want and however I want it. But then, also, you got to work, so ... childhood? I don't know. Never really thought about it, to be honest with you.

CTV: Inside here, do you get to watch TV, read books ...

SHANNON: No TV. We have no TV. As far as books, I read fantasy and vampire lore, that stuff. The powers that the vampires have, not the blood drinking, but just the ultimate aura. Right now I'm reading the Vampire Huntress [books]. I also read some spiritual books. A lot of meditation books. That's what keeps me centered.

CTV: Do you have friends here?

SHANNON: Well, it's very hard to consider people friends in this place, because you're in here with a lot of black widows. A lot of people you're in here with, it might be 10 years, 12 years, and then they stab you in the back. But being I'm a people person, there's a few that I could call, I wouldn't really say friends, but I would call my brothers. That's even higher, because you know, calling someone a brother, that's a little different. A stronger, closer bond than friends. Friends are not good in this place.

CTV: When you were a boy, what did you think you were going to be when you grew up?

SHANNON: Football. NFL. NFL. Yeah.