in oklahoma, republican governor kevin stitt has ordered condemned prisoner james coddington to be putath by means of lethal injection today, despite a vote by oklahoma's pardon and parole board to grant him clemency instead. coddington is the first of 25 oklahoma men scheduled to die over the next two years. many suffer severe mental illness and had trials marked by racial bias and prosecutorial misconduct. it's oklahoma's fifth planned execution since october, when it resumed the death penalty after a six-year hiatus that followed a botched execution in 2015. after headlines, we'll hear from anti-death penalty activist sister helen prejean and get the latest from oklahoma. a new report finds nearly 50,000 prisoners across the united states are being held in prolonged solitary confinement, conditions the united nations considers tantamount to torture. researchers at yale law school found some 6,000 of the prisoners have been held in isolation for over a year. the un's special rapporteur on torture says such practices are prohibited under international law and can lead to severe and ir

he was executed by lethal injection on thursday after gop governor kevin stitt denied his request for questions remain about whether some of these inmates are innocent or have a type of mental fitness that should disqualify them being put to death. >> those are some of the arguments that we've heard from people who have been against the capital punishment or death penalty for a long time noting the racial biases in arresting and sentencing, noting the difficult backgrounds that people may come from or maybe they don't have the mental capacity to have the death penalty. so all of those questions really surround this particular case as well. i want to talk about james codington, the man who was executed on thursday. his lawyers say he had a drug addiction and that led him to his violent crime of killing his friend by usings a hammer to steal money to pay for his drug habit. but now his lawyers say that he is remorseful. as he was remorseful and that he should not have been executed. they asked for clemency. and the state board granted that clemency. approved it on a 3-2 vote. but as you

governor kevin stitt. >>> well, car loans are getting bigger than ever and so are prize pools at tournaments stories under the microscope, next we listen. like jack. he wanted a streamlined version he could access anywhere, no download necessary. and kim. she wanted to execute a pre-set trade strategy in seconds. so we gave 'em thinkorswim® web. because platforms this innovative aren't just made for traders -they're made by them. thinkorswim® by td ameritrade ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> let's check on the market right now. stocks are steady ahead of chairman powell's speech tomorrow you see the industrials up a third of a percent the s&p is up three-quarters of a percent and nasdaq hovering right where it began the hour up about 1%. >> higher for longer, that was the take away from james bullard. >> inflation, that is, and presumably interest rates. >> and the market could be underpricing it. stocks are up and technology the best performing sector. >> thanks for watching "power lunch," everybody. >> "closing bell" begins right now. >>> stocks moving higher as wall street awaits fed powell's speech in ja