On the night before the execution Ryan was transferred to a cell just a few steps away from the gallows trapdoor. Father Brosnan was with him most of this time. At the eleventh hour Ryan wrote his last letters to his family members, to his defence counsel, to the Anti-Hanging Committee and to Father Brosnan. The letters were handwritten on toilet paper inside his cell and neatly folded. In the documentary film "The Last Man Hanged" Ryan's letter to The Anti-Hanging Committee is read out loud to the public. Ryan wrote; "... I state most emphatically that I am not guilty of murder." Ryan's last letter was to his daughters, it contained this line "With regard to my guilt I say only that I am innocent of intent and have a clear conscience in the matter."