4 ms·

Why does the state need to obtain illegal execution drugs? Let’s say you’re the prison. You’re supposed to execute a prisoner tomorrow. You don’t have the drug

Why does the state need to obtain illegal execution drugs? Let’s say you’re the prison. You’re supposed to execute a prisoner tomorrow. You don’t have the drugs to do so. You could either fail to execute the prisoner, or take a fairly large risk and get illegal methods. Would the prison really lose face if it just said that it didn’t have the means to carry out the execution and thus did not?

tokai 7y ago
Its really expensive to have people sitting on death row?
- inflatableDodo 7y ago
  I'd be of the opinion that anyone who uses expense as a justification here is less morally balanced than most of the people on death row.
- bluGill 7y ago
  Death row is very expensive. In part because the types of people up for death are high risk and so they have to pay for more security (guards, locks and even fire protection). In part because death row sees the most appeals so lawyers keeping them in cost more.
- number_six 7y ago
  I wonder if it is $775 per day?
  - penagwin 7y ago
    Where the heck did you pull that number from? Also why are you posing it as a question? The closest thing I see from google is "Trump's Child Detention Camps Cost $775 Per Person Every Day" which is unrelated to this discussion. Just for kicks and giggles: I wonder if it's $1337.995 per day?
- b_tterc_p 7y ago
  Shit. Yeah that’s it and is retrospectively obvious. The prisons probably are responsible for operating under their assigned budgets, which means they need to literally kill off their liabilities. I wonder what correlations exist between prison profitability and inmate death rates.
  - rayiner 7y ago
    At least as of 2009, no state housed death row inmates in private prisons: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/us/24prison.html https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/us/24prison.html. In Alabama, death row inmates are housed and executed in Holman, a public facility. Moreover, Alabama has just 1% of its prison population in private prisons. Many states that have the death penalty (Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, etc.) have no private prisons at all.
    - b_tterc_p 7y ago
      That’s good, but not contradictory of the point above. A public, not for profit prison presumably still has to operate on a budget. I did say “profitability”, but I suppose I really meant ability to operate. If prisons are held accountable to their finances, which I assume they are, they’re put into a position where expensive inmates who are budgeted to die must die, else they threaten the entire prison.
mikeash 7y ago
Then you have a condemned criminal sitting in a cell instead of being tortured in Hell like he’s supposed to be. Can’t have that.
donarb 7y ago
Because the main ingredient of the injection cocktail, sodium thiopental is no longer manufactured in the US. The EU has also banned the drug. So states are now trying to "score" an alternative, pentobarbital which works similarly to sodium thiopental, but is slower acting, resulting in a few botched executions in Texas. https://www.inverse.com/article/4100-the-growing-black-market-behind-lethal-injection-drugs https://www.inverse.com/article/4100-the-growing-black-marke...
- FireBeyond 7y ago
  And to be quite clear (while I am personally against all applications of the death penalty), a botched execution is far more expensive, legally, and even medically (if there are increased healthcare costs for that timeframe), and also, a botched execution is generally considered "cruel and unusual punishment".
  - SauciestGNU 7y ago
    >a botched execution is generally considered "cruel and unusual punishment". Not any longer. The Supreme Court ruled this term that prisoners sentenced to die have no right to a comfortable death.
    - cannonedhamster 7y ago
      I wouldn't expect that ruling to survive this particular SCOTUS. They've broken years of precedence and created law from thin air that don't exist prior. It's not likely to survive when the pendulum swings on the court again, justice like judicial overreach on anti trust with the previous liberal majority was generally overturned.

tokai 7y ago

Its really expensive to have people sitting on death row?

inflatableDodo 7y ago
I'd be of the opinion that anyone who uses expense as a justification here is less morally balanced than most of the people on death row.
bluGill 7y ago
Death row is very expensive. In part because the types of people up for death are high risk and so they have to pay for more security (guards, locks and even fire protection). In part because death row sees the most appeals so lawyers keeping them in cost more.
number_six 7y ago
I wonder if it is $775 per day?
- penagwin 7y ago
  Where the heck did you pull that number from? Also why are you posing it as a question? The closest thing I see from google is "Trump's Child Detention Camps Cost $775 Per Person Every Day" which is unrelated to this discussion. Just for kicks and giggles: I wonder if it's $1337.995 per day?
b_tterc_p 7y ago
Shit. Yeah that’s it and is retrospectively obvious. The prisons probably are responsible for operating under their assigned budgets, which means they need to literally kill off their liabilities. I wonder what correlations exist between prison profitability and inmate death rates.
- rayiner 7y ago
  At least as of 2009, no state housed death row inmates in private prisons: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/us/24prison.html https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/24/us/24prison.html. In Alabama, death row inmates are housed and executed in Holman, a public facility. Moreover, Alabama has just 1% of its prison population in private prisons. Many states that have the death penalty (Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, etc.) have no private prisons at all.
  - b_tterc_p 7y ago
    That’s good, but not contradictory of the point above. A public, not for profit prison presumably still has to operate on a budget. I did say “profitability”, but I suppose I really meant ability to operate. If prisons are held accountable to their finances, which I assume they are, they’re put into a position where expensive inmates who are budgeted to die must die, else they threaten the entire prison.

mikeash 7y ago

Then you have a condemned criminal sitting in a cell instead of being tortured in Hell like he’s supposed to be. Can’t have that.

donarb 7y ago

Because the main ingredient of the injection cocktail, sodium thiopental is no longer manufactured in the US. The EU has also banned the drug. So states are now trying to "score" an alternative, pentobarbital which works similarly to sodium thiopental, but is slower acting, resulting in a few botched executions in Texas. https://www.inverse.com/article/4100-the-growing-black-market-behind-lethal-injection-drugs https://www.inverse.com/article/4100-the-growing-black-marke...

FireBeyond 7y ago
And to be quite clear (while I am personally against all applications of the death penalty), a botched execution is far more expensive, legally, and even medically (if there are increased healthcare costs for that timeframe), and also, a botched execution is generally considered "cruel and unusual punishment".
- SauciestGNU 7y ago
  >a botched execution is generally considered "cruel and unusual punishment". Not any longer. The Supreme Court ruled this term that prisoners sentenced to die have no right to a comfortable death.
  - cannonedhamster 7y ago
    I wouldn't expect that ruling to survive this particular SCOTUS. They've broken years of precedence and created law from thin air that don't exist prior. It's not likely to survive when the pendulum swings on the court again, justice like judicial overreach on anti trust with the previous liberal majority was generally overturned.