Electric Chair Bill Passed in House Committee

Electric Chair Bill Passed in House Committee

Legislation concerning the use of the electric chair during the execution of death row inmates, in the event that lethal injection cannot be used, has been approved by the House Judiciary Committee in Alabama. The state has used lethal injection to carry out executions since 2002, however, a shortage of drugs needed for the procedure and arguments surrounding the ethics of this method have called the state’s execution techniques into question.

Lethal injection generally involves two types of drugs. Many states, including Alabama, use either sodium thiopental or pentobarbital to render the inmate unconscious and then administer pancuronium bromide or potassium chloride to finalize the execution. The former causes paralysis of the body, including the internal organs and lungs which will eventually asphyxiate the inmate. The latter drug stops the heart, which caused the prisoner to die from cardiac arrest. The drugs needed to bring about a state of unconsciousness in the inmate are difficult to obtain as some companies halt production of the drugs over protest of its use in executions and others simply cannot meet the demand and the drug becomes otherwise unavailable. A death row inmate, Thomas Arthur, is currently protesting the state’s methods in court and argues that the drugs necessary to slip him out of consciousness will not work quickly enough to prevent him from feeling the pain associated with either total body paralysis or a heart attack.

The approved legislation allows the state to use the electric chair in the event that the drugs necessary for lethal injection are not available or if the process of injection is deemed unconstitutional. The bill, which is sponsored by Representative Lynn Greer, will make the use of the electric chair the primary means of execution in the state. Prior to 2002 the electric chair was used almost exclusively, however, issues arose with inmates being badly charred from the chair and needing multiple shocks for termination of life to occur. In one instance, inmate John Louis Evans received three jolts of electricity, the first and second of which caught the hood of the chair on fire while he was still attached and alive.

While the bill has been passed, the use of the electric chair, nicknamed ‘Yellow Mama’, is sure to raise its own challenges. Many anti-death penalty groups are petitioning for the death penalty to be illegal in all states, while those in support of the death penalty have countered these actions by bringing back the idea of firing squads and gas chambers to the courts as an alternative to lethal injection and the electric chair. Some have argued that these older methods are more ethical and will allow for painless executions.