Arizona Death Row Inmates Can Bring Their Own Lethal Injection Drugs to Executions

Arizona death row inmates can bring their own lethal injections drugs to their executions, provided they can somehow get their hands on them.

A lethal injection bed in New Mexico.
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A lethal injection bed in New Mexico.

Corrections officers in Arizona have instituted a new death penalty policy that would allow inmates on death row to bring their own lethal drugs for executions, according to reports.

This new protocol, which was unveiled last month, would allow for inmates, families of inmates, and defense attorneys of inmates to procure the "sedative, pentobarbital, or an anesthetic, Sodium Pentothal," necessary to carry out the procedure from a "certified or licensed pharmacist, pharmacy, compound pharmacy, manufacturer, or supplier."

If you're wondering how or why an inmate would go through the trouble of doing this, you're not alone. Megan McCracken, who's an expert on lethal injection at the University of California Berkeley School of Law, told the Guardian that she doesn't see the point of this provision.

"[The idea is] unprecedented, wholly novel and frankly absurd. A prisoner or a prisoner’s lawyer simply cannot obtain these drugs legally, or legally transfer them to the department of corrections" McCracken said. "[S]o it’s hard to fathom what the Arizona department was thinking in including this nonsensical provision as part of its execution protocol.”

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Arizona, like all states with the death penalty, has had trouble acquiring death penalty drugs like pentobarbital and sodium thiopental, partially due to the fact that the European labs who produce them won't ship them to America so they can be used to execute prisoners.

Such shortages have caused them to use less effective alternatives, such as midazolam, which has been used in a number of bungled executions. The last prisoner in Arizona to be executed was Joseph Wood in July 2014. Executioners injected midazolam into Wood's system, and he subsequently gasped and heaved for two hours during a process that should've taken seven minutes.

The botched execution of Wood was widely maligned by anti-death penalty advocates, as well as media. As a result, Arizona stopped using midazolam. But they now find themselves unable to carry out executions, and they're now asking prisoners to somehow obtain lethal injection drugs for them.

They currently have 119 people sitting on their state's death row.

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