Weekly Report from the Board Meeting at Holman Prison 2.21.24
The Attorney General has asked for execution dates for Jamie Mills and Keith Gavin by lethal injection. We will keep you posted once a date has been set.
Alabama continues in the news related to the torture death of Kenneth Smith because other backward states are either looking to restart executions or find new methods when they can’t find the drugs for lethal injection. The reason is that some drug manufacturers are too ethical to sell drugs for executions. The question, which we have asked for years where does Alabama get its drugs? Pull Back the Curtains On Executions!
First nitrogen execution was a 'botched' human experiment, Alabama lawsuit alleges An Alabama death row inmate filed a lawsuit Thursday that challenges the constitutionality of nitrogen gas executions, arguing that the first person in the nation put to death by that method shook violently for several minutes in “a human experiment that officials botched miserably.”
“The results of the first human experiment are now in and they demonstrate that nitrogen gas asphyxiation is neither quick nor painless, but agonizing and painful," attorney Bernard E. Harcourt wrote in the lawsuit.
And to quote the Rev. Jeff Hood in the article “I witnessed Alabama execute a man using nitrogen gas. It was horrific and cruel” "Nobody alive was closer to the nation’s first and thus far only nitrogen hypoxia execution than I was. As Kenneth Smith’s spiritual adviser, I saw every horrific second before, during and after the curtains closed.
I want to make something perfectly clear: Anyone who claims that this was anything short of torture is not just mistaken, they are a dangerous liar."
“As Alabama eyes more nitrogen executions, opponents urge companies to cut off plentiful gas supply” is the title of another article. The secrecy surrounding executions has always been an issue in Alabama. “At least one major manufacturer, AirGas, which was acquired by French-owned Air Liquide, has said it will not supply gas for executions. The stance is similar to those taken by drug companies that refuse to supply lethal injection drugs.” Our friends at Worth Rises was quoted “ Bianca Tylek, the founder of Worth Rises, a criminal justice advocacy group, said she hopes other manufacturers will follow the lead of Airgas and drug manufacturers. She acknowledged it's harder to cut off the supply of readily available high-purity nitrogen gas, but urged companies to prohibit their products from being used in executions.”
It is interesting to note and we quote from the Alabama Reflector:” that Alabama has a “bad track record of botched executions,” with the state performing 60% of all failed executions and that since 2018, there have been 10 failed executions, half of which happened in Alabama. The lawsuit alleges that Alabama accounts for about 12% of all executions but more than half of failed executions in the country.
We are working on the next edition of our quarterly newsletter, Wings of Hope. Articles were due last week and now the typing begins!
We thank all who are working so hard and diligently to stop all killing in Alabama! And as always in closing, we thank all our generous donors who either gave by going to our website and using the “donate” button or who gave directly. Thank you also to all who took the time to read our notes, commented, liked and shared them on Facebook. Stay safe and be kind to each other!
Esther
