Lately there are a lot of discussions about the state’s construction of a new death chamber at San Quentin State Prison. Perhaps someone who is more of an expert at the death-penalty process can help me out with this query…
I can understand the need for a death "chamber" if you are putting someone to death using lethal gas. I can also appreciate the need for a chamber if you were going to electricute someone. But given that the method of choice these days is a lethal injection, why do we need a ‘death chamber’ at all?
It seems to me that you would just give an inmate something to knock them out (a pill, a powder, an injection), then, perhaps in an infirmary, you would then administer a lethal dose of whatever quick-acting poison is best suited to put the criminal to death.
Why does this require a ‘chamber’ of any kind?
May 10th, 2007 at 12:00 am
You are correct, there is no need for a gas proof chamber. However since there are witnesses present for the state, the victim, the press and the condemned there is a security need for a glass wall separating the officials who are conducting the execution from these witnesses. The existing death chamber works well for this security purpose.