South Carolina brings back firing squad executions

The brand new loss of life row at Broad River Correctional Establishment in Columbia, S.C is seen in an undated picture.
AP

South Carolina has given the inexperienced mild for condemned prisoners within the state to be executed by firing squad.

Ultimate approval got here Friday after the state Division of Corrections stated renovations had been accomplished on a brand new loss of life chamber the place the executions can happen within the state capital of Columbia.

The electrical chair is the state’s major technique of execution, however a Could 2021 regulation now permits prisoners to decide on to die by deadly injection or firing squad, the state stated in a press launch.

The brand new chamber – which price $53,600 to construct — consists of a metallic chair with restraints that faces a wall. The wall has an oblong opening the place three shooters can perform the sentence. Witnesses can watch the motion behind bullet-proof glass. Inmates will obtain a hood and be allowed to make a last assertion.

Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Utah additionally enable loss of life by firing squad. Solely three prisoners in the US have been executed utilizing the strategy since 1976, all in Utah, in accordance with the Demise Penalty Data Middle.

The electrical chair is the state’s major technique of execution, however prisoners may also select to die by deadly injection or firing squad.

Kinard Lisbon/South Carolina Division of Corrections by way of AP, File

South Carolina final executed a prisoner in 2011 and at the moment has 35 inmates on loss of life row.

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