Law Arizona refurbishes gas chambers to prepare for executions

[Rhood]

The state of Arizona is preparing to kill death row inmates using hydrogen cyanide, the same lethal gas that was deployed at Auschwitz.

Documents obtained by the Guardian reveal that Arizona’s department of corrections has spent more than $2,000 in procuring the ingredients to make cyanide gas. The department bought a solid brick of potassium cyanide in December for $1,530.
It also purchased sodium hydroxide pellets and sulfuric acid which are intended to be used to generate the deadly gas. The gas chamber itself, built in 1949 and disused for 22 years, has been dusted off and, according to the department, “refurbished”.

A series of tests were conducted last August to appraise its “operability”.
Seals on windows and the door were checked to ensure airtightness, and drains cleared of blockage. Water was used in the tests in place of the deadly chemicals, with a smoke grenade ignited to simulate the gas.
Some of the techniques used to test the safety of the chamber were astonishingly primitive, the documents reveal. Prison officials checked for gas seepages with a candle.
The flame of the candle was held up to the sealed windows and door and if its flame remained steady and did not flicker the chamber was deemed to be airtight. In December staff declared the vessel “operationally ready”.

The preparation of cyanide gas executions presents Arizona death row inmates with a Hobson’s choice between two questionable ways to die. Should they opt for the gas chamber, they should be mindful of the last time anybody was gassed by the state.

Inmates who choose the gas chamber are strapped into a chair in the centre of the vessel. Coloured levers are then used to drop the sodium cyanide into a pot of sulfuric acid under the chair, releasing the deadly hydrogen cyanide into the air.
Once the prisoner is dead, the gas is neutralized with ammonia until the chamber is safe to enter. “As a precautionary method,” the death chamber protocol says, “it is recommended that the team removing the body wear gas masks and rubber gloves and that the hair of the deceased inmate be ruffled in order to allow any residually trapped gas to escape.”

Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said: “You have to wonder what Arizona was thinking in believing that in 2021 it is acceptable to execute people in a gas chamber with cyanide gas. Did they have anybody study the history of the Holocaust?”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/28/arizona-gas-chamber-executions-documents

 

[Belaya Smert]

Seems like a solid deterrent

 

[tenniswhiz]

So stupid.

If you HAVE to execute a person, why not do it the same way we put our pets down? Painlessly and peacefully.

Also, people who criticize abortion but believe in the death penalty or supported the Iraq war should have some inner conversations with themselves.

 

[panem-et-circenses]

Creepy. The gas chamber is wrong. On a greater philosophical point, I’m for execution in certain cases. Camus wasn’t right. Obviously that is difficult here in the states with a skewed justice system, but some people are flat-out guilty, and they make no doubt about it.

here are some of the people on death row:
https://www.azcentral.com/picture-g...2/25/inmates-on-death-row-in-arizona/1854012/

 

[Chesten_Hesten]

Hope they scent the air with lavender this time.

 

[Tairy Hesticles]

So stupid.

If you HAVE to execute a person, why not do it the same way we put our pets down? Painlessly and peacefully.

Also, people who criticize abortion but believe in the death penalty or supported the Iraq war should have some inner conversations with themselves.

Some people rape and murder children. You think the gas chamber is too inhumane for them?

 

[Terry Noonan]

So stupid.

If you HAVE to execute a person, why not do it the same way we put our pets down? Painlessly and peacefully.

Also, people who criticize abortion but believe in the death penalty or supported the Iraq war should have some inner conversations with themselves.

Difference between killing an unborn child and a piece of shit.

 

[tonni]

“refurbished”.

They added some plants and mood lighting.

 

[Halifax]

Some people rape and murder children. You think the gas chamber is too inhumane for them?

I just want them gone if they are proven to be child killers beyond a reasonable doubt.

Efficiency, not pain. Retribution and justice, not vengeance.

 

[BROWNPRIDE]

Arizona is looking to get trump.

 

[Gomi1977]

Will trains be used to transport the prisoners to the gas chamber, you know, for that full, nostalgic experience?

 

[Renard]

The chemicals needed for execution are very easy to create. You can literally kill people with something as simple as a high dose of potassium; it depolarizes the nerve cells in the heart and prevents them from being able to send the electrical signal needed for beating. Unlike the brain, the heart isn't protected by something like a blood-brain barrier that would filter out the potassium.

What's happening is that various pharmaceutical companies don't want their reputations tarnished by being associated with lethal execution, and they're refusing to manufacture and sell the products necessary for it. So I suppose the question becomes: is that a good move? On one hand you can say that these increasingly radical measures used for execution are a direct result of pharmaceutical companies refusing to supply states, thus they're responsible. On another hand you can also say it's a good move because it puts pressure on states to phase out lethal executions because it's becoming increasingly difficult to do and they have to resort to methods that make them look bad. Of course that's only a positive for people that are in the camp of "against lethal execution" in the first place.

 

[ElKarlo]

They added some plants and mood lighting.

No scented candles? Oh wait, sorrry

 

[Letssnuggle]

I’m fine with it.

 

[rearnakedchoke]

Some people rape and murder children. You think the gas chamber is too inhumane for them?

Hey. Those guys are scumbags for sure. But if it’s written in the eight amendment that cruel and unusual punishment shouldn’t be inflicted, you are kind of screwed in what you can impose as a death penalty. Some people will argue that being on death row is cruel and unusual. Some people will say that lifetime in jail is cruel (but not unusual).
So as much as a scumbag rapist is a pile of garbage, the shit written down aims to avoid barbaric punishment.

 

[Letssnuggle]

Hey. Those guys are scumbags for sure. But if it’s written in the eight amendment that cruel and unusual punishment shouldn’t be inflicted, you are kind of screwed in what you can impose as a death penalty. Some people will argue that being on death row is cruel and unusual. Some people will say that lifetime in jail is cruel (but not unusual).
So as much as a scumbag rapist is a pile of garbage, the shit written down aims to avoid barbaric punishment.

I find it neither cruel or unusual to put a rapist or child molester in a gas chamber.

 

[rearnakedchoke]

I find it neither cruel or unusual to put a rapist or child molester in a gas chamber.

Hey. It may or may not matter what we think, but if it can be shown what the body goes through during a gas chamber execution and it’s perceived as suffering, it may meet the definition. That’s why someone pointed out that pets are euthanized fairly quickly and painlessly, that should be emulated.

 

[Handsome Bruce]

So stupid.
Also, people who criticize abortion but believe in the death penalty or supported the Iraq war should have some inner conversations with themselves.

What a full-retard comparison. How can you say that killing an innocent unborn child who was never even given a chance at life is equivalent to killing someone who committed horrendous criminal acts and destroyed people's lives?

 

[HereticBD]

It is truly amazing at how complicated they've made this process over the years, in the name of "humanity".

Bullet or rope. It ain't complicated, and it's sure as fuck a lot more humane than having them have to watch the gas seep in and suffocate them.

 

[Handsome Bruce]

It is truly amazing at how complicated they've made this process over the years, in the name of "humanity".

Bullet or rope. It ain't complicated, and it's sure as fuck a lot more humane than having them have to watch the gas seep in and suffocate them.

Exactly. A firing squad is cheap and effective.