On Friday, South Carolina’s Department of Corrections announced that they are ready to do executions by firing squad.
Last year, a law required that the state make renovations to the Capital Punishment Facility at Broad River Correctional Institution in order to perform this type of execution. The state spent $53,600 so that could happen.
If an inmate decides on this choice, protocols have been put in place to carry out the execution.
Since 1976, only three inmates have died by firing squad. It is very infrequent, and currently, only Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah offer this as an option.
Lethal injection is the main method that many states use to administer a death punishment. However, recently, it has been harder for state leaders to obtain the lethal injection drugs.
Thus, some states are looking into other options like lethal gas, electrocution, hanging, and firing squad.
It has taken close to a year for South Carolina to create new policies and procedures to safely provide this option. Some renovations that were made include, putting in a bullet-resistant glass and a firing squad chair equipped with restraints.
