DOC Planning for Lethal Injection

Memorandum

In response to numerous press inquiries regarding how the Department of Corrections plans to implement lethal injection as a method of execution, the following information is provided.

Secretary of Corrections Michael Moore has ensured that the department is fully prepared to carry out lethal injection. Secretary Moore, in his previous position as director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, has broad experience in supervising executions by both electrocution and lethal injection. In anticipation of the recently dismissed U.S. Supreme Court review of the constitutionality of the electric chair, and Governor Jeb Bush having signed legislation implementing lethal injection as an alternative method of execution, Secretary Moore has ordered the department to take the following steps:

• The execution chamber at Florida State Prison near Starke has been modified to administer either lethal injection or electrocution. Prison employees performed the modification work. $42,142 was spent to purchase the necessary materials and hardware. Work began the week of Dec. 27 and took approximately two weeks.
  
  
• Major modifications included enlarging the doorway leading into the execution chamber to accommodate a gurney and converting an area near the chamber into a lethal injection preparation room.
  
  
• Of the $42,142 total spent, DOC purchased one gurney ($2,400 plus $1,135 in accessories) and three electronic heart monitors (total of $26,166) to be used in lethal injection executions.
  
  
• DOC employees observed two executions by lethal injection in Virginia the week of Jan. 10. The employees were present in the execution chamber during the executions and closely observed the procedures that were used. They also engaged in lengthy and detailed meetings and discussions with the Virginia officials who are responsible for carrying out executions. For security reasons, the identities of the Florida DOC employees who observed the Virginia executions will not be disclosed.
  
  
• The electric chair will be unbolted from the floor in the execution chamber and moved outside when the chamber is used for lethal injection. The electrical apparatus used with the electric chair will remain unchanged.
  
  
• Special note regarding press witnesses for executions: The department relies on the Florida Press Association and the Florida Association of Broadcasters to select 10 of the 12 pool reporters who may witness an execution (two places are always reserved for the Associated Press and United Press International-Radio). Print reporters are selected by the Florida Press Association (phone: 850-222-5790/fax: 850-222-4498) and TV/radio reporters are selected by the Florida Association of Broadcasters (phone: 850-681-6444/fax: 850-222-3957). One reporter from each group must represent a news organization that covers the county in which the condemned inmate committed the crime for which he or she was sentenced to death.
  
  
• A photograph of the modified execution chamber outfitted for lethal injection is available below:

This image is available for download in two formats: As a 1200 DPI, zipped, Windows TIF file. Click here to download the 82.5 MB file. As a 300 DPI JPG file. Click here to open the 146K file in your browser. Then right-click and choose "save picture".

• Video footage of the execution chamber outfitted for lethal injection has been given to the following Capital TV bureaus for distribution to their client stations: Capitol News Service (Mike Vasilinda), phone: 850-224-5546; CONUS (Chris Chmura), phone 850-842-7002; and Florida News Network (John Lucas), phone: 850-561-6237.

Additional Online Information:

• Electric Chair
• Death Row Facts
• Death Row Roster
• Execution List