South Carolina announces it can conduct executions by firing squad

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Death Penalty South Carolina announces it can conduct executions by firing squad

By Lyle Moran

March 23, 2022, 8:34 am CDT

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South Carolina now has the ability to carry out executions by firing squad, the South Carolina Department of Corrections recently announced.

The state’s capital punishment facility at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina, has been renovated to include the capacity to perform an execution by a firing squad, the corrections department said in a press release Friday.

State legislation, which became law last May, made the electric chair the state’s primary means of execution but gave inmates the option of choosing death by firing squad or lethal injection if those methods are available.

“Protocols have been written, and the department is ready to carry out an order of execution by firing squad if the inmate chooses this method,” the press release said.

Previously, scheduled executions were delayed by the South Carolina Supreme Court because a firing squad was not an option for inmates to choose from, according to NPR. Meanwhile, officials in different states have had difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs.

Utah is the only state to have carried out executions by a firing squad in the modern era, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The South Carolina Department of Corrections said it spent about $53,600 on supplies and materials to make the changes needed to be able to provide the firing squad as a method of execution.

Members of the firing squad are volunteer corrections department employees who meet certain qualifications, according to the press release.

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