In the early 2000s, Georgia made a shift from the electric chair to lethal injections for executions. However, this change came with its own set of challenges, including a veil of secrecy that has sparked controversy and legal battles. The state’s Georgia Department of Corrections has faced scrutiny over its refusal to disclose details about the process, citing a need to protect those involved from harassment.
In 2021, a journalist filed a lawsuit against the state after being denied access to records regarding the lethal injection process. The lawsuit, which was eventually won, revealed new details about the state’s spending and the lengths it goes to protect its contractors. The records showed that Georgia has spent more than $1.1 million since the COVID-19 pandemic on at least one contractor for its lethal injection process, despite carrying out only a single execution during that time.
Rising costs and secrecy laws
The records also revealed that Georgia’s spending on lethal injection-related costs has increased significantly over the past decade. The state’s Corrections Department has spent an average of over $150,000 a year on these costs, substantially more than what it agreed to pay in the years before 2017. This increase in spending has raised questions about the challenges that corrections officials face in finding help with carrying out lethal injections.
Secrecy laws like Georgia’s Lethal Injection Secrecy Act shield the public from awareness of the growing costs of pharmacists concocting drugs and the doctors administering the injections. Legal experts argue that these costs reflect the difficulties in finding willing participants for the process, which can subject prisoners to torturous levels of pain.
Deborah Denno a Fordham University law professor and expert on the death penalty, stated, “You wouldn’t have to pay this much money if the lethal injection process was an acceptable one. The process itself is so problematic that a lot of money has to be paid.”
The search for execution drugs
As the use of lethal injections became more widespread, opponents of the death penalty increased pressure on pharmaceutical companies to stop selling drugs that could be used for executions. By the end of the 2000s, the last U.S. factory to make a key ingredient for lethal injections had stopped production. States across the country scrambled to find new sources of the drugs.
Georgia turned to a wholesaler whose business operated out of the back room of a London driving school. However, this backfired when the Drug Enforcement Administration seized the state’s supply of lethal injection drugs in 2011. Soon after, the European Union made up of countries that oppose the death penalty, effectively banned companies from selling drugs to states if they were going to use them for executions.
Faced with dire drug shortages, states turned to a more secret and at times sketchier source of drugs. Georgia became one of the first states to place an order with compounding pharmacists, who mix raw ingredients to make custom drugs for patients. Although compounding pharmacies have legitimate uses, they are minimally regulated and their costs can be exorbitant.
The legal battles and future of lethal injections
In 2013, Georgia lawmakers passed the Lethal Injection Secrecy Act which has since been defended in court by state prosecutors. The act allows the Corrections Department to protect contractors who would otherwise “find themselves at the center of a firestorm of hate mail and midnight callers.” State officials have repeatedly argued that, without the secrecy law in place, Georgia wouldn’t be able to carry out lethal injections.
The secrets of Georgia’s death penalty process could face scrutiny in the coming days. After a recent Georgia Supreme Court ruling, which removed a barrier that had paused executions, state officials recently scheduled an execution for Sept. 16, which would be its first in two years. For every new scheduled execution, a new set of questions about the people behind the injections is likely to emerge.
As the debate over the death penalty and lethal injections continues, the hidden costs and controversies surrounding Georgia’s process serve as a stark reminder of the complexities and challenges involved in carrying out executions.
