I normally couldn't care less about the wishes of death row inmates but I think a thumbs up on this would be ok if it was carried out immediately. It sounds like they're volunteering to be human guinea pigs.


A lawsuit challenging Alabama’s lethal injection practice is expected to be dismissed after eight death row inmates on Tuesday asked to be put to death by nitrogen gas instead.

Alabama is the third state to allow the execution of prisoners by nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative to the three-drug cocktail used in its lethal injections.

The case was originally filed in 2012 by multiple death row inmates. Lawyers said the inmates’ claims challenging the state’s lethal injection process as inhumane are now moot.


Alabama had previously carried out executions by either electrocution or lethal injection.

In March, Alabama added death by nitrogen to the list.

Nitrogen makes up about 78 percent of the air humans breathe. It’s colorless, odorless and tasteless. Breathing in pure nitrogen causes oxygen depletion in the bloodstream.

“Placed into a pure nitrogen environment, the convict would be unconscious within a minute (possibly even after a breath or two) and would be dead soon after,” Charles Blanke, an oncologist and professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, said. “Its failure rate, that is, cases in which the prisoner survives, would likely be much lower than what we see with current death penalty methods.”

There is no scientific data on executing people with nitrogen gas and some experts worry that using the untested method could create more problems.

“If prisons forced the convicts to wear a tight fitting mask, would this increase the feeling of suffocation? Could they still leak? Or, would an entire room need to be filled with pure nitrogen? Would accidental dilution with oxygen-containing room air (mask or room) slow or even prevent death, leaving prisoners in comas or brain-damaged?” Blanke asked.

Though legal, no state has used the method, yet.

Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said it could be some time before the inmates see a death chamber with nitrogen.

"At least for the prisoners who elected nitrogen gas over lethal injection, there will be no executions until Alabama has an approved nitrogen-gas protocol in place. It will take time for that to happen and, because the gas protocol will also be untried, it will face its own set of legal challenges," Dunham said.

Dunham added the eight Alabama inmates also may "prefer the unknown risks of nitrogen hypoxia to the known risks" of lethal injection drugs while Alabama avoids having to litigate the lethal-injection issue by voluntarily dismissing the case.


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018...by-nitrogen-gas.html

I have no doubt that the process will be made needlessly complex and thus prone to failure. It seems that a (somewhat) sealed room under slightly positive pressure could be brought down to fatal O2 levels rather quickly. There's no need for masks, restraints, etc. Who cares if some of the nitrogen gas escapes? It's not like hydrogen cyanide

Why don't they just give a fatal dose of confiscated heroin, I read that accidental death of addicts by od comes before they can even pull the needle out of their arm. Death in seconds, no pain.

It would be a simple matter to fill a small enclosed room with nitrogen; one pump to draw air out, one to pump nitrogen in. If these guys are ready to die, I say grant them that request.

Hell, fill the room with nitrous oxide so they go out giggling...might inspire more death row inmates to think it’s fun and follow suit.

Switch to liquid nitrogen and shatter 'em like the movie Terminator.

quote:

Originally posted by RaiseHal:
Why don't they just give a fatal dose of confiscated heroin, I read that accidental death of addicts by od comes before they can even pull the needle out of their arm. Death in seconds, no pain.

That would have the same issues with vein access that seems to plague the current lethal injection protocols. Let's make this absolutely stupidly simple. No pumps, remote solenoids, etc. A couple of tanks with ball valves is all that's needed for delivery.

Hyperbaric chamber. Hook it up to industrial dry nitrogen instead of oxygen.

The requirement is only that it not be "cruel AND unusual".
There is no requirement that it be "painless" or "instantaneous", or "without the slightest gasp or tremor".


Preaching to the choir....I know.

Death penalty should be by the least expensive means possible.

With a new Supreme Court,cruel and unusual may go back to original constitutional intent.

I would be happy.

quote:

Originally posted by mark60:
Death penalty should be by the least expensive means possible.

I just bought some .22lr for 1.5 cents a round. I'd donate 3 rounds per for the 8 condemned... What is that .36 cents? SOLD!

Nevada is about to execute someone with Fentanyl.

quote:

Originally posted by RaiseHal:
Why don't they just give a fatal dose of confiscated heroin, I read that accidental death of addicts by od comes before they can even pull the needle out of their arm. Death in seconds, no pain.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Nevada is about to execute someone with Fentanyl.

quote:

Originally posted by RaiseHal:
Why don't they just give a fatal dose of confiscated heroin, I read that accidental death of addicts by od comes before they can even pull the needle out of their arm. Death in seconds, no pain.

That's on hold. Apparently, the fentanyl was to be part of a 3-drug cocktail which included Versed. The manufacturer of Versed took exception.

Link

Since when do death row inmates get to direct their method of execution ? And what the hell is wrong with the injection veterinarians use to euthanize sick pets ? That stuff is super quick and sure (as far as I can guess).

So why cant we do firing squads again? Give them some blankets and real ones, and they only aim at the head, about 10 feet away? Why cant that work? It's not cruel or unusual

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
Since when do death row inmates get to direct their method of execution ? And what the hell is wrong with the injection veterinarians use to euthanize sick pets ? That stuff is super quick and sure (as far as I can guess).

Some places allow it. Within reason, why not?

LINK

Make death row cells air tight and during the night run a hose from the exhaust pipe of a car. He won't know he's dead until he gets to hell.

Give 'em helium instead and they can all go out sounding like Alvin's chipmunks.

A ship, a plank, and sharks....

I don't care how they go. They just need to go.
Lethal injection appears to be a little problematic. I know a member(s) here have suggested using Nitrogen for quite some time. Seems like a good, cheap, and foolproof way to do it.