COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Department of Corrections on Friday informed Attorney General Alan Wilson that executions are now able to be carried out by firing squad as required by law, according to a news release.
South Carolina said it spent $53,600 in renovations to the Capital Punishment Facility at Broad River Correctional Institution to ready it to perform firing squad executions as required by a law passed last year.https://t.co/5Tu6dqkLWm
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The law, which took effect in May 2021, makes South Carolina’s primary method of execution the electric chair but allows inmates to choose between firing squad or lethal injection, if available, WBTW and the Greenville News reported.
>> Related: South Carolina Senate votes to revive firing squad as method of execution
Once the state Supreme Court approves the firing squad’s protocols, the death sentences facing the state’s 35 death-row inmates can proceed, the Greenville News reported.
According to the news release, the Capital Punishment Facility at Broad River Correctional Institution has been retrofitted to accommodate executions by firing squad.
Specifically, a chair facing a wall has been added to the corner of the room away from the electric chair, and bullet-resistant glass was installed between the death chamber and witness room, WBTW reported.
According to the news release, three firing squad members will be behind the wall with their rifles facing the inmate through an opening, but neither the weapons nor the opening will be visible from the witness room, the TV station reported.
The establishment of the firing squad and facility renovations cost the department of corrections nearly $54,000, spokesperson Chrysti Shain told the Greenville News.
Per the news release, death row inmates opting for the firing squad method of execution will be strapped into a chair with a hood over their heads. An aim point will be placed over the inmate’s heart, and the team will fire after the warden reads the execution order.
Utah is the only state in the past 40 years to carry out an execution by firing squad, the most recent of which was carried out in 2010 for Ronnie Lee Gardner, who killed a bartender and later, during a 1985 courthouse escape attempt, shot a lawyer to death and wounded a bailiff, the Greenville News reported.
Members of South Carolina’s firing squad are volunteers from within the state Department of Corrections who meet certain qualifications, according to the department.
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