Changes to executions recommended

A commission reviewing the botched lethal injection of a death-row inmate urged Florida’s governor to find a way to ensure inmates are unconscious before extremely painful drugs are injected.

The panel, whose report was due to the governor today, also asked for more training and better supervision in the death chamber.

The recommendations followed the December execution of Angel Diaz, 55, who took twice as long as usual to die.

The 34-minute execution also required a rare second dose of lethal drugs, including a painful paralytic that a few commissioners believed was responsible for the panel’s inability to determine if Diaz suffered.

Prison officials disputed media and witness accounts that Diaz appeared to grimace and gasp.

Several US states are reviewing their execution procedures because of questions over the process and the possible pain involved.

Florida placed a moratorium on executions after the Diaz incident.

Executions also are halted in Tennessee, Missouri, California and North Carolina because of lethal-injection concerns.

A majority of the Florida panel agreed to suggest that Governor Charlie Crist ask prison officials to routinely investigate “less problematic” alternatives for sodium pentothal, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride, the chemicals used to sedate, paralyse and kill inmates.

Pancuronium bromide can leave an improperly sedated inmate in intense agony without the ability to show it, an anaesthesiologist told the commission.

It was not clear if Diaz was properly sedated when the drugs were injected, the commission said. An autopsy found the needles were pushed through Diaz’s veins into the flesh of his arms, possibly limiting the drugs’ effectiveness.

The report calls for a clear protocol that defines the lethal injection process.

It suggests prison staff find a way to ensure the intravenous lines stay in place throughout the execution.

The commission also recommended better supervision, including radio communication between the execution team and the warden and closed-circuit monitoring so executioners can clearly see the inmate.