Idaho: Changes for state execution policy and procedures

Idaho Execution Chamber

BOISE, Idaho - Right after Paul Rhoades became the first person executed in Idaho in more than 50 years, department of correction administrators reviewed the execution and felt some changes needed to be made prior to any future executions.

IDOC director Brent Reinke said his department has sense made changes in the standard operation procedure.

"This needs to be flawless and we need to do the right job for our state. It's a significant undertaking and it's something that we wanted to make sure as we debrief and find areas where we can improve the process," Reinke said.

Under the improved operating procedure, the warden will no longer be solely in charge of every aspect of the execution.

"There's just too many areas around the facility for that individual to take care of in this kind of setting so we have an administrative team that can be spread out a little more," Reinke said.

The administrative team will handle most of the logistics surrounding the execution while the warden continues to focus on the day-to-day operations.

Members of the media are usually selected as witnesses of the execution but in the past, the selection occurred on the day of the event. Under the new policy, members of the media will be selected seven day in advance.

"That will give us some time to work with those media witnesses prior to them representing the public in that event," Reinke said.

The new policy also allows additional witnesses related to the case to view the execution.

When Paul Rhoades was put to death, executioners used a three-drug protocol to do the job but for future cases, executioners will have the option to use a single lethal dose of drugs.

"We want to have in our standard operating procedure the flexibility to either use the three as we did and that would be our intentions, but if there were some reason that we would want to use the one drug protocol that is a part of the three, then we would have the flexibility to be able to do that," Reinke said.

During past executions, the team responsible for administering the lethal injection was labeled the injection team but Reinke said their title has changed to medical team.

There are other ideas Reinke would like to put in place regarding execution procedures and policies but KBOI was told those specific recommendations would require approval from state law makers.

Source: KBOI2.com, Feb. 5, 2012

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