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131-551: In the United States, an execution chamber will usually contain a lethal injection table. In most cases, a witness room is located adjacent to an execution chamber, where witnesses may watch the execution through glass windows. All except for two of the states which allow capital punishment are equipped with a death chamber, but many states rarely put them to use. The exceptions are New Hampshire , which has no execution chamber (although one inmate remains on death row since

262-406: A prison uniform . The levels of security within a prison system are categorized differently around the world, but tend to follow a distinct pattern. At one end of the spectrum are the most secure facilities ("maximum security"), which typically hold prisoners that are considered dangerous, disruptive or likely to try to escape. Furthermore, in recent times, supermax prisons have been created where

393-527: A "jail". The use of prisons can be traced back to the rise of the state as a form of social organization. Some Ancient Greek philosophers, such as Plato , began to develop ideas of using punishment to reform offenders instead of for retribution. Imprisonment as a penalty was used commonly for those who could not afford to pay their fines. Eventually, since impoverished Athenians could not pay their fines, leading to indefinite periods of imprisonment, time limits were set instead. The prison in ancient Athens

524-648: A chemical paralytic ." The Chapman protocol was approved by anesthesiologist Stanley Deutsch, formerly Head of the Department of Anaesthesiology of the Oklahoma University Medical School, the On August 29, 1977, Texas adopted the new method of execution, switching from electrocution. On December 7, 1982, Texas became the first U.S. state and territory in the world to use lethal injection to carry out capital punishment, for

655-555: A convicted criminal to reoffend, known as the rate of recidivism, is unusually high for those with the most serious disorders. Analysis of data in 2000 from several forensic hospitals in California, New York and Oregon found that with treatment the rate of recidivism was "much lower" than for untreated mentally ill offenders. Some prisons provide educational programs for inmates that can include basic literacy, secondary education, or even college education. Prisoners seek education for

786-537: A decentralized "campus" pattern. A small number of prison officers, sometimes a single officer, supervise each pod. The pods contain tiers of cells arranged around a central control station or desk from which a single officer can monitor all the cells and the entire pod, control cell doors and communicate with the rest of the prison. Pods may be designed for high-security "indirect supervision", in which officers in segregated and sealed control booths monitor smaller numbers of prisoners confined to their cells. An alternative

917-415: A fair trial or due process ; this use is illegal under most forms of international law governing fair administration of justice . In times of war, belligerents or neutral countries may detain prisoners of war or detainees in military prisons or in prisoner-of-war camps . At any time, states may imprison civilians – sometimes large groups of civilians – in internment camps . In American English ,

1048-517: A form of rehabilitation or moral reform , was based on religious ideas that equated crime with sin, and saw prisons as a place to instruct prisoners in Christian morality, obedience and proper behavior. These later reformers believed that prisons could be constructed as humane institutions of moral instruction, and that prisoners' behavior could be "corrected" so that when they were released, they would be model members of society. The concept of

1179-455: A hazard to the prison personnel in case of an accidental needle stick injury. Following connection of the lines, saline drips are started in both arms. This, too, is standard medical procedure: it must be ascertained that the IV lines are not blocked, ensuring the chemicals have not precipitated in the IV lines and blocked the needle, preventing the drugs from reaching the subject. A heart monitor

1310-562: A healthy diet and reasonable living conditions. The prison reform charity, the Howard League for Penal Reform , was established in 1866 by his admirers. Following Howard's agitation, the Penitentiary Act was passed in 1779. This introduced solitary confinement, religious instruction, a labor regime, and proposed two state penitentiaries (one for men and one for women). However, these were never built due to disagreements in

1441-425: A holding state until trial or hanging, was at the time revolutionary. His views influenced the establishment of the first prisons used as criminal rehabilitation centers. At a time when the implementation of capital punishment for a variety of relatively trivial offenses was on the decline, the notion of incarceration as a form of punishment and correction held great appeal to reform-minded thinkers and politicians. In

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1572-455: A large institutional kitchen. There are many security considerations, however, that are unique to the prison dining environment. For instance, cutlery equipment must be very carefully monitored and accounted for at all times, and the layout of prison kitchens must be designed in a way that allows staff to observe activity of the kitchen staff (who are usually prisoners). The quality of kitchen equipment varies from prison to prison, depending on when

1703-420: A lethal injection machine designed by Massachusetts -based Fred A. Leuchter consisting of two components: the delivery module and the control module. The delivery module is in the execution chamber. It must be pre-loaded with the proper chemicals and operates the timing of the dosage. The control module is in the control room. This is the portion which officially starts the procedure. This is done by first arming

1834-630: A longer-term alternative to the death penalty, which could theoretically be imposed for the growing number of offenses in Britain. The substantial expansion of transportation was the first major innovation in eighteenth-century British penal practice. Transportation to America was abruptly suspended by the Criminal Law Act 1776 (16 Geo. 3 c.43) with the start of the American Rebellion . While sentencing to transportation continued,

1965-497: A prison depends upon factors such as the size of the prison, how many inmates the prison has, and how much funding the prison gets. Staff may include: Prisons are normally surrounded by fencing, walls, earthworks, geographical features, or other barriers to prevent escape. Multiple barriers, concertina wire , electrified fencing , secured and defensible main gates, armed guard towers , security lighting, motion sensors , dogs and roving patrols may all also be present depending on

2096-557: A significant role in helping prisoners reorient their lives and become successful after reentry. Many prisons also provide a library where prisoners can check out books, or do legal research for their cases. Often these libraries are very small, consisting of a few shelves of books. In some countries, such as the United States, drastic budget cuts have resulted in many prison libraries being shut down. Meanwhile, many nations that have historically lacked prison libraries are starting to develop them. Prison libraries can dramatically improve

2227-491: A signifier of who possessed power or authority over others. Another common punishment was sentencing people to galley slavery , which involved chaining prisoners together in the bottoms of ships and forcing them to row on naval or merchant vessels. The French philosopher Michel Foucault , especially his book Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1975), energized the historical study of prisons and their role in

2358-510: A trap door. As the condemned is dropped, their body falls into a room below the execution chamber and the death is confirmed. In the Tokyo facility, the actual chamber is preceded by a room with a shrine to Amida Nyorai ( Amitābha ), a Buddhist deity, to allow for prayers and consultation with a religious official. The execution room in Tokyo is separated into two sections, with a total area of 25 m. In Canada, executions were usually carried out in

2489-648: A variety of names. "Prison" is officially used for some facilities in South Australia , Victoria and Western Australia . Youth prisons in Australia are referred to as "youth correctional facilities" or "youth detention centres" among other names, depending on the jurisdiction. In Canada , while the terms "jail" and "prison" are commonly used in speech, officially named facilities use "facility", "correctional centre", "penitentiary", or "institution". A number of facilities retain their historical designation as

2620-859: A variety of reasons, including the development of skills for after release, personal enrichment and curiosity, finding something to fill their time, or trying to please prison staff (which can often secure early release for good behavior). However, the educational needs of prisoners often come into conflict with the security concerns of prison staff and with a public that wants to be "tough on crime" (and thus supports denying prisoners access to education). Whatever their reasons for participating in educational programs, prison populations tend to have very low literacy rates and lack of basic mathematical skills, and many have not completed secondary education. This lack of basic education severely limits their employment opportunities outside of prison, leading to high rates of recidivism, and research has shown that prison education can play

2751-486: A violation of medical ethics, such as the Geneva Promise , and such physicians would be thrown out of the medical community and shunned for engaging in such deeds, even if they could not lawfully be stripped of their license. On December 8, 2009, Kenneth Biros became the first person executed using Ohio's new single-drug execution protocol. He was pronounced dead at 11:47 am EST, 10 minutes after receiving

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2882-635: Is "direct supervision", in which officers work within the pod and directly interact with and supervise prisoners, who may spend the day outside their cells in a central "dayroom" on the floor of the pod. Movement in or out of the pod to and from exercise yards, work assignments or medical appointments can be restricted to individual pods at designated times and is generally centrally controlled. Goods and services, such as meals, laundry, commissary , educational materials, religious services and medical care can increasingly be brought to individual pods or cells as well. Some modern prisons may exclude certain inmates from

3013-419: Is 0.2 mg/kg and the duration of paralysis is around 4 to 8 hours. Paralysis of respiratory muscles will lead to death in a considerably shorter time. Pancuronium bromide is a derivative of the alkaloid malouetine from the plant Malouetia bequaertiana . Instead of pancuronium, other drugs in use are succinylcholine chloride and tubocurarine chloride . Potassium is an electrolyte , 98% of which

3144-531: Is also in response to executions being horrifying to the public. Lethal injections are less expensive than firing squads, with a single dose costing 300 yuan compared to 700 yuan for a shooting execution. Prior to 2013, shooting was the primary method of execution in Vietnam . The use of lethal injection method was approved by the government in 2010, adopted in 2011, and then started being used in 2013. Urges to adopt other methods than lethal injection to replace

3275-455: Is also key to achieve the desired effects in the appropriate order: administration of the pentobarbital renders the person unconscious; the infusion of the pancuronium bromide induces complete paralysis, including that of the lungs and diaphragm rendering the person unable to breathe. If the person being executed were not already completely unconscious, the injection of a highly concentrated solution of potassium chloride could cause severe pain at

3406-507: Is an ultra-short acting barbiturate, often used for anesthesia induction and for medically induced coma. The typical anesthesia induction dose is 0.35 grams. Loss of consciousness is induced within 30–45 seconds at the typical dose, while a 5 gram dose (14 times the normal dose) is likely to induce unconsciousness in 10 seconds. A full medical dose of thiopental reaches the brain in about 30 seconds. This induces an unconscious state. Five to twenty minutes after injection, approximately 15% of

3537-490: Is attached to the inmate. In most states, the intravenous injection is a series of drugs given in a set sequence, designed to first induce unconsciousness followed by death through paralysis of respiratory muscles and/or by cardiac arrest through depolarization of cardiac muscle cells. The execution of the condemned in most states involves three separate injections (in sequential order): The drugs are not mixed externally to avoid precipitation . A sequential injection

3668-518: Is due to multiple factors including females being convicted of less severe offences, and being less likely to be convicted of violent offences, in comparison to males, and due to female prisoners being less likely to be violent than male prisoners. Modern prisons often hold hundreds or thousands of inmates, and must have facilities onsite to meet most of their needs, including dietary, health, fitness, education, religious practices, entertainment, and many others. Conditions in prisons vary widely around

3799-478: Is given. The usual intravenous dose of 10–20 mEq per hour is given slowly since it takes time for the electrolyte to equilibrate into the cells. When used in state-sanctioned lethal injection, bolus potassium injection affects the electrical conduction of heart muscle and ultimately leads to cardiac arrest. The potassium bolus delivered for lethal injection causes a rapid onset of elevated extracellular potassium, also known as hyperkalemia , causing depolarization of

3930-407: Is intracellular. The 2% remaining outside the cell has great implications for cells that generate action potentials. Doctors prescribe potassium for patients when potassium levels in the blood are insufficient, called hypokalemia . The potassium can be given orally, which is the safest route; or it can be given intravenously, in which case strict rules and hospital protocols govern the rate at which it

4061-447: Is preferred. The following is a Dutch protocol for parenteral (intravenous) administration to obtain euthanasia, with the old protocol listed first and the new protocol listed second: Prison A prison , also known as a jail , gaol , penitentiary , detention center , correction center , correctional facility , remand center , hoosegow , and slammer , is a facility where people are imprisoned against their will under

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4192-551: Is the sole method allowed, but no penalties have been carried out since 2000 when the country experienced the live televised double executions of Amílcar Cetino Pérez and Tomás Cerrate Hernández . The export of drugs to be used for lethal injection was banned by the European Union (EU) in 2011, together with other items under the EU Torture Regulation. Since then, pentobarbital followed thiopental in

4323-476: Is therefore about 3 times more than the dose used in euthanasia. The Ohio protocol, developed after the incomplete execution of Romell Broom , aims to ensure the rapid and painless onset of anesthesia by only using sodium thiopental and eliminating the use of Pavulon and potassium as the second and third drugs, respectively. It also provides for a secondary fail-safe measure using intramuscular injection of midazolam, followed by sufentanil or hydromorphone in

4454-630: Is using the single drug sodium thiopental to execute someone. The first state to switch to this method was Ohio, on December 8, 2009. In 2011, after pressure by activist organizations, the manufacturers of pentobarbital and sodium thiopental halted the supply of the drugs to U.S. prisons performing lethal injections and required all resellers to do the same. In the past, the People's Republic of China executed prisoners primarily by means of shooting . In recent years, lethal injection has become more common. The specific lethal injection procedures, including

4585-539: Is widely understood and more common in usage. In Australia , the words "gaol", "jail" and "prison" are commonly used. The spelling "gaol" was in official use in the past, and many historical gaols are now tourist attractions, such as the Maitland Gaol . Officially, the term "correctional centre" is used for almost all prisons in New South Wales and Queensland , while other states and territories use

4716-847: The Connecticut Supreme Court in 2015. Death penalty abolished in 2011. All condemned prisoners sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by Gov. Pat Quinn immediately upon abolition. Death penalty abolished in 2013. Remaining inmate's death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by Gov. Martin O'Malley in 2014. Death penalty abolished in 2019; one prisoner, Michael K. Addison , remains on death row under sentence of death. Death penalty abolished in 2007. All remaining inmate's death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by Gov. Jon Corzine immediately upon abolition. Death penalty abolished in 2009. All remaining inmates death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by

4847-566: The New Mexico Supreme Court in 2019. Death penalty abolished in 2007. All remaining inmates death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by the New York Court of Appeals immediately upon abolition. Closed in 2008 under David Paterson's administration. Death penalty abolished in 2021. All remaining inmates death sentences were automatically commuted to life imprisonment under

4978-577: The Sisak concentration camp by the camp's commander, the physician Antun Najžer . Royal Commission on Capital Punishment 1949–1953 also considered lethal injection, but eventually ruled it out after pressure from the British Medical Association (BMA). On May 10, 1977, Oklahoma became the first U.S. state to approve lethal injection as Governor David Boren signed a bill into law. Episcopal Reverend Bill Wiseman had introduced

5109-658: The execution of Carey Dean Moore on August 14, 2018, the State of Nebraska used a novel drug cocktail comprising diazepam , fentanyl , cisatracurium , and potassium chloride , over the strong objections of the German pharmaceutical company Fresenius Kabi . Potassium acetate had been incorrectly used in place of potassium chloride in Oklahoma in January 2015 for the execution of Charles Frederick Warner . In August 2017,

5240-405: The "Execution Suite". The room, usually formed from two single prison cells , contained the large trapdoor , usually double-leaved, but in some older chambers such as at Oxford, single-leaved, and operating lever. The wooden beam from which the rope was suspended was usually set into the walls of the chamber above, with the floor removed. At Wandsworth Prison the floor was retained and holes allowed

5371-547: The 17th century in Russia , in remote underpopulated areas of Siberia and the Russian Far East , that had few towns or food sources. Siberia quickly gained its fearful connotation of punishment. John Howard was one of the most notable early prison reformers . After having visited several hundred prisons across Great Britain and Europe, in his capacity as high sheriff of Bedfordshire , he published The State of

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5502-554: The 19th century would see the first movement toward prison reform , and by the 1810s, the first state prisons and correctional facilities were built, thereby inaugurating the modern prison facilities available today. France also sent criminals to overseas penal colonies, including Louisiana , in the early 18th century. Penal colonies in French Guiana operated until 1952, such as the notable Devil's Island ( Île du Diable ). Katorga prisons were harsh work camps established in

5633-607: The European Union's ban. By early 2014, a number of botched executions involving lethal injection, and a rising shortage of suitable drugs, had some U.S. states reconsidering lethal injection as a form of execution. Tennessee , which had previously offered inmates a choice between lethal injection and the electric chair , passed a law in May 2014 which gave the state the option to use the electric chair if lethal injection drugs are either unavailable or declared unconstitutional. At

5764-646: The Maldives has never carried out an execution since its independence. Although Taiwan permits lethal injection as an execution method, no executions have been carried out in this manner; the same is true for Nigeria. Lethal injection was also used in the Philippines until the country re-abolished the death penalty in 2006. Although primarily introduced as a more "humane" method of execution, lethal injection has been subject to criticism, being described by some as cruel and unusual . Opponents in particular critique

5895-507: The Prisons in 1777. He was particularly appalled to discover prisoners who had been acquitted but were still confined because they could not pay the jailer's fees. He proposed wide-ranging reforms to the system, including the housing of each prisoner in a separate cell and the requirements that staff should be professional and paid by the government, that outside inspection of prisons should be imposed, and that prisoners should be provided with

6026-411: The State of Florida first used the drug in the execution of Mark James Asay using a combination of etomidate , rocuronium bromide , and potassium acetate as part of a new protocol. In the United States, the typical lethal injection begins with the condemned person being strapped onto a gurney ; two intravenous cannulas ("IVs") are then inserted, one in each arm. Only one is necessary to carry out

6157-875: The United Kingdom (as several remained unofficially in other prisons), at Wandsworth Prison , was removed in 1994. Salvaged parts from it are in the possession of the National Justice Museum , having previously been at the HM Prison Service museum. Japan has seven execution chambers, which are located at the Detention Houses in Tokyo , Nagoya , Osaka , Hiroshima , Fukuoka , Sendai and Sapporo . All executions in Japan are carried out by hanging. The execution chamber in Tokyo has

6288-479: The abolition of capital punishment in that state is not retroactive) and California , which has no execution chambers after the lethal injection room and gas chamber were removed in 2019. Kansas , Nevada , and Wyoming are the only states to have an execution chamber, which is equipped to execute an inmate by lethal injection, which has never been used, while the states of New Jersey and New York formerly had lethal injection chambers which were never used while

6419-486: The abolition statute. Death penalty abolished in 2018. All remaining inmates death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by the Washington Supreme Court immediately upon abolition. If an execution does occur, the state will use its parole board meeting room at the state prison. In the United Kingdom, the execution chamber was part of a larger complex, often referred to as

6550-505: The act instituted a punishment policy of hard labor instead. The suspension of transport also prompted the use of prisons for punishment and the initial start of a prison building program. Britain would resume transportation to specifically planned penal colonies in Australia between 1788 and 1868. Jails at the time were run as business ventures, and contained both felons and debtors; the latter were often housed with their wives and younger children. The jailers made their money by charging

6681-500: The authority of the state , generally as punishment for various crimes . Authorities most commonly use prisons within a criminal-justice system: people charged with crimes may be imprisoned until their trial ; those who have pled or been found guilty of crimes at trial may be sentenced to a specified period of imprisonment. Prisons can also be used as a tool for political repression by authoritarian regimes who detain perceived opponents for political crimes , often without

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6812-710: The capital Rome, but throughout the Roman Empire. However, a regulated prison system did not emerge. In Medieval Songhai , results of a trial could have led to confiscation of merchandise or imprisonment as a form of punishment, since various prisons existed in the empire. During the Middle Ages in Europe, castles, fortresses, and the basements of public buildings were often used as makeshift prisons. The capability to imprison citizens granted an air of legitimacy to officials at all levels of government and served as

6943-778: The cell door, and each inmate is allowed one hour of outdoor exercise per day, alone. They are normally permitted no contact with other inmates and are under constant surveillance via closed-circuit television cameras. On the other end are "minimum security" prisons which are most often used to house those for whom more stringent security is deemed unnecessary. For example, prisoners convicted of white-collar crime (which rarely results in incarceration) are almost always sent to minimum-security prisons due to them having committed nonviolent crimes. Lower-security prisons are often designed with less restrictive features, confining prisoners at night in smaller locked dormitories or even cottage or cabin-like housing while permitting them free movement around

7074-590: The cell door. Prison food in many developed countries is nutritionally adequate for most inmates. Prisons in wealthy, industrialized nations provide medical care for most of their inmates. Additionally, prison medical staff play a major role in monitoring, organizing, and controlling the prison population through the use of psychiatric evaluations and interventions (psychiatric drugs, isolation in mental health units, etc.). Prison populations are largely from poor minority communities that experience greater rates of chronic illness, substance abuse, and mental illness than

7205-404: The committee and pressures from wars with France , and jails remained a local responsibility. But other measures passed in the next few years provided magistrates with the powers to implement many of these reforms, and eventually, in 1815, jail fees were abolished. Quakers were prominent in campaigning against and publicizing the dire state of the prisons at the time. Elizabeth Fry documented

7336-402: The conditions that prevailed at Newgate prison , where the ladies' section was overcrowded with women and children, some of whom had not even received a trial. The inmates did their own cooking and washing in the small cells in which they slept on straw. In 1816, Fry founded a prison school for the children who were imprisoned with their parents. She also began a system of supervision and required

7467-687: The county/municipality jail where they were committed. Alberta had gallows for the entire province in Fort Saskatchewan and Lethbridge. British Columbia had their executions in Oakalla ( Burnaby ). The Don Jail was for murders committed in The City of Toronto and County of York . The Ontario County Jail in Whitby which was used for murders committed to what is now Durham Region . Most hangings were carried out using temporary gallows built in

7598-425: The custody level goes beyond maximum security for people such as terrorists or political prisoners deemed a threat to national security , and inmates from other prisons who have a history of violent or other disruptive behavior in prison or are suspected of gang affiliation. These inmates have individual cells and are kept in lockdown , often for more than 23 hours per day. Meals are served through "chuck-holes" in

7729-585: The death penalty remained legal. The National Ethics Council of the American Institute of Architects ruled in 2019 that its members may continue to design execution chambers in jurisdictions where they are legal. Notes: Death penalty abolished in 2020. All remaining inmate's death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by Gov. Jared Polis immediately upon abolition. Death penalty abolished in 2012. All remaining inmates death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by

7860-434: The defendants would be sentenced to death. Rulers began looking for means to punish and control their subjects in a way that did not cause people to associate them with spectacles of tyrannical and sadistic violence. They developed systems of mass incarceration , often with hard labor, as a solution. The prison reform movement that arose at this time was heavily influenced by two somewhat contradictory philosophies. The first

7991-404: The determination of whether they will be placed in a mental health unit), and many other factors. This sorting of prisoners is one of the fundamental techniques through which the prison administration maintains control over the inmate population and attempts to reduce risks and liabilities in an attempt to create an orderly and secure prison environment. At some prisons, prisoners are made to wear

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8122-516: The disciplinary system advocated by the SIPD. By the 1840s, penal transportation to Australia and the use of hulks was on the decline, and the Surveyor-General of convict prisons, Joshua Jebb , set an ambitious program of prison building in the country, with one large prison opening per year. Pentonville prison opened in 1842, beginning a trend of ever increasing incarceration rates and

8253-417: The drug is in the brain, with the rest in other parts of the body. The half-life of this drug is about 11.5 hours, and the concentration in the brain remains at around 5–10% of the total dose during that time. When a 'mega-dose' is administered, as in state-sanctioned lethal injection, the concentration in the brain during the tail phase of the distribution remains higher than the peak concentration found in

8384-571: The drug or drugs used, are a state secret and not publicly known. Lethal injection in China was legalized in 1996. The number of shooting executions slowly decreased; and, in February 2009, the Supreme People's Court ordered the discontinuation of firing squads by the following year under the conclusion that injections were more humane to the prisoner. It has been suggested that the switch

8515-419: The economic benefits of providing a free source of hard labor, the proponents of the new penal code also thought that this would deter criminal activity by making a conspicuous public example of consequences of breaking the law. However, what actually ended up happening was frequent spectacles of disorderly conduct by the convict work crews, and the generation of sympathetic feelings from the citizens who witnessed

8646-540: The efficacy of legal reform had declined, as statutory changes had no discernible effect on the level of crime, and the prisons, where prisoners shared large rooms and booty including alcohol, had become riotous and prone to escapes. In response, New York developed the Auburn system in which prisoners were confined in separate cells and prohibited from talking when eating and working together, implementing it at Auburn State Prison and Sing Sing at Ossining . The aim of this

8777-449: The electric chair unconstitutional). On May 11, 1977, the day after the new method had become state law, Oklahoma 's state medical examiner Jay Chapman proposed making the process a new, less painful method of execution, known as Chapman's protocol: "An intravenous saline drip shall be started in the prisoner's arm, into which shall be introduced a lethal injection consisting of an ultrashort-acting barbiturate in combination with

8908-470: The end of the 17th century, houses of correction were absorbed into local prison facilities under the control of the local justice of the peace. England used penal transportation of convicted criminals (and others generally young and poor) for a term of indentured servitude within the general population of British America between the 1610s and 1776. The Transportation Act 1717 made this option available for lesser crimes, or offered it by discretion as

9039-494: The event intravenous administration of the sodium thiopental proves problematic. The first state to switch to use midazolam as the first drug in a new three-drug protocol was Florida on October 15, 2013. Then on November 14, 2013, Ohio made the same move. In the brief for the U.S. courts written by accessories, the State of Ohio implies that they were unable to find any physicians willing to participate in development of protocols for executions by lethal injection, as this would be

9170-406: The execution of Charles Brooks, Jr. The People's Republic of China began using this method in 1997, Guatemala in 1996, the Philippines in 1999, Thailand in 2003, and Taiwan in 2005. Vietnam first used this method in 2013. The Philippines abolished the death penalty in 2006, with their last execution being in 2000. Guatemalan law still allows for the death penalty and lethal injection

9301-520: The execution; the other is reserved as a backup in the event the primary line fails. A line leading from the IV line in an adjacent room is attached to the prisoner's IV and secured so that the line does not snap during the injections. The arm of the condemned person is swabbed with alcohol before the cannula is inserted. The needles and equipment used are sterilized. Questions have been raised about why these precautions against infection are performed despite

9432-410: The executioner(s) (either prison staff or private citizens depending on the jurisdiction) then manually inject the three drugs in sequence. During the execution, the condemned's cardiac rhythm is monitored. Death is pronounced after cardiac activity stops. Death usually occurs within seven minutes, although, due to complications in finding a suitable vein, the whole procedure can take up to two hours, as

9563-484: The eyes of the public. They suggested that prisoners be sent to secluded "houses of repentance" where they would be subjected (out of the view of the public) to "bodily pain, labor, watchfulness, solitude, and silence ... joined with cleanliness and a simple diet". Pennsylvania soon put this theory into practice, and turned its old jail at Walnut Street in Philadelphia into a state prison, in 1790. This prison

9694-449: The facility and also to allow a smaller prison staff to monitor prisoners directly, often using a decentralized "podular" layout. (In comparison, 19th-century prisons had large landings and cell blocks which permitted only intermittent observation of prisoners.) Smaller, separate and self-contained housing units known as "pods" or "modules" are designed to hold 16 to 50 prisoners and are arranged around exercise yards or support facilities in

9825-555: The first half of the 19th century, capital punishment came to be regarded as inappropriate for many crimes that it had previously been carried out for, and by the mid-19th century, imprisonment had replaced the death penalty for the most serious offenses except for murder. The first state prison in England was the Millbank Prison , established in 1816 with a capacity for just under 1,000 inmates. By 1824, 54 prisons had adopted

9956-499: The first phase of hyperkalemia. This progresses into a broadening and lengthening of the P wave and PR interval, then eventually disappearance of the P wave, widening of the QRS complex, and finally, asystole . This process can occur in the span of 30 to 60 seconds, but there have been cases of 'botched' procedures, leading to one inmate gasping for air for approximately 10 to 13 minutes. Sodium thiopental (US trade name: Sodium Pentothal)

10087-450: The general population, usually for safety reasons, such as those within solitary confinement, celebrities, political figures and former law enforcement officers, those convicted of sexual crimes and/or crimes against children, or those on the medical wing or protective custody. Generally, when an inmate arrives at a prison, they go through a security classification screening and risk assessment that determines where they will be placed within

10218-503: The general population. This leads to a high demand for medical services, and in countries such as the US that do not provide tax-payer funded healthcare, prison is often the first place that people are able to receive medical treatment (which they could not afford outside). Some prison medical facilities include primary care , mental health services, dental care , substance abuse treatment, and other forms of specialized care, depending on

10349-466: The grounds to work or partake in activities during the day. Some countries (such as Great Britain ) also have "open" prisons where prisoners are allowed home-leave or part-time employment outside of the prison. Suomenlinna Island facility in Finland is an example of one such "open" correctional facility. The prison has been open since 1971 and, as of September 2013, the facility's 95 male prisoners leave

10480-591: The heart, and midazolam for sedation. Pancuronium bromide (Trade name: Pavulon): The related drug curare , like pancuronium, is a non-depolarizing muscle relaxant (a paralytic agent) that blocks the action of acetylcholine at the motor end-plate of the neuromuscular junction . Binding of acetylcholine to receptors on the end-plate causes depolarization and contraction of the muscle fiber; non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocking agents like pancuronium stop this binding from taking place The typical dose for pancuronium bromide in capital punishment by lethal injection

10611-427: The induction dose for anesthesia, because repeated doses—or a single very high dose as in lethal injection—accumulate in high concentrations in body fat, from which the thiopental is gradually released. This is the reason why an ultra-short acting barbiturate, such as thiopental, can be used for long-term induction of medical coma . Historically, thiopental has been one of the most commonly used and studied drugs for

10742-413: The induction of coma. Protocols vary for how it is given, but the typical doses are anywhere from 500 mg up to 1.5 grams. It is likely that this data was used to develop the initial protocols for state-sanctioned lethal injection, according to which one gram of thiopental was used to induce the coma. Now, most states use 5 grams to be absolutely certain the dosage is effective. Pentobarbital

10873-480: The injection. On September 10, 2010, Washington became the second state to use the single-drug Ohio protocol with the execution of Cal Coburn Brown , who was proclaimed dead within two minutes after receiving the single-drug injection of sodium thiopental. Seven states ( Arizona , Georgia , Idaho , Missouri , Ohio, South Dakota , and Texas ) have used the single-drug execution protocol. The state of Washington used this single drug method, but stopped when execution

11004-528: The inmates for food, drink, and other services, and the system was generally corruptible. One reform of the seventeenth century was the establishment of the London Bridewell as a house of correction for women and children. It was the first facility to make any medical services available to prisoners. With the widely used alternative of penal transportation halted in the 1770s, the immediate need for additional penal accommodations emerged. Given

11135-483: The jail yard although a few jails had permanent indoor facilities. Lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate , paralytic , and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death . The main application for this procedure is capital punishment , but the term may also be applied in a broader sense to include euthanasia and other forms of suicide . The drugs cause

11266-496: The late 17th century and during the 18th century, popular resistance to public execution and torture became more widespread both in Europe and in the United States. Particularly under the Bloody Code , with few sentencing alternatives, imposition of the death penalty for petty crimes, such as theft, was proving increasingly unpopular with the public; many jurors were refusing to convict defendants of petty crimes when they knew

11397-407: The late 20th century as a form of execution intended to supplant electrocution , gas inhalation , hanging and firing squad , that were considered to be less humane. It is now the most common form of legal execution in the United States. Lethal injection was proposed on January 17, 1888, by Julius Mount Bleyer , a New York doctor who praised it as being cheaper than hanging . Bleyer's idea

11528-475: The leadership of Cesare Lombroso (1835–1909). Another prominent prison reformer who made important contributions was Alexander Paterson who advocated for the necessity of humanizing and socializing methods within the prison system in Great Britain and America. Prisons employ people to run and maintain the prison while keeping control of the inmates. Oftentimes, the number of people employed within

11659-503: The lethal drugs for the main line and syringes 1, 3 and 5 containing the injections for the backup line. The system was used in New Jersey before the abolition of the death penalty in 2007. Illinois previously used the computer, and Missouri and Delaware use the manual injection switch on the delivery panel. Eleven states have switched, or have stated their intention to switch, to a one-drug lethal injection protocol. A one-drug method

11790-431: The level of security. Remotely controlled doors, CCTV monitoring, alarms, cages, restraints , nonlethal and lethal weapons, riot-control gear and physical segregation of units and prisoners may all also be present within a prison to monitor and control the movement and activity of prisoners within the facility. Modern prison designs have increasingly sought to restrict and control the movement of prisoners throughout

11921-530: The machine, and then with station members simultaneously pressing each of their buttons on the panel to activate the delivery. The computer then deletes who actually started the syringes, so the participants are not aware if their syringe contained saline or one of the drugs necessary for execution (to assuage guilt in a manner similar to the blank cartridge in execution by firing squad ). The delivery module has eight syringes. The end syringes (i.e., syringes 7 and 8) containing saline, syringes 2, 4 and 6 containing

12052-476: The main prison. The last gallows to be constructed and used in Britain, at HMP Aberdeen , was built in 1962, and was used one year later for the hanging of Henry John Burnett , the last person to be executed in Scotland. A freestanding execution block was built at HMP Perth in 1965, but was never used. This was the last gallows to be constructed in the United Kingdom. The last officially operational gallows in

12183-604: The mentioned shortening of the refractory period. At approximately 8 mEq/L and beyond, the shortened refractory period and increased resting membrane potential diminishes the quantity of voltage-gated sodium channels ready to contribute to rapid phase 0 depolarization due to the inactivation gate requiring further repolarization to open back up. At potassium concentrations beyond 14mEq/L, enough sodium channels remain inactivated to no longer generate an action potential, ultimately leading to no heart beat. Heart potassium levels after lethal injection can reach 160.0 mEq/L. Depolarizing

12314-575: The method into the Oklahoma legislature, where it passed and was quickly sent to the Governor's desk (Title 22, Section 1014(A)). The next day, Texas became the second U.S. state to approve a lethal injection law. Since then, until 2004, 37 of the 38 states using capital punishment introduced lethal injection statutes (the last state, Nebraska , maintaining electrocution as its single method until adopting injection in 2009, after its Supreme Court deemed

12445-466: The mistreatment of the convicts. The laws quickly drew criticism from a humanitarian perspective (as cruel, exploitative and degrading) and from a utilitarian perspective (as failing to deter crime and delegitimizing the state in the eyes of the public). Reformers such as Benjamin Rush came up with a solution that would enable the continued use of forced labor while keeping disorderly conduct and abuse out of

12576-599: The modern prison was imported to Europe in the early 19th-century. Prior forms of punishment were usually physical, including capital punishment, mutilation , flagellation (whipping), branding , and non-physical punishments, such as public shaming rituals (like the stocks ). From the Middle Ages up to the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe, imprisonment was rarely used as a punishment in its own right, and prisons were mainly to hold those awaiting trial and convicts awaiting punishment. However, an important innovation at

12707-415: The muscle cell inhibits its ability to fire by reducing the available number of sodium channels (they are placed in an inactivated state). ECG changes vary depending on serum potassium concentrations and on the individual. Peaked T-waves signifying faster repolarization and potentially instances of early-repolarization and phase 2 re-entry (Brugada, Short QT, and Early-Repolarization Syndromes) are evident in

12838-468: The needle, while a second prison employee orders, prepares, and loads the drugs into the lethal injection syringes. Two other staff members take each of the three syringes and secure them into the IVs. After the curtain is opened to allow the witnesses to see inside the chamber, the condemned person is then permitted to make a final statement. Following this, the warden signals that the execution may commence, and

12969-493: The needs of the inmate population and the willingness of the prison to provide for these needs. Health care services in many prisons have long been criticized as inadequate, underfunded, and understaffed, and many prisoners have experienced abuse and mistreatment at the hands of prison medical staff who are entrusted with their care. In the United States, a million incarcerated people suffer from mental illness without any assistance or treatment for their condition. The tendency of

13100-475: The operation of lethal injections by untrained corrections officers and the lack of guarantee that the victim will be unconscious in every individual case. There have been instances in which condemned individuals have been injected with paralytics, and then a cardiac arrest -inducing agent, while still conscious; this has been compared to torture . Proponents often say that there is no reasonable or less cruel alternative. Lethal injection gained popularity in

13231-604: The overall social system. The book analyzed changes in Western penal systems during the modern age based on historical documents from France. Foucault argues that prison did not become the principal form of punishment just because of the humanitarian concerns of reformists . He traces the cultural shifts that led to the predominance of prison via the body and power. Prison used by the "disciplines" – new technological powers that can be found, according to Foucault, in places such as schools, hospitals, and military barracks. From

13362-596: The person to become unconscious, stops their breathing, and causes a heart arrhythmia , in that order. First developed in the United States , it has become a legal means of execution in Mainland China , Thailand (since 2003), Guatemala , Taiwan , the Maldives , Nigeria , and Vietnam , though Guatemala abolished the death penalty in civil cases in 2017 and has not conducted an execution since 2000 and

13493-471: The prison grounds on a daily basis to work in the corresponding township or commute to the mainland for either work or study. Prisoners can rent flat-screen televisions, sound systems, and mini-refrigerators with the prison-labor wages that they can earn—wages range between 4.10 and €7.30 per hour. With electronic monitoring , prisoners are also allowed to visit their families in Helsinki and eat together with

13624-641: The prison staff. Prisoners in Scandinavian facilities are permitted to wear their own clothes. There are fundamental differences between the security level of men's prisons and that of women's prisons. Male prisons tend to have higher, or more severe, security levels/classifications than female prisons. This is even noticeable when comparing the construction and design of male prisons which tend to have very tall walls and towers, barbed wire and other serious security measures whereas these types of high level security measures are absent at many female prisons. This

13755-455: The prison system. Classifications are assigned by assessing the prisoner's personal history and criminal record, and through subjective determinations made by intake personnel (which include mental health workers, counselors, clerical staff, sheriff deputies, prison unit managers, and others). This process will have a major impact on the prisoner's experience, determining their security level, educational and work programs, mental health status (e.g.

13886-437: The prison was constructed, and the level of funding available to procure new equipment. Prisoners are often served food in a large cafeteria with rows of tables and benches that are securely attached to the floor. However, inmates that are locked in control units, or prisons that are on "lockdown" (where prisoners are made to remain in their cells all day) have trays of food brought to their cells and served through "chuck-holes" in

14017-523: The purpose of the injection being death. The several explanations include: cannulae are sterilized and have their quality heavily controlled during manufacture, so using sterile ones is a routine medical procedure. Secondly, the prisoner could receive a stay of execution after the cannulae have been inserted, as happened in the case of James Autry in October 1983 (he was eventually executed on March 14, 1984). Third, use of unsterilized equipment would be

14148-506: The quality of life for prisoners, who have large amounts of empty time on their hands that can be occupied with reading. This time spent reading has a variety of benefits including improved literacy, ability to understand rules and regulations (leading to improved behavior), ability to read books that encourage self-reflection and analysis of one's emotional state, consciousness of important real-world events, and education that can lead to successful re-entry into society after release. In 2024,

14279-496: The readoption of shootings. The first prisoner in Vietnam to be executed by lethal injection, on August 6, 2013, was 27-year-old Nguyen Anh Tuan, arrested for murder and robbery. Between 2013 and 2016, 429 prisoners were executed by this method in the country. Typically, three drugs are used in lethal injection. Pancuronium bromide (Pavulon) is used to cause muscle paralysis and respiratory arrest, potassium chloride to stop

14410-576: The resting membrane potential of the heart muscle cells, particularly impacting the heart's pacemaker cells. However, potassium's effect on membrane potential is concentration dependent and ultimately occurs in two phases. Given the reference range for serum potassium is 3.5-5.5 mEq/L, concentrations up to 8 mEq/L shorten action potential duration and the refractory period due to an allosteric effect of potassium ions on potassium channels, leading to increased conduction velocity and subsequently quicker potassium efflux which contributes to quicker repolarization and

14541-412: The rope and chains through. Oxford's chamber was of an old 19th-century type, and the beam was set into the walls of the chamber just above head height. Such rooms were almost always built into one of the wings of a prison ; following the recommendation of prison governors during the 1948 Royal Commission on capital punishment , further execution chambers were housed in purpose-built blocks separate from

14672-423: The same time, Wyoming and Utah were considering the use of execution by firing squad in addition to other existing execution methods. In 2016, Pfizer joined over 20 American and European pharmaceutical manufacturers that had previously blocked the sale of their drugs for use in lethal injections, effectively closing the open market for FDA -approved manufacturers for any potential lethal execution drug. In

14803-408: The shooting execution began earlier, in 2006, after concerns of the mental state of the firing squad members after executions. The drugs used consist of pancuronium bromide (paralytic), potassium chloride (cardiotoxin), and sodium thiopental (anesthetic). The production of these substances, however, is low in Vietnam. This led to drug shortages and to considering using other domestic poisons or

14934-399: The site of the IV line, as well as along the punctured vein; it interrupts the electrical activity of the heart muscle and causes it to stop beating, bringing about the death of the person being executed. The intravenous tubing leads to a room next to the execution chamber, usually separated from the condemned by a curtain or wall. Typically, a prison employee trained in venipuncture inserts

15065-428: The terms prison and jail have separate definitions, though this is not always adhered to in casual speech. Outside of the United States, prison and jail often have the same meaning. In New Zealand , the terms "jail" and "prison" are commonly used, although the terms "correctional facility" and "prison" among others are in official usage. In Papua New Guinea , "prison" is officially used, although "jail"

15196-525: The time was the Bridewell House of Corrections, located at Bridewell Palace in London, which resulted in the building of other houses of correction . These houses held mostly petty offenders, vagrants, and the disorderly local poor. In these facilities, the inmates were given " prison labor " jobs that were anticipated to shape them into hardworking individuals and prepare them for the real world. By

15327-428: The undeveloped institutional facilities, old sailing vessels , termed hulks , were the most readily available and expandable choice to be used as places of temporary confinement . While conditions on these ships were generally appalling, their use and the labor thus provided set a precedent which persuaded many people that mass incarceration and labor were viable methods of crime prevention and punishment. The turn of

15458-463: The use of prison as the primary form of crime punishment. Robert Peel's Gaols Act of 1823 introduced regular visits to prisoners by chaplains, provided for the payment of jailers and prohibited the use of irons and manacles. In 1786, the state of Pennsylvania passed a law that mandated that all convicts who had not been sentenced to death would be placed in penal servitude to do public works projects such as building roads , forts , and mines. Besides

15589-763: The women to sew and to read the Bible. In 1817, she helped to found the Association for the Reformation of the Female Prisoners in Newgate. The theory of the modern prison system was born in London, influenced by the utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham . Bentham's panopticon introduced the principle of observation and control that underpins the design of the modern prison. The notion of prisoners being incarcerated as part of their punishment and not simply as

15720-440: The world, and the types of facilities within prisons depend on many intersecting factors including funding, legal requirements, and cultural beliefs/practices. Nevertheless, in addition to the cell blocks that contain the prisoners, there are also certain auxiliary facilities that are common in prisons throughout the world. Prisons generally have to provide food for a large number of individuals, and thus are generally equipped with

15851-546: Was rehabilitative : the reformers talked about the penitentiary serving as a model for the family and the school and almost all the states adopted the plan (though Pennsylvania went even further in separating prisoners). The system's fame spread and visitors to the U.S. to see the prisons included de Tocqueville who wrote Democracy in America as a result of his visit. The use of prisons in Continental Europe

15982-575: Was abolished. Five additional states ( Arkansas , Kentucky , Louisiana , North Carolina , and Tennessee ) announced that they would switch to a single-drug protocol but, as of April 2014, had not executed anyone since switching protocols. After sodium thiopental began being used in executions, Hospira , the only American company that made the drug, stopped manufacturing it due to its use in executions. The subsequent nationwide shortage of sodium thiopental led states to seek other drugs to use in executions. Pentobarbital, often used for animal euthanasia ,

16113-516: Was based in Enlightenment ideas of utilitarianism and rationalism , and suggested that prisons should simply be used as a more effective substitute for public corporal punishments such as whipping, hanging, etc. This theory, referred to as deterrence , claims that the primary purpose of prisons is to be so harsh and terrifying that they deter people from committing crimes out of fear of going to prison. The second theory, which saw prisons as

16244-520: Was introduced at the end of 2010 due to a shortage of sodium thiopental, and has since become the primary sedative in lethal injections in the United States. Barbiturates are the same class of drug used in medically assisted suicide. In euthanasia protocols, the typical dose of thiopental is 1.5 grams; the Dutch Euthanasia protocol indicates 1-1.5 grams or 2 grams in case of high barbiturate tolerance. The dose used for capital punishment

16375-498: Was known as the desmoterion or "the place of chains". The Romans were among the first to use prisons as a form of punishment rather than simply for detention. A variety of existing structures were used to house prisoners, such as metal cages, basements of public buildings, and quarries . One of the most notable Roman prisons was the Mamertine Prison , established around 640 B.C. by Ancus Marcius . The Mamertine Prison

16506-474: Was located within a sewer system beneath ancient Rome and contained a large network of dungeons where prisoners were held in squalid conditions contaminated with human waste . Forced labor on public works projects was also a common form of punishment. In many cases, citizens were sentenced to slavery , often in ergastula (a primitive form of prison where unruly slaves were chained to workbenches and performed hard labor). There were numerous prisons not only in

16637-576: Was modeled on what became known as the "Pennsylvania system" (or "separate system"), and placed all prisoners into solitary cells with nothing other than religious literature, made them wear prison uniforms , and forced them to be completely silent to reflect on their wrongs. New York soon built the Newgate state prison in Greenwich Village, which was modeled on the Pennsylvania system, and other states followed. But, by 1820, faith in

16768-503: Was never as popular as it became in the English-speaking world , although state prison systems were largely in place by the end of the 19th century in most European countries. After the unification of Italy in 1861, the government reformed the repressive and arbitrary prison system they inherited, and modernized and secularized criminal punishment by emphasizing discipline and deterrence. Italy developed an advanced penology under

16899-512: Was never used, due to a series of botched executions and the eventual rise of public disapproval in electrocutions. Lethal injections were first used by Nazi Germany to execute prisoners during World War II . Nazi Germany developed the Action T4 euthanasia program led by Karl Brandt as one method to dispose of Lebensunwertes Leben (" life unworthy of life "). During the war, lethal injections were also administered to children detained at

17030-453: Was the case with the execution of Christopher Newton on May 24, 2007. According to state law, if a physician 's participation in the execution is prohibited for reasons of medical ethics , then the death ruling can be made by the state medical examiner 's office. After confirmation that death has occurred, a coroner signs the condemned's death certificate. Missouri and, before the abolition of capital punishment, Delaware , uses or used

17161-680: Was used as part of a three-drug cocktail for the first time on December 16, 2010, when John David Duty was executed in Oklahoma . It was then used as the drug in a single-drug execution for the first time on March 10, 2011, when Johnnie Baston was executed in Ohio. Lethal injection has also been used in cases of euthanasia to facilitate voluntary death in patients with terminal or chronically painful conditions. Euthanasia can be accomplished either through oral, intravenous, or intramuscular administration of drugs. In individuals who are incapable of swallowing lethal doses of medication, an intravenous route

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