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24-545: The Varner Unit Supermax houses male inmates scheduled for execution in Arkansas , currently performed by lethal injection . The actual executions take place at the nearby Cummins Unit . The female death row is located at the McPherson Unit . Varner is one of the state of Arkansas's "parent units" for male prisoners; it serves as one of several units of initial assignment for processed male prisoners. The Varner Unit

48-567: A daughter, Shelby, in December 1994. The couple moved to Sherwood, Arkansas , where her mother lived, in 1995, and Christina Riggs got a job there at Baptist Hospital. Christina and Jon Riggs divorced after she said he struck Justin in the stomach. Riggs's children were killed in their beds at the family's home in Sherwood. Riggs had planned to give the children a combination of injectable potassium chloride , amitriptyline sedative pills, and

72-569: A defense in the penalty phase. She waived her appeals and was executed by lethal injection less than two years after her convictions. She was the first woman to be executed in Arkansas since 1845. Riggs was born Christina Marie Thomas in Lawton, Oklahoma , and she grew up in Oklahoma City . She said she was sexually abused as a child, and she began using alcohol, tobacco and marijuana by

96-636: A suitable vein in his arm. The curtain over the witness area was not drawn, and witnesses heard Rector moan loudly eight times. State officials attributed the difficulties to his size and use of antipsychotic medication. The execution of Christina Marie Riggs faced similar delays on May 2, 2000, when staff were unable to locate a vein in her elbow. They eventually found one in her wrist. There have been at least three death penalty volunteers in Arkansas: Ronald Gene Simmons , Christina Marie Riggs , and Clay King Smith . In April 2017,

120-486: Is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Arkansas . Since 1820, a total of 505 individuals have been executed. According to the Arkansas Department of Correction , as of September, 10 2024, a total of 26 men were under a sentence of death in the state. All but four executions carried out before 1913 were by hanging . Four guerillas were shot on July 29, 1864. On July 25, 1902, seven men were hanged,

144-537: The Cummins Unit . The following are capital crimes in Arkansas: Male death row inmates are located at the Arkansas Department of Correction Varner Unit 's Supermax , while the executions are performed at the Cummins Unit , adjacent to Varner. The female death row is located at the McPherson Unit . In 1999 the female death row was newly inaugurated. In 1974, male death row inmates previously at

168-910: The Tucker Unit , were moved to the Cummins Unit. In 1986, male death row inmates were moved to the Maximum Security Unit . On Friday August 22, 2003, all 39 Arkansas death row inmates, all of them male, were moved to the Supermax at the Varner Unit. Christina Marie Riggs Christina Marie Riggs (September 2, 1971 – May 2, 2000) was convicted of the November 1997 murders of her two children, Justin Dalton Thomas (age 5) and Shelby Alexis Riggs (age 2). Riggs

192-514: The Arkansas Board of Pardons and Paroles. The method of execution is lethal injection . Anyone sentenced to death before July 4, 1983 can choose between lethal injection and electrocution , however, currently there aren't any death row inmates that were sentenced before the aforementioned date. If lethal injection is ever ruled unconstitutional, electrocution shall be used to replace it. Executions in Arkansas are currently performed at

216-533: The age of 14. She became pregnant for the first time at age 16; she gave the child up for adoption. After finishing high school, Riggs became a licensed practical nurse and worked in home health nursing and for a Veterans Administration hospital. Riggs became pregnant with her son Justin in 1991. The child's father was not involved in their lives, but before Justin was born in June 1992, she began dating Jon Riggs. Christina and Jon Riggs married in 1993, and they had

240-441: The facility the " Gladiator School." On Friday August 22, 2003, all 39 Arkansas death row inmates were moved from the Maximum Security Unit to the Supermax at the Varner Unit. In 2011, a fight among prisoners and correctional officers led to injuries among correctional officers. During 2004/2005, ADC installed an electric fence between two non-electric fences in the Varner Unit. It received testing in late December 2004 and

264-463: The four inmates put to death in April 2017 was serial killer Kenneth Williams , who was found guilty of murdering a farmer during his prison escape and sentenced to death; Williams was also convicted of two more murders but was given two life sentences for these other killings. Williams, whose death sentence was carried out on April 27, 2017, remains the last person executed in Arkansas as of 2024. When

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288-517: The injectable pain medication morphine . She obtained the amitriptyline from a local pharmacy, and she stole the morphine and potassium chloride from the hospital where she worked. Riggs injected the potassium chloride into Justin first, and the undiluted medication caused a great deal of burning in his veins but did not kill him. She tried to inject him with morphine to ease his pain, but it did not help, so she smothered him to death. She smothered her daughter Shelby, without injecting her, after seeing

312-402: The most executions in one day in the state. Almost all executions were for crimes that involved murder. A number of people were also executed for rape and there was one execution for espionage , 17-year-old alleged Confederate spy David O. Dodd , hanged by Union soldiers on January 8, 1864. In 1913, the method used was changed to the electric chair . The electric chair was constructed from

336-457: The pain that the potassium caused Justin. She laid the children on her bed, covered them with a blanket, and wrote suicide notes . She then attempted suicide by taking 28 amitriptyline pills and injecting herself with undiluted potassium chloride. Nineteen hours later, Riggs's mother discovered her unconscious on the floor of her home. At her June 1998 trial, Riggs contended she was not guilty by reason of insanity, due to depression as well as

360-410: The prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and must be unanimous. In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a life sentence is issued, even if a single juror opposed death (there is no retrial). The Governor of Arkansas has the power of clemency with respect to death sentences. The governor receives for that purpose a non-binding report from

384-563: The state planned to execute eight death row inmates before the stocks of the sedative midazolam expired at the end of April, but ultimately only four were put to death that month. A federal judge initially issued an injunction preventing the executions, but the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ruling and the United States Supreme Court rejected a claim that the accelerated execution schedule

408-401: The trauma that came from working as a nurse near the site of the Oklahoma City bombing . Prosecutors said Riggs committed the murders out of hatred for her children. The Pulaski County jury convicted her. During the sentencing phase, Riggs prevented her attorneys from putting on a defense, saying she wanted to be executed. She later convinced the court to allow her to drop her appeals. Riggs

432-511: The wood that had previously made up the state gallows . This electric chair would be used for all electrocutions up until 1964. Four more people were hanged in the state — one in 1913, two in 1914 and one in 1930. The last execution in the state before Furman v. Georgia was that of Charles Fields on January 24, 1964 for rape. New capital punishment laws were passed in Arkansas and came into force on March 23, 1973. The first execution would not come until June 18, 1990 when John Edward Swindler

456-484: Was "cruel and unusual punishment." On April 20, at about 11:30 PM CST, they were allowed to proceed. At 11:56 PM CST, four minutes prior to the expiration of his execution warrant, Ledell Lee was executed, making him the first inmate in Arkansas to be executed since 2005. On April 24, Jack Harold Jones and Marcel Williams were executed, the first double execution in the United States in 17 years. The last of

480-405: Was a licensed practical nurse , and she planned to kill the children with injections of drugs she obtained from her hospital. When she injected her son with potassium chloride , it caused pain but not death, so she smothered both children to death, then attempted suicide . Defense attorneys mentioned Riggs's depression and post-traumatic stress disorder during her trial, but Riggs did not put up

504-981: Was activated in January 2005. The system used inmate labor to assist with the construction of the fence. The property is in Choctaw Township. Varner houses a vegetable processing plant. The main campus of the Riverside Vocational Technical School is located behind the Varner Unit. In 2011, a campus of the Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary was established in the prison. Death row: Non-death row 34°02′32″N 91°36′27″W  /  34.04222°N 91.60750°W  / 34.04222; -91.60750 Capital punishment in Arkansas Capital punishment

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528-483: Was electrocuted. His was the first and so far only execution using an electric chair constructed by the state in the 1970s. According to Michael L. Radelet of the University of Colorado there have been two instances of executions that did not go according to plan in Arkansas since Furman . On January 24, 1992 the execution of Ricky Ray Rector was delayed by fifty minutes after the medical staff were unable to find

552-416: Was held at the McPherson Unit , which included the female death row, until her execution. The Arkansas execution chamber is located at the Cummins Unit . On Sunday, April 30, 2000, Riggs was flown from McPherson to Cummins in preparation for her execution. She was executed at 9:28 pm Central Daylight Time on May 2, 2000. Riggs was the fifth woman executed in the United States since the reinstatement of

576-530: Was opened in 1987 with 300 beds, and its capacity was soon increased to 700 beds. Further construction has brought the total capacity to over 1,600 prisoners. The supermax units opened in 2000, and federal grants paid 90% of the construction costs. At one time the State of Arkansas housed all young male offenders in the state prison system in Varner. While this was the case, Correction Officers and prisoners nicknamed

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