Death Row Inmates Often Get Sedatives to Ease Anxiety

Out of the 38 death penalty states in the U.S., at least 19 of them offer condemned inmates sedatives and similar anti-anxiety drugs before execution.

“It helps keep the inmate calm and we think that’s good, not just for the inmate but for the staff as well,” according to Brian Hauswirth, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections.

While giving inmates sedatives doesn’t violate any national ethics guidelines for doctors and nurses who administer the drugs, the practice makes many opponents of the death penalty uneasy.

“Bringing the physician into arm’s reach of the execution chamber lends a veneer of medical respectability to the proceedings,” said Jonathan Groner, a surgeon who is against the death penalty and writes often about lethal injection. “I’m personally wary of this illusion of medical healing for the purpose of killing.

For the last 12 years, death row inmates in 11 states have gotten anti-anxiety drugs or sedatives prior to execution and four death penalty states completely prohibit the use of such medications.

Anti-anxiety drug Ativan and the antihistamine Vistaril, sometimes used as a sedative are the most popular drugs often given to the condemned because they are already on most state’s list of medications available to prisoners.

“A great deal of effort goes into preparing the condemned felon mentally for what he’s about to face,” said Edwin Voorhies, a warden at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. “Our goal is to get them to walk peacefully into that chamber.”

According to federal prosecutor William Schenck, it is humane to offer inmates sedatives and anti-anxiety drugs if they want them.

“There’s no reason to torture anyone or make them go through any kind of terrible anxiety before they’re executed,” said Schenck.

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