This State Is Spending More on Lethal Injections. A Law Tries to Keep the Details Secret.
The post This State Is Spending More on Lethal Injections. A Law Tries to Keep the Details Secret. appeared first on ProPublica .
Georgia is spending more money than ever on lethal injections, with payments exceeding $1.1 million since the COVID-19 pandemic for a single contractor. This is despite the state carrying out only one execution during that time. The Corrections Department has spent an average of over $150,000 annually on these costs over the past decade, far exceeding past expenditures.
Lethal injection secrecy laws allow Georgia to keep these details hidden, shielding the public from the true costs of procurement and administration of the drug cocktails. Legal experts argue that the high costs reflect the inherent problems with the process, which can cause prisoners immense pain. The state has long argued the secrecy law is necessary to protect contractors from harassment.
However, after a recent Supreme Court ruling, Georgia is set to execute its first prisoner in two years on September 16th, raising new questions about the state's secretive lethal injection practices.
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