41 min

What I should have told Kenny - the first nitrogen hypoxia execution Exit Podcast - The Good Death

    • Society & Culture

The first execution of a prisoner, Kenny Smith, using nitrogen hypoxia, took place in the US state of Alabama on 25 Jan 2024. A few weeks earlier I had visited Holman prison to inspect the new equipment they planned to use, and met Kenny on death row with his lawyer Robert Grass. I gave evidence at a hearing in Montgomery a week later in an attempt to stop the execution. Kenny died, but accounts of a slow grotesque death were horrible. When I talked with him I should have explained how he could have made his death fast, peaceful and effective.

The first execution of a prisoner, Kenny Smith, using nitrogen hypoxia, took place in the US state of Alabama on 25 Jan 2024. A few weeks earlier I had visited Holman prison to inspect the new equipment they planned to use, and met Kenny on death row with his lawyer Robert Grass. I gave evidence at a hearing in Montgomery a week later in an attempt to stop the execution. Kenny died, but accounts of a slow grotesque death were horrible. When I talked with him I should have explained how he could have made his death fast, peaceful and effective.

41 min

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