Execution chamber

The former State of Louisiana execution chamber at the Red Hat Cell Block in the Louisiana State Penitentiary in West Feliciana Parish. The electric chair is a replica of the original.

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 one of the states which allow capital punishment are equipped with a death chamber, but many states rarely put them to use. The sole exception is New Hampshire, which has no execution chamber (although one inmate remains on death row). Kansas, Nevada, Wyoming, and California are the only states to have an execution chamber, which is equipped to execute an inmate by lethal gas, which has never been used, while the states of New Jersey and New York formerly had lethal injection chambers which were never used while 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.[1][2]

Locations of execution chambers in the United States

United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute houses the U.S. federal government execution chamber

Huntsville Unit houses the execution chamber of the State of Texas; it is the most active execution chamber in the United States, with 528 executions between 1982 and 2015.[3]

San Quentin State Prison houses the execution chamber of the State of California

Louisiana State Penitentiary houses the execution chamber of the State of Louisiana

Mississippi State Penitentiary houses the execution chamber of the State of Mississippi

	Execution chamber
Federal	Terre Haute, Indiana (Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute)[4]
Military	Terre Haute, Indiana (Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute)[5]

State	Execution chamber
Alabama	Escambia County (Holman Correctional Facility)[6]
Arizona	Florence (Arizona State Prison Complex - Florence)[7]
Arkansas	Lincoln County (Cummins Unit)[8]
California	Marin County (San Quentin State Prison)[9]
Colorado[a]	Fremont County (Colorado State Penitentiary)[10]
Connecticut[b]	Somers (Osborn Correctional Institution)[11]
Delaware	New Castle County (James T. Vaughn Correctional Center)[12]
Florida	Bradford County (Florida State Prison)[13]
Georgia	Butts County (Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison)[14]
Idaho	Kuna (Idaho Maximum Security Institution)
Illinois[c]	Tamms (Tamms Correctional Center)[15]
Indiana	Michigan City (Indiana State Prison)
Kansas	Lansing (Lansing Correctional Facility)
Kentucky	Eddyville (Kentucky State Penitentiary)[16]
Louisiana	West Feliciana Parish (Louisiana State Penitentiary)[17]
Maryland[d]	Baltimore (Metropolitan Transition Center)[18]
Mississippi	Sunflower County (Mississippi State Penitentiary)[19]
Missouri	Bonne Terre (Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center)
Montana	Powell County (Montana State Prison)
Nebraska	Lincoln (Nebraska State Penitentiary)
Nevada	White Pine County (Ely State Prison)[20]
New Hampshire[e]	Concord (New Hampshire State Prison for Men)
New Jersey[f]	Trenton (New Jersey State Prison)
New Mexico[g]	Santa Fe County (Penitentiary of New Mexico)
New York[h]	Beekman (Green Haven Correctional Facility)[i]
North Carolina	Raleigh (Central Prison)[21]
Ohio	Scioto County (Southern Ohio Correctional Facility)[22]
Oklahoma	McAlester (Oklahoma State Penitentiary)[23]
Oregon	Salem (Oregon State Penitentiary)
Pennsylvania	Benner Township[24][25] (State Correctional Institution - Rockview)[26]
South Carolina	Columbia (Broad River Correctional Institution)[27]
South Dakota	Sioux Falls (South Dakota State Penitentiary)[28]
Tennessee	Nashville (Riverbend Maximum Security Institution)[29]
Texas	Huntsville (Huntsville Unit)[30]
Utah	Draper (Utah State Prison)
Virginia	Greensville County (Greensville Correctional Center)[31][32]
Washington[j]	Walla Walla (Washington State Penitentiary)[33]
Wyoming	Rawlins (Wyoming State Penitentiary)[k]

Notes:

^a Death penalty abolished in 2020. All remaining inmate's death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by Gov. Jared Polis immediately upon abolition.

^b Death penalty abolished in 2012. All remaining inmates death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by the Connecticut Supreme Court in 2015.

^c Death penalty abolished in 2011. All condemned prisoners sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by Gov. Pat Quinn immediately upon abolition.

^d Death penalty abolished in 2013. Remaining inmate's death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by Gov. Martin O'Malley in 2014.

^e Death penalty abolished in 2019; one prisoner remains on death row under sentence of death.[34]

^f Death penalty repealed in 2007.[35]

^g Death penalty abolished in 2009; two prisoners remain on death row under sentences of death.

^h Last death sentence reversed in 2007.

ⁱ Closed in 2008 under David Paterson's administration.[36]

^j Death penalty abolished in 2018. All remaining inmates death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by the Washington Supreme Court immediately upon abolition.

^k 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 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 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 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 the United Kingdom (as several remained unofficially in other prisons), at Wandsworth Prison, was removed in 1994. Salvaged parts from it are currently in the possession of the National Galleries of Justice, having previously been at the HM Prison Service museum.

One of Japan's seven execution chambers is in the Tokyo Detention House

Japan has seven execution chambers used to kill condemned criminals. One is at the Tokyo Detention House. Hanging is Japan's method of execution. The execution chamber in Tokyo has a trap door. As the condemned dies, his or her body falls into a room below the execution chamber, and in that room the death is confirmed.[37] In the Tokyo facility, before the condemned is executed, he or she passes a statue of Amida Nyorai (Amitābha), a Buddhist deity. The execution room in Tokyo is in two sections, with both of them together the size of a 15 tatami mat room (270 square feet or 25 m²).[38]

In Canada, executions were usually carried out in 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 the jail yard although a few jails had permanent indoor facilities

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  Execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison

Execution chamber at Florida State Prison in 1999, set up for electrocution

Same execution chamber at the Florida State Prison, post-1999, set up for lethal injection

• Capital punishment
• Prison