TDCJ Re-Fills Drug Supply

Those on the docket to die by the state’s hand this next month will now face no inventorial shortfall. Wednesday afternoon, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice confirmed that it has procured enough pentobarbital to execute every death row inmate on its docket through April.

Questions concerning the TDCJ’s ability to execute those standing on death row have been under the spotlight of late, as the state’s supply of pentobarbital – a sedative used by many states that exercise the death penalty – has grown steadily lower. Before this week’s replenishing, Texas only had enough pentobarbital for one more execution, scheduled now for Kent Sprouse, convicted of capital murder (for killing a Ferris police officer) in Feb. 2004.

But the state has five additional executions on its docket, which extends through Gregory Russeau’s scheduled execution on June 18, and as of last week was showing no signs as to where it would be able to scrape together enough drugs. Lundbeck, the Danish manufacturer of pentobarbital, outlawed its sale to American pharmacies in 2011 after learning that states were using it for executions (a practice Denmark abolished in 1993). Since Sept. 2013, the state has received its supply from unidentified compounding pharmacies, with the last nine concoctions all coming from one location.

On Wednesday, TDCJ public information manager Jason Clark confirmed that the new stock of pentobarbital comes from “a licensed pharmacy that has the ability to compound.” Clark did not release information related to how the state plans to execute those scheduled after April.

While concerns mount as to the morality of using unknown compound drugs for executions, it may turn out that Texas is finding better options amidst this drought than other states. On Monday, Utah passed a bill allowing for the use of firing squads if no other lethal injection drugs are available.