Judge orders Tennessee to expand media access to executions

A judge ordered Tennessee prison officials to allow wider media access to state-run executions amid a lawsuit claiming that the current protocols unconstitutionally limit journalistic coverage.

The October lawsuit, filed by a coalition of news organizations including The Associated Press, claimed that not allowing reporters to witness lethal injections under the existing protocols violates “the public and press’s statutory and constitutional rights to witness the entirety of executions conducted by the Tennessee Department of Correction, from the time the condemned enters the execution chamber until after the condemned is declared dead.”

“This lack of access has limited the public’s ability to obtain information from independent observers about execution proceedings in Tennessee,” the lawsuit said.

The original lawsuit cited the case of the execution of Byron Black, when the curtains allegedly remained open just for 10 minutes. It claimed that “media witnesses had no access to that stage of the proceeding to independently report on it, leaving the public with no account from a neutral observer.” The following autopsy revealed that Black suffered pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs) during the execution, which likely led to feelings of panic and asphyxiation.

Prison officials claimed that allowing such media access would put prison security, as well as people in charge of the process, in danger. They also referenced the First Amendment, which does not grant the press greater access to information not regularly available to the public.

Previously, media members were given a 10 to 15-minute window to witness the execution process. They would be able to observe what happens once the person is already strapped to a gurney, yet they wouldn’t know when the injection begins or see those administering the injections.

Now, Chancellor I’Ashea L. Myles granted a temporary injunction that will allow media representatives and other witnesses to see most of the execution – of course, with security procedures in place, AP reports.

Under the order, members of the execution team will have to wear a disposable protective suit covering their uniform, identification badge, and hair. They can also wear an optional mask to further conceal their identities.

Visual access to the execution chamber should be granted at 10 a.m. (when most procedures begin), and curtains shall remain open until the pronouncement of death.

“This Court finds that a meaningful and full observation of executions allows the public to assess whether the state carries out death sentences in a lawful and humane manner and ensures that the execution process remains subject to democratic oversight,” the judge wrote, according to AP.