America’s global hunt for execution drugs

Why do executions in the United States keep going wrong?

Last week, Tennessee attempted to carry out the execution of Christa Pike, a convicted murderer who had spent three decades on death row. But the execution did not go as planned: After she was injected with two lethal doses of pentobarbital, Pike remained alive. She was then taken to hospital by ambulance.

This isn’t the first time an American execution hasn’t gone as planned. One reason is that the drugs needed for lethal injection have become increasingly difficult for US prison officials to obtain. Pharmaceutical companies don’t want their medicines used in executions — particularly manufacturers in Europe, where governments have opposed the death penalty for decades.

So, without access to regulated drugs, American prisons have had to improvise — sometimes with horrifying results.

The Global Story’s Tristan Redman speaks with investigative reporter Livvy Haydock about the consequences when the pharmaceutical supply chain refuses to feed the machinery of American executions.

Listen to Livvy’s podcast, Killing Death Row: bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001rjdp

Producers: Mhairi MacKenzie and Cat Farnsworth

Executive producer: Martine Powers

Mix: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

Photo: Christa Pike entering a Knox County Criminal Court in Knoxville, Tennessee in December 2007. Credit: J. Miles Cary/Reuters