Since 1977, lethal injection has been the method for executing Texas criminals sentenced to death.
The Huntsville Unit is the location of the State of Texas execution chamber. The TDCJ houses male death row inmates in the Polunsky Unit and female death row inmates in the Mountain View Unit.
Find more fact sheets and resources on the death penalty in Texas here. The State of Texas has executed 583 people since 1982. Of these, 279 occurred during the administration of Texas Governor Rick Perry (2001-2014), more than any other governor in U.S. history. The State executed five people in 2022.
The primary means of execution in the U.S. have been hanging, electrocution, the gas chamber, firing squad, and lethal injection. The Supreme Court has never found a method of execution to be unconstitutional, though some methods have been declared unconstitutional by state courts.
In Texas, capital murder is the only felony that is eligible for the death penalty. Section 19.03 of the Texas Penal Code describes some instances that may be classified as capital murder such as: The murder of a police officer or fireman while acting in an official capacity.
A study conducted in 1993 attempted to measure pain during different forms of execution. It concluded that firing squad was one of the least painful methods — but because the study assumed that the executions went smoothly, it said the same of lethal injection.
Botched executions are “those involving unanticipated problems or delays that caused, at least arguably, unnecessary agony for the prisoner or that reflect gross incompetence of the executioner.” Examples of such problems include, among other things, inmates catching fire while being electrocuted, being strangled ...
Texas offenders have always had the opportunity to have five witnesses at their execution. The only prerequisite is that they must choose their witnesses from their approved visitation list, which means the witnesses, can be anyone including immediate family, friends, and a spiritual advisor.
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, six women have been executed in Texas since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, more than any other state, according to Death Penalty Information Center.
As of 2022, the only places that still reserve the electric chair as an option for execution are the U.S. states of Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Lethal injection avoids many of the unpleasant effects of other forms of execution: bodily mutilation and bleeding due to decapitation, smell of burning flesh in electrocution, disturbing sights or sounds in lethal gassing and hanging, the problem of involuntary defecation and urination.
In Texas, one death penalty case costs the state about 2.3 million dollars. This is three times higher than what it would cost to imprison one inmate in the highest security prison cell available for 40 years.
The last execution carried out in Texas via firing squad was for the crime of desertion, and it took place in August of 1864, so there's not exactly a long tradition in this state for the method. Before outlawing all methods besides lethal injection, we favored hanging and electrocution.
Typically, three drugs are used in lethal injection. Pancuronium bromide (Pavulon) is used to cause muscle paralysis and respiratory arrest, potassium chloride to stop the heart, and midazolam for sedation.
History of Death Row executions in Texas
According to the TDCJ, the most recent execution was Feb. 9, 2023.
3pm - Head shave for the electric chair
If a prisoner is being executed by electric chair, now is the time they will usually have their head shaved. This is so the electrical current can pass easily through the inmate's body. The condemned man or woman can then spend more time with the chaplain.
As for the execution itself, the prisoner must first be prepared for execution by shaving the head and the calf of one leg. This permits better contact between the skin and the electrodes which must be attached to the body. The prisoner is strapped into the electric chair at the wrists, waist, and ankles.
Hours before execution, the prisoner will have their final meal. Then return to death watch to wait for the courts to issue their final decisions on any pending legal appeals. Prison guards and execution team members arrive and get in place.
Texas leads the nation in executions, having put 574 inmates to death since 1976. On average, Texas executes 12 inmates annually, over four times more than the second-most state. Several factors lead to the higher use of the death penalty in Texas.
In China, where numbers remain a state secret, thousands of people are believed to be executed and sentenced to death each year. As our chart shows, Iran comes second only after China with at least 576 people known to have been executed in 2022, up 55 percent from the year.
Wenceslao Moguel Herrera (c. 1890 – 29 July 1976), known in the press as El Fusilado (Spanish: "The Shot One"), was a Mexican soldier under Pancho Villa who was captured on March 18, 1915 during the Mexican Revolution, and survived execution by firing squad.
Firing-squad execution was the most common way to carry out a death sentence in Mexico, especially during the Mexican Revolution and the Cristero War. An example of that is in the attempted execution of Wenseslao Moguel, who survived being shot ten times—once at point-blank range—because he fought under Pancho Villa.