Critics of the electric chair dispute whether the first jolt of electricity reliably induces immediate unconsciousness as proponents often claim. Witness testimony, botched electrocutions (see Willie Francis and Allen Lee Davis), and post-mortem examinations suggest that execution by electric chair is often painful.
Convulsions – An individual on electric chair experiences uncontrollable convulsions. These are so strong that it can cause fractures and dislocations. That's why prisoners are strapped tight on the electric chair before execution.
"The force of the electrical current is so powerful that the prisoner's eyeballs sometimes pop out . . ." Brennan wrote. "The body turns bright red as its temperature rises and the prisoner's flesh swells and his skin stretches to the point of breaking.
A man who survived the electric chair once described what it felt like before he was eventually executed in 1947. In 1945, 16-year-old Willie Francis was sentenced to death as a juvenile offender by the state of Louisiana for the murder of Andrew Thomas - a pharmacy owner who once employed him.
A hairless head and left calf are imperative for the effectiveness of the electric chair, the top of which is usually fitted with a tight cap containing a brass electrode and a sponge moistened with saline solution.
A typical electrocution lasts about two minutes. Electrocution was first adopted in 1888 in New York as a quicker and more humane alternative to hanging.
Those who have witnessed someone die in an electric chair have reported the smell of fried bacon. After the switch is thrown the body begins to cook. Body hair and flesh melts during this process.
If all goes as planned, the entire execution takes about five minutes, with death usually occurring less than two minutes after the final injection. However, botched lethal injections have sometimes required more than two hours to achieve death.
William Francis Kemmler (May 9, 1860 – August 6, 1890) was an American peddler, alcoholic, and murderer, who, in 1890, became the first person in the world to be executed by electric chair.
Large wet sponges were placed between the metal contacts and Daryl's' skin so as to assure that the electricity had as little resistance as possible. The guards sopped up the excess salt water on the floor and put the wet towels into a bucket. This process was done with absolute precision – not a movement wasted.
The same reason they would pull a hood over your head for being hanged, or in some states blindfolded people for the gas chamber. Counter to popular belief, it's not really about stopping you from seeing. It's to keep everybody from looking into your dead eyes, or seeing the contortions of your dead face.
Yes, death by electrocution is painful since the electric current produces involuntary muscle contractions, burns, and ultimately cardiac arrest. Exactly how painful it is depends on how strong the current is and how quickly the person loses consciousness.
The reason for the wet sponge is to channel the electricity into like an electric bullet to the brain. Rendering the person unconscious immediately. Without the wet sponge the execution would be much more painful but wouldn't burn the person alive.
Today US prisons use an alternating current of 2000 volts. Most of us, at one time or another, have seen an electric chair. My experience has been from a wide variety of television and movie plots. The criminal is strapped to the chair and electrodes are placed on the scalp and a calf of one leg.
On May 3, 2023, the family of Joe Nathan James (pictured) sued the state of Alabama for the pain and suffering it caused during his three-hour-long lethal injection in 2022. It is believed to be the longest known execution in U.S. history.
Arguably the most famous event in the history of death by electrocution occurred on August 23, 1927, in a state prison in Charlestown, MA. A jury had convicted Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti of murder and robbery in 1921, but a series of appeals and protests had postponed their deaths for six years.
"It's like a burning cocktail coursing through your veins," says Lubarsky, referring to potassium chloride. "Once it reaches the heart, it stops the heart, and you do die. But in the process there is a period of just intense and searing pain."
The Penal Execution Code specifies that the execution is to be carried out "privately by shooting".
In some medieval societies, a person who survived a death penalty, like hanging, was set free, because it was believed that God intervened in the matter of justice to allow the person to live. However, no society today operates this principle, and a person who survives will promptly be subject to execution again.
What can go wrong during an electrocution? In a 2002 academic paper, Denno documented 19 electrocutions in the previous quarter-century that she described as botched. "Severe burning, boiling body fluids, asphyxiation, and cardiac arrest, can cause extreme pain when unconsciousness is not instantaneous," she wrote.
Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah and South Carolina also permit the method as an alternative to lethal injection. The last person to be executed by a firing squad was convicted killer Ronnie Lee Gardner, according to the group, who was shot to death by a firing squad in a Utah prison in 2010.
Davis was executed on July 8, 1999, via electrocution. His execution was alleged to have been botched, with witnesses reporting that Davis was still alive after the power to Old Sparky was switched off.