Execution chambers are rooms in prisons where inmates sentenced to death are killed. They may contain an electrified chair, lethal gas equipment, a lethal injection stretcher, or a wooden chair for firing squads. These rooms are found in maximum security sections of prisons and are sometimes called death row. Different methods of execution include lethal gas, lethal injection, electrocution, and firing squad.
An execution chamber is a special room located within the prison walls where inmates sentenced to death are killed. In regions where capital punishment is enforced, execution chambers or death chambers provide a place specifically designed to put a person to death. Execution chambers might contain an electrified chair, lethal gas equipment, or a lethal injection stretcher. In areas that still use firing squads, the execution chamber typically includes a wooden chair for the inmate and portholes for the rifles.
These rooms are commonly found in the maximum security sections of prisons, sometimes called death row. A lethal gas execution chamber consists of an airtight room in which the prisoner is strapped to a metal chair. Steel doors typically lead to a control room and chemical room where plumbing and gas generators are stored. A witness room allows a view of the execution chamber through bulletproof glass.
The gas chamber design remains similar to the first one built in the 1920s. After a prisoner enters the gas chamber, he is tied to a metal chair with restraints attached to his arms, legs and head. A gas canister under the seat of the chair releases hydrogen cyanide gas which suffocates the person sentenced to death. Some areas no longer carry out capital punishment by gas, opting for lethal injection as the more humane method of death.
The execution chambers used for lethal injection are equipped with a stretcher where the prisoner is strapped. The intravenous lines first deliver a saline solution before a three-drug mixture begins flowing through the inmate’s veins. One drug renders the prisoner unconscious, while another produces paralysis, which stops breathing. The final chemical leads to cardiac arrest and death. Death by lethal injection is the most common form of capital punishment.
Electrocution is employed in execution chambers in some areas. These rooms generally contain a wooden chair fixed to a concrete floor and resting on a rubber mat. The prisoner is tied to the chair on his chest and arms. One electrode is attached to the ankle, with another embedded in a headpiece to circulate electricity throughout the body. The electric chair was the most popular form of execution between 1930 and 1980 in the United States.
Death by firing squad is the method of execution used in some regions, including China. The chamber used for firing squads commonly contains portholes where three to six gunmen take aim. The inmate is secured in a chair with a piece of white cloth attached to his chest to provide a clear focus. Sandbags inside the execution chamber absorb any stray bullets and prevent ricocheting.
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