Prison Blues

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/oklahoma-halt-executions-supreme-court-drug-review-28489823
Oklahoma may put three executions of prisoners on hold until the Supreme Court rules on a case concerning the drugs used to put criminals to death. Lethal injection is a three stage process that uses three different drugs to first sedate the prisoner, then paralyze them, and finally stop their heart. The issue is with the sedative, midazolam. The three inmates whose execution may be halted, along with a fourth who has since been put to death, sued the state over concerns that the sedative would not prevent their suffering during the procedure. These concerned were raised after Oklahoma used midazolam for the first time in an execution which ended with the prisoner dying painfully 43 minutes after the lethal drugs were administered. The government is still investigating the drug, so any executions may be halted until a substitute is found.

I could get into whether death or a life sentence is worse and whether or not death is actually too good for our worst criminals, but that's not what this is about. I think people who do get lethal injection shouldn't have to suffer horribly during the procedure. We're not barbarians. This is not the medieval ages where people were killed by being drawn and quartered. If we kill people in cruel and awful ways, we're no better than the criminals. We are no more humane. Some people might see criminals suffering as justice or something they deserve, but then we're getting into revenge which doesn't solve the problem. Hopefully the Supreme Court will get this fixed if there is, in fact, a problem with the drugs.