Global headlines reflected the anger of death camp survivors and others after The Guardian published documents showing the state planned to return to the use of hydrogen cyanide, a gas associated with what the Nazis called Zyklon B.
The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry has invested thousands of dollars into efforts to refurbish gas chambers for such executions, according to a report in The Guardian.
The Arizona Department of Corrections headquarters in downtown Phoenix.
Reporting from the Guardian has revealed Arizona is refurbishing its gas chamber as the state prepares to resume executions for the first time in seven years.
Arizona put executions on hold in 2014 after the botched execution of Joseph Wood, a process that required 15 doses of a lethal injection cocktail over the course of two hours.
Federal executions conducted in 2020 using the single-drug injection of pentobarbital emboldened states like Arizona to resume their pursuit of the death penalty.
Arizona has now also acquired pentobarbital, but state law requires that prisoners convicted before Nov. 23, 1992, when the state still used a gas chamber, be given the choice between lethal injection and gas.