By Sam Spence, Charleston City Paper | While South Carolina legislators scrambled to find the next-easiest way to kill people sentenced to death by the state, Virginia lawmakers voted Monday to abolish capital punishment.
South Carolina has not executed an inmate in nearly a decade, as the drugs used to perform lethal injections have expired and become difficult for the state to buy. Pharmacists and pharmaceutical companies have been reluctant to prescribe or supply states with the drugs needed to perform lethal injections. South Carolina was one of several states that reportedly had illegally imported drugs used in lethal injections seized by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency as of 2011.
Since then, politicians have tried, but struggled, to find ways to restart executions. A bill filed in the S.C. House in 2018 and Republican candidate for governor Catherine Templeton supported the idea of using a firing squad to kill inmates sentenced to death. Now, a bill advanced by the House Judiciary Committee on Monday would make electrocution the default method of state-sanctioned execution.
Currently, South Carolina criminals sentenced to death can choose to die by lethal injection or electrocution. The state’s “death chamber” is located at Broad River Correctional Institution, about a 13-minute drive from the Statehouse. There are 37 people currently on South Carolina death row.
In Virginia, a state that has executed 113 people — second only to Texas since 1976 and more than twice as many as South Carolina — the Democratic-controlled legislature passed a bill to ban capital punishment on Monday. Gov. Ralph Northam, also a Democrat, is expected to sign it, making Virginia the 23rd state to halt executions.
As lawmakers in the cradle of the Confederacy abolish capital punishment, racial disparities in the state where the Civil War began show Black people are disproportionately likely to receive the death penalty.
“The arbitrary and unreliable nature of capital punishment in South Carolina is only part of the problem,” said Frank Knaack, executive director of ACLU of South Carolina, in a City Paper op-ed published Wednesday. “Capital punishment evolved from lynchings and racial terror, and South Carolina has failed to divorce its modern capital punishment system from this racist history. It remains a racist system.” More: Charleston City Paper.
In other recent news:
Plan to vaccinate teachers stalls. A legislative effort to prioritize teachers for COVID-19 vaccinations has failed to advance out of a House committee, possibly signalling the effort’s doom. The bill attempted to thwart Gov. Henry McMaster and the state health agency, which has prioritized the state’s elderly. Health officials said there wouldn’t be enough vaccine to get all teachers vaccinated and it could delay shots for seniors, risking more hospitalizations. More: The State. Meanwhile, teachers, grocery store employees and other essential workers in South Carolina could be eligible for the coronavirus vaccine in two to three weeks, health officials told lawmakers Tuesday.
S.C. Senate passes COVID liability protection bill. A bill that would prevent lawsuits against businesses and other groups by people who contract COVID-19 as long as federal and state health guidelines were being followed passed the South Carolina Senate on Thursday. More: Associated Press.
Senate approves borrowing $550M for port. After four days of debate, South Carolina senators on Wednesday voted 45-1 on a proposal to borrow up to $550 million to expand the port in Charleston with more railroads and a barge that could carry cargo from one terminal to another. More: Associated Press.
S.C. looks at medical marijuana … again. For seven years, South Carolina lawmakers have mulled allowing medical use of marijuana in the state. The effort has been led by GOP Sen. Tom Davis of Beaufort, and — like every year before — he feels like this year will be the year the Legislature finally passes the Compassionate Care Act. More. WSAV.
S.C. DOT’s new program aims to improve transit alternatives in state. The state Department of Transportation answered a growing call for the transit leader to adopt a wide-ranging “Complete Streets” policy for state-owned roadways to alleviate fatality rates for pedestrians and cyclists. More: Charleston City Paper
McCoy steps down as S.C.’s U.S. attorney. U.S. Attorney Peter McCoy, South Carolina’s top federal prosecutor, submitted his resignation letter to President Joe Biden Monday. Prior to his appointment by President Donald Trump, James Island resident McCoy chaired the S.C. House Judiciary Committee. Source: Associated Press.
S.C. House considers ban on trans students in girls’ sports. S.C. House members spent more than an hour Tuesday listening to testimony on a bill that would prevent transgender students from playing on girls’ sports teams in middle and high school. More: Charleston City Paper.
Poem commemorates S.C.’s Confederate flag move. South Carolina native Nikky Finney released a poem about what it means to stop flying a flag, specifically the Confederate flag that flew in front of the South Carolina Statehouse. The flag was moved in 2015. “A New Day Dawns” was first released in 2015, but the poem this week was selected for The New York Times Magazine. More: The New York Times.
Spartanburg lawmaker files bill for ‘free speech’. First-term Republican state Sen. Josh Kimbrell from Spartanburg has introduced a bill modeled after Florida legislation to rein in social media giants that disable the voices of some conservatives. More: Spartanburg Herald-Journal.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!
This is a good time to have a statewide discussion about the death penalty. All citizens need to get involved in the discussion and then be able to make some changes, or not in our criminal justice system. As time has moved on, some of us(lots of us) see things differently, more clearly. I am a staunch conservative but I feel differently about “as your article says”the easiest way to kill people sentenced to death” in SC.” than I did years ago. In light of all the upheavel and chaos in our country in the last few years, I have begun to question if our system is “just”.
I remember as a child the males in the stripped clothing clearing the brush along the roadsides and even along the sides of ponds and lakes. I remember the chains and balls they drug around. I remember the males in charge with the shotguns walking with them. I didn’t know the What, When and How of all of it. I learned later that things got out of hand and went too far many times in the mistreatment of the prisoners. But the fact is that behind bars is a quick way to meet an untimely death also. Plus if a person that is caught with something illegal, as in marijuana, he shouldn’t be put for any length of time with a murderer. I don’t know what the answer is but I’d like to see serious concern and action on the part of our state in dealing with the current situation.