In response to last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Murphy v. Collier (see prior posting), the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has changed its execution protocol. According to UPI, under the new rules only security personnel may be in the execution chamber while an inmate’s execution is carried out. No chaplains are permitted. Official prison chaplains will be available to inmates until they are taken to the execution chamber. Any spiritual adviser will be able to observe the execution from the witness room. Justice Kavanaugh’s opinion last week indicated that this would be one permissible option to avoid denominational discrimination.
