AP and Texas Tribune report that Texas prisons will now allow any inmate being executed to have his personal religious adviser with him in the execution chamber so long as the adviser is verified and passes a background check. This change in policy follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s questioning of earlier Texas policies which first limited inmates to having the prison’s Christian chaplain and then excluded all spiritual advisors. (See prior posting.) The policy change was signed on Wednesday by director of the Correctional Institutions Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]
