Montana’s Execution Chamber Is A Single-Wide Trailer
How Does Montana Actually Execute Someone?
One of the biggest news stories over the past few days has been Christa Pike's failed execution in Tennessee.
And honestly, it’s put an uncomfortable spotlight on something I doubt most of us ever really think about: how exactly does a state execute someone?
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Montana's Execution Chamber Is a Single-Wide Trailer
When it comes to Montana's execution chamber, it doesn't get much more Montanan than a single-wide trailer. That's right, we use a trailer.
A 2016 tour of the chamber at Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge described a rusted, beige trailer from the 1960s that had been converted for executions. There was a broken window, a medical table, a two-way mirror, and a small hidden room where the executioner would administer the drugs.
While Montana still allows the death penalty, executions are incredibly rare. We've only carried out three since 1976, with the most recent being David Thomas Dawson in 2006.
Watching the video of the chamber brings up some pretty strange emotions, mostly because of how unusual the whole thing is. You picture an execution chamber and probably imagine some massive, sterile room inside a prison.
Montana Hasn't Executed Anyone In Nearly 20 Years
In Montana, it's a rundown trailer that's been sitting unused for two decades. And somehow, that little trailer feels a lot more relevant right now after what happened in Tennessee.
If you're unfamiliar with the story, Tennessee tried to execute Pike by lethal injection on September 30. She was given two doses of pentobarbital but survived. She was later taken to a hospital, where she remains in critical condition. Tennessee has suspended its remaining executions for the year while the state investigates what happened.
Montana hasn't executed anyone in nearly 20 years, but that trailer in Deer Lodge is still sitting there as a pretty strange piece of our state's history with the death penalty.
