Letter from Corrections Professionals on South Carolina's Death Penalty

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The Honorable Henry McMaster
Office of the Governor
South Carolina Statehouse

1100 Gervais Street

Columbia, South Carolina 29201

Dear Governor McMaster and South Carolina Lawmakers,

As former corrections professionals and administrators, we urge you to stop executions in South Carolina.

Since September 20, 2024, South Carolina has executed 7 people--three of whom were executed by firing squad. We fear that the resumption of executions will have a lasting impact on the lives of the personnel who are asked to carry them out. The psychological toll of carrying out a death sentence (especially for South Carolina corrections officers) is well-documented. Those of us who have participated in executions have experienced the trauma first-hand, while others of us have heard reports from colleagues and in the media about the toll it has taken on our fellow corrections professionals. In particular, botched executions can have a devastating and traumatic impact on those asked to carry out executions.

An execution is a difficult process, and human error and other complications pose serious constitutional problems in addition to increasing the trauma for everyone involved if something goes wrong. Documented problems carrying out executions in multiple states over the past several years (including SC's botched firing squad execution of Mikal Mahdi) show that this is a real risk, regardless of the method of execution.

We also have years of experience ensuring the safety of staff, visitors, and prisoners inside the walls of our prisons. We are able to identify what programs actually improve safety and our professional experience has shown us that the death penalty does not contribute to safer prisons. It is a drain on limited resources that could be better used on measures that actually improve the safety of everyone who works or resides inside our prisons.

We hope you will consider pausing executions to ensure the safety and wellbeing of corrections professionals in South Carolina and invest our limited tax dollars in more effective public safety measures.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned*

*Names listed alphabetically. Titles are for identification purposes only.

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