Several activists who oppose the death penalty gathered at the chapel within Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church Friday morning to show reporters what it is like to wear the mask typically used for nitrogen gas executions around the country.
Rev. Jeff Hood, a priest at St. Oscar Romero Old Catholic Church, joined other activists from Death Penalty Action and the Execution Intervention project.They lamented that Arkansas has become another one of a handful of states that allow for death row prisoners to be executed by nitrogen gas.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Act 302 in March, and it whent into effect Aug. 5.
With the new law, Arkansas joins Louisiana, alabama, Oklahoma and Mississippi in legalizing the use of this method of execution. During a nitrogen gas execution, a respirator mask — the type often used by firefighters — is strapped to a person’s head. The idea is that a person simply inhales nitrogen through the mask, depriving them of oxygen, until they die. This deprivation of oxygen is also known as hypoxia. It’s quick, painless and efficient, supporters of this method say.
But anti-death penalty activists say that the reality is more elaborate than that,and this method brings on suffering and fear. The group wants Sanders to end this method of execution.
“I appeal to you [Sanders] to reverse this decision on the basis of humaneness and on the basis of the faith that you profess,” Mark Barnes said. “I’m not naive. I understand that many prisoners on death row have committed terrible crimes. This is not an issue of their innocence or guilt. This is an issue of justice. Execution is not justice. It is retribution. It does not end or prevent violence. it perpetuates it.”
Michael Orr is a United Methodist, a denomination that officially opposes the death penalty.
“It terrifies me to realize that when a state begins to take away the gift of life, they will not stop taking other rights away,” Orr said. “and then…looking at the ways to do it, we’ve chosen a very barbaric, very heinous sort of way to execute people.”
Orr said that an official from the Arkansas Department of Corrections framed nitrogen executions as painless and quick without any references or research to back that up.
Alabama was the first state to use nitrogen gas as an execution method in 2024.
The United Nations denounced Alabama’s nitrogen execution of Kenneth Smith in 2024, citing experts that say there is no proof that this method does not cause great suffering and likened the method to torture.
Hood has witnessed many state executions and has acted as a spiritual advisor to several death row inmates. He witnessed Smith’s execution and described it as a harrowing event in wich Smith convulsed, his head hitting the mask violently as bodily fluids exited his face. This happened for several minutes as Hood saw the terror on Smith’s face as he was actively being suffocated. Hood said it took over 20 minutes for Smith to actually die.
Ebrahim Abu Nasrah, a local activist, said that Jesus was about love, compassion and forgiveness, and that if he were around today he would question this government.
“When I think about Arkansas, and what we’re trying to do as a state to become more innovative, to bring technology in, this is not the right technology to bring in,” Abu nasrah said. “We shoudl be focusing on other things, other than trying to find new and innovative ways to try to kill people.”
courtney Maxwell, an activist involved in the 50501 protests in Arkansas, compared the actions of Arkansas’s government to fascism.
“Fascism thrives on dehumanization,” Maxwell said. “In Mussolini’s Italy, Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, the pattern was clear. first, label people as enemies, criminals or undesirables, then strip away their rights, then remove them from public life entirely. And remove the life from them itself. When we hear of nitrogen gas executions in our own time, we must remember the past echo.”
Hood testified at the state Capitol to let lawmakers know what nitrogen execution looks like. It was clear most lawmakers knew very little about the topic, he said.
“…there were committee members when I was recounting the story…who were tearing up. They were upset, the thought of this happening in Arkansas, and it wasn’t 10 minutes later that they all voted to pass nitrogen hypoxia here in Arkansas.It shows us that we’ve taken the humanity out of the process,” Hood said.
Hood held up a mask of the kind that has been used in these executions. He said that the silicone straps of the mask have to be pulled back as much as possible. Corrections officers hold an inmate down to put the mask on, he said.
“Can you imagine putting this on someone who’s rocking their head back and forth and doesn’t want to put it on?”
The mask’s seal is supposed to be tight to prevent oxygen getting in, which could prolong the suffocation process. Hood said that oxygen gets into the mask nonetheless of how tight it is strapped on someone’s face.
“There’s no such thing as a pure nitrogen execution,” he said.
Hood said he is haunted by his memories of watching a nitrogen execution.
“We’re not talking about a peaceful, going to the dentist, put your head back kind of thing.We’re talking about torture of the person, torture of the people who are involved, torture of the people that see it,” Hood said.
Abu Nasrah helped strap the mask onto Hood’s head. It was tight around his head and red pressure lines formed around his face at the mask’s edges. His face quickly turned red as he tried to speak. It was difficult to hear him speak. Hood said the mask was very uncomfortable.
“This is not what this mask is for, obviously,” he said. “This is a respirator mask.Oftentimes, you’ll see masks like this on firefighters. But we have an captivating way, don’t we, as a society, turning things that are meant for good into things that are evil.”
Hood noted that compared to lethal injections, masks are cheap. Some states have paid thousands of dollars for the lethal drugs used in state executions. Hood said he spent around $400 for the mask.
On Aug. 5,the day Arkansas’s new execution law took effect,10 death row inmates filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court challenging the constitutionality of the nitrogen method.
Hood called out the hypocrisy of officials who say they adhere to Christian principles yet support taking the lives of others.
“Who would Jesus execute?” Hood asked. “I mean, my God, to even have to ask that question.”
