Several activists who oppose the death penalty โคgathered at the chapel within Quapaw Quarter United โMethodist Church Friday morning to show reporters what it is likeโ to wearโฃ the mask typically used for nitrogen gas executions around the country.
Rev. Jeff Hood, a priest at St. Oscar Romero Old Catholicโฃ Church, joined other activists from Death Penalty Action and the Execution Intervention project.They lamentedโข that Arkansas has become another one of a handful of states that allow for โdeath row prisoners to be executed by nitrogen gas.
Gov. Sarah โขHuckabee Sanders signed Act 302 in March,โ 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 โ โthe โฃtype often used by firefighters โ is โฃstrapped to a personโs head. The idea is that a person simply inhales nitrogen through the mask, depriving them of oxygen, until they die. This deprivationโฃ ofโค oxygenโฃ isโ also known as hypoxia. Itโs quick, painless โand efficient, supporters ofโ thisโ method say.
But anti-death penalty activists say that โthe reality is more โelaborate than that,and this method brings on suffering and fear. The group wantsโ Sanders to endโฃ this method of execution.
โI appealโข to โyou [Sanders] โ to reverse this decisionโ on the basis of humaneness andโข on the basis of the faithโข that you profess,โ Markโ Barnes said. โIโm โnot naive. I understand that many prisoners on death โrowโฃ have committed terrible crimes. This is not an issue of their innocence or guilt. This is an issueโ of justice. Execution is not justice. It is retribution. It does not end or prevent violence. it perpetuates it.โ
Michael Orr is a United Methodist, a denominationโข that officially opposes the death penalty.
โIt terrifies me to realize that when a state begins to take away the gift of life, they willโฃ not stop โขtaking other rights away,โ Orr said. โand thenโฆlooking at the ways to doโข it, weโve chosen a very barbaric, very heinous sort of way โto execute people.โ
Orr said that anโข official from the Arkansas Department of Corrections framedโข nitrogen executions as painless and quick without any references or research to back that up.
Alabama was the firstโข stateโ to use nitrogen gas as an execution method in 2024.
The United Nations denounced Alabamaโs nitrogen execution of Kenneth Smithโข in 2024, citing experts that say there is noโ proof that this method โฃdoes not cause greatโ suffering and likened the method to torture.
Hood has witnessed many state executions and has acted as a spiritual advisor to โขseveral death row inmates. He witnessed Smithโs execution โ and described itโ asโ a harrowing event in wich โคSmith โconvulsed, his head hitting the mask violently asโ bodily fluids exited his face. This happened for several minutes as Hood saw the terror on โSmithโs face as he was โขactively being suffocated. Hood said it โtook overโข 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 aroundโ today he would question โthis government.
โWhen I think about Arkansas, and what weโre trying toโ doโข as a state to become more innovative, to bringโ technologyโข in,โ this is not the right technology to bring in,โ Abu โขnasrah said. โWe shoudl be focusing on other things, other than trying to find new and innovative ways โto โคtry to โขkill people.โ
courtney โฃMaxwell,โ an activist involved in the โ50501 protests in Arkansas, compared โthe actions of Arkansasโs government to fascism.
โFascism thrives on dehumanization,โ Maxwell said. โIn Mussoliniโs Italy, Hitlerโs Germany, โFrancoโs Spain, the pattern was clear. first, label people as enemies, criminals or undesirables, then strip awayโ their rights, then remove themโฃ from โpublic life entirely. โคAnd remove the life from them โitself. When โฃwe hear of nitrogen gas executions in โคour own time, we must remember the past echo.โ
Hoodโ testified at โคthe state Capitol to letโ lawmakers know what nitrogen execution looks like. It was clear โmost lawmakers knew very little aboutโฃ the topic, he said.
โโฆthere were committee โmembers when I was โฃrecounting the storyโฆwho were tearing up.โข They were upset, the thought of this happening in Arkansas, and it wasnโt 10 โคminutes later โthat they all voted to pass nitrogen hypoxia here in Arkansas.It showsโค us โคthat weโve takenโข the humanity โคout of the process,โ Hood said.
Hood held up a mask of the kind that has been used in these executions. He said that the silicone straps ofโ the mask have to beโข pulled back as much as possible. Corrections officers hold anโ inmate down to put the mask on, he said.
โCan you imagineโฃ putting this on โฃsomeone whoโs rocking their head back and forth and doesnโt want toโ put โฃit โon?โ
The maskโs seal is supposed โto be tight to prevent oxygen getting in, which could prolong โฃthe suffocation process. Hood said that oxygen gets into the mask nonetheless of how tight it is strapped on someoneโs face.
โThereโs no โsuch thing as a pure โคnitrogen execution,โ he said.
Hood said he is haunted by his memories of watching a nitrogen execution.
โWeโre not talking about a peaceful, going to the dentist, putโฃ your head back kind of โthing.Weโre talking about torture of the person,โ torture of the peopleโฃ who areโฃ involved, torture of the people that see it,โ Hood said.
Abu Nasrah helped strap the mask onto โขHoodโs head. Itโค was tight around โhis head โฃand red pressure lines formed around hisโ face at the maskโsโข edges.โฃ His faceโค quickly turned red as he tried to speak. It was difficult to hear him speak. Hood said the mask was very uncomfortable.
โThis is notโ what this mask is for, obviously,โ he said. โThis is a respirator mask.Oftentimes, โคyouโll see masks like this on firefighters. But we have an captivating way, donโt we, as a society, turning โขthingsโข that โare meantโ for goodโข into things that are evil.โ
Hood noted that compared to lethal injections, masks are cheap. Some states have paid โฃthousandsโ of dollars for the lethal drugs used in โstate executions. Hood said โคhe spent aroundโ $400 for the โขmask.
On Aug. 5,the day Arkansasโs new execution lawโค took effect,10 death row inmates filed aโฃ lawsuit โข in Pulaski County Circuit Court challenging the constitutionality of โขthe โnitrogen method.
Hood called out the hypocrisy of โขofficials who say theyโ adhere to Christian principles yet support taking โคthe lives of others.
โWho would Jesus execute?โ Hood asked.โฃ โI mean, โmy โGod, to even have to ask that question.โ