16 March 2017 :

State Has Postassium Chloride Needed for April Double Executions. Arkansas Department of Correction spokesman Solomon Graves said the state has 100 vials of potassium chloride, one of three drugs used in the state's lethal injection protocol. The state's previous supply of the drug had expired in January. "Coupled with the two remaining drugs, there are enough to carry out the scheduled executions," he said. Graves said the latest supply of the drug was received March 8 and expires at the end of August 2018. He did not say who provided the state with its new supply, citing an Arkansas law that keeps the source of its lethal injection drugs secret. The executions are the first to be carried out by the state since 2005. Arkansas is set to execute eight death penalty inmates in the space of 10 days in an effort to use their execution drug supplies before they expire. No state has executed more than two men in a single month in the past 20 years and none has performed eight executions in 10 days, according to the Washington-based nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center. Arkansas has had multiple executions in the past, including triple executions in 1994 and 1997.