GEORGIA (USA): LETHAL INJECTION SECRECY BILL WINS APPROVAL

March 26, 2013: The Legislature in Georgia approved keeping secret the identities of the companies that provide drugs for executions even as the Department of Corrections is preparing to destroy its stockpile of 13 vials because it expires this month.
Such information as the expiration date - which was obtained in an open records request by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - could be withheld from the public if Gov. Nathan Deal signs House Bill 122.
The proposed law, which Corrections officials sought, would make the identities of those who make and supply the lethal injection drug a "state secret," which means Georgia would have the discretion to hide the information. The proposed law also makes a state secret the names of prison staff who carry out executions.
For decades, the Georgia has kept the names of security staff secret. It would now shield the names of private doctors the prison system hires to carry out executions. The legislation should make it easier for Georgia to obtain lethal-injection drugs as companies worldwide, in the face of strong criticism from opponents of capital punishment, have either stopped making lethal injection drugs or forbidden such drugs from being used for executions.
Richard Dieter, executive of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, which opposes capital punishment, said states are running out of options because of the politics of the death penalty. "Doing things in secrecy, that's a slippery slope," Dieter said. Sara Totonchi, executive director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, said the legislation that won final passage Tuesday "completely undermines the transparency and accountability of the government's role in the grievous act of extinguishing human life, a role that should be subject to the most stringent public oversight available in the legal system." DOC and the bill's sponsor, Rep. Kevin Tanner, R, said the state needed to shield those who participate in executions from being harassed or ostracized in the community. Tanner, a former Department of Corrections board member, said the companies that supply the drugs "are very reluctant to participate in this process because of harassment and threats." (Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 26/03/2013)