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U.S. | 'I comfort death row inmates in their final moments - the execution room is like a house of horrors'

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Reverend Jeff Hood, 40, wants to help condemned inmates 'feel human again' and vows to continue his efforts to befriend murderers in spite of death threats against his family A reverend who has made it his mission to comfort death row inmates in their final days has revealed the '"moral torture" his endeavor entails. Reverend Dr. Jeff Hood, 40, lives with his wife and five children in Little Rock, Arkansas. But away from his normal home life, he can suddenly find himself holding the shoulder of a murderer inside an execution chamber, moments away from the end of their life. 

Shortage of execution drug leaves Mississippi looking for replacement

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Just weeks before Mississippi had back-to-back executions for the 1st time in nearly 50 years, officials were scrambling to find enough sodium thiopental to carry out the sentences.

The executions were carried out as scheduled, but the difficulty in finding sodium thiopental shows Mississippi is not immune from a nationwide shortage of the drug.

State Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said last week the state is looking for a replacement for sodium thiopental, 1 of 3 drugs used in Mississippi's executions.

"We don't have a choice. We're wearing out our options," Epps said.

Hospira Inc., the only U.S. supplier of sodium thiopental, stopped producing it in 2009.

The company recently announced that it won't resume production.

Epps and the Mississippi attorney general's office said last week that state officials are looking for a different drug for executions, but using a new drug creates the potential for a wave of legal challenges to the state's method of execution.

Source: Sun Herald, January 31, 2011
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