Tennessee’s new death penalty protocol: What’s different

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tennessee is set to execute the first inmate under its new death penalty protocol next week, and some critics argue the new protocol is worse than before.

“There are several changes that they’ve made that I’m not sure why. The guys aren’t sure why. Words that I heard on Monday night are, ‘it’s just evil,'” Dan Mann, who visits inmates on death row, said.

Tennessee was previously using a three-drug lethal injection series until 2022, when Gov. Bill Lee ordered the TN Dept. of Correction (TDOC) to create a new protocol following an independent report revealing the state wasn’t following the old one.

Under the new protocol, the state will use the single drug, pentobarbital.

Mann told News 2 the new protocol does not provide a way for the public to track the potency of the drug, which is concerning considering the risks and potential side effects.

“This pentobarbital has been described as causing pulmonary edema, which is akin to waterboarding, so literally they have this sense of drowning. Basically, what it is is death by overdose,” Mann said.

While the new protocol includes monthly practice sessions and simulations, the Chief of the Capital Habeas Unit for the Federal Public Defenders Office, Kelley Henry, told News 2 TDOC removed all the drug safeguards, including procurement, transportation, and administration guidelines.

“It was as if they said we got caught breaking the rules, so we’ll just eliminate all the rules, and we’ll be good, and that’s really problematic,” Henry said.

Under the new protocol, executions will take place at 10 a.m. versus 7 p.m. In addition, the inmate will go under death watch, or a strict, 24/7 surveillance period, 14 days prior to their execution, instead of three days.

During the new protocol’s death watch, inmates are only guaranteed legal and religious materials, a pencil, paper, and books.

“If you can imagine for 14 days, every time you go to the bathroom, someone is watching. Every time you do anything, someone is writing it down. It is added mental torture on top of everything else that is happening,” Henry said.

While some argue these inmates deserve the harshest end, others say even those on death row are entitled to human rights.

A group of death row inmates is suing the state over the new protocol. They want the governor to pause executions until the case can go to trial, which is scheduled for Jan. 2026, however, the governor has previously said he has no plans to do that.

Source: wkrn.com, Tori Gessner, May 15, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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