Indiana’s new prison already equipped for firing squads

Correction officials confirmed Westville can accommodate firing squad executions as lawmakers, the governor, and the U.S. Justice Department push for changes to protocols.

As Indiana inches toward what could be its fourth state execution since resuming capital punishment, prison officials confirmed the state’s next correctional complex is already equipped for an execution method Hoosier lawmakers have yet to authorize.

The Indiana Department of Correction confirmed to the Indiana Capital Chronicle that the new Westville Correctional Facility, now nearing completion, is designed to accommodate both lethal injection and firing squad executions. Indiana law currently allows only lethal injection.

A DOC spokesperson declined to provide additional details about the facility or its design, citing security concerns and non-public prison blueprints.

The development comes as national death penalty policy increasingly converges in Indiana—and as federal officials lean on the Hoosier State for more flexibility. 

The Trump administration earlier this year adopted firing squads as an authorized federal execution method and directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to study whether the nation’s federal execution facility should remain centered in Indiana or expand to another state that already permits additional execution methods.

An attempt to authorize a firing squad alongside lethal injection was unsuccessful at the Statehouse earlier this year, but Indiana lawmakers are expected to revive the legislation in January.

That change could affect state executions and shape the federal government’s long-term planning.

Federal executions are carried out at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, and federal law generally ties execution methods to those authorized by the state where a death sentence is imposed or carried out.

Five states—Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, and South Carolina—currently authorize the use of firing squads. Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee additionally have laws allowing firing squads if other methods are found unconstitutional.

“In a state like Indiana … the federal government is more limited because of this state’s statute on allowed methods of the death penalty,” said Zachary Cormier, an assistant professor at Indiana University’s Robert H. McKinney School of Law. “But even if Indiana would authorize the execution by firing squad … I don’t think it’s going anywhere fast because there are so many procedural hiccups yet that I think court questions would tie this up.”

Jody Madeira, a professor at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law in Bloomington, said that while “it’s foreseeable that sometime in the future, we might have firing squads legalized in the state for the death penalty,” the Westville designs “raise oversight questions” about procurement and public notice—and whether plans assume future legislation.

Before Hoosier lawmakers return to the Statehouse, however, Indiana could first carry out another execution under its existing lethal injection protocol.

Attorney General Todd Rokita is awaiting a decision from the Indiana Supreme Court on his request to set an execution date for death row inmate Jeffrey Weisheit, convicted in the 2010 killings of two Vanderburgh County children. If the court grants that request, DOC spokeswoman Noelle Russell said the execution would be carried out by lethal injection at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. Five inmates, including Weisheit, remain on Indiana’s death row, but only four are currently considered competent for execution.

But the state will still need to acquire the necessary drugs to do so.

Newly released DOC records obtained by the Capital Chronicle show Indiana currently possesses no pentobarbital — the drug used in the state’s three most recent executions — or any other execution drugs. 

The agency’s execution drug log has not changed since October 2025, when records showed Indiana’s remaining supply had been exhausted following the execution of Roy Lee Ward.

Braun said Thursday he remains confident Indiana will be able to obtain pentobarbital if the state’s high court authorizes another execution — but he acknowledged that getting the drug remains difficult and expensive.

“We’ve been able to do it, but … it’s not an open, transparent process,” Braun said. “It’s kind of something you [have] to really be careful at, which begs the question, why should you be dependent on [lethal injection]?”

“That isn’t the way it should work,” he continued, referring to procurement of execution drugs. “So, I think that does beg some type of study or legislative look.”

Ongoing policy debate

Indiana resumed executions in December 2024 with the execution of Joseph Corcoran, ending a yearslong pause in large part brought on by a struggle to obtain execution drugs. The state later executed Benjamin Ritchie in May 2025 and Ward that October.

Public records previously obtained by the Capital Chronicle showed the state has spent at least $1.275 million acquiring pentobarbital since resuming executions.

Asked whether Indiana would have the drugs necessary to carry out Weisheit’s execution, Braun said he believes the state will be able to obtain them.

“I do, whenever a date’s set, I do,” Braun said. “But we’re careful at it, because I’ve had to do it twice. The prior administration, remember, bought three at a time … they weren’t good on the shelf anymore. That isn’t the way it should work.”

Braun said, too, that lawmakers “ought to take a look” at alternative execution methods.

That debate played out during this year’s legislative session, when lawmakers considered expanding Indiana’s execution statute for the first time in decades.

Legislation authored by Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, would have added firing squads as an authorized method of execution in Indiana, alongside lethal injection. The proposal failed in a narrow mid-session vote in the House after lawmakers stripped a separate provision that also would have authorized nitrogen hypoxia.

Lucas said he intends to bring the legislation back when the General Assembly reconvenes in 2027.

“I think last year, there were a lot of things my colleagues were unaware of,” Lucas said. “And I think the center of the argument became whether the death penalty is right or wrong. Well, that’s not in question. … We need to focus on the methods.”

He said he plans to spend the coming months educating other legislators with “all the facts” about a firing squad option.

“I’m going to do my homework a little bit more and find out that sweet spot that other states have landed on, and that the courts have already proven is acceptable,” Lucas added. “I know this is a touchy subject — it’s an issue for a lot of people. But we have to address it, and I want to be as respectful and tactful as possible.”

Rokita also backs the proposal.

A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said in an email statement that Rokita “supports authorizing firing squads as a method of execution" and that the office “is ready to work with legislators to provide input and help draft this potential legislation—especially since we would be the ones responsible for defending its constitutionality in court if it were challenged.”

Madeira noted, though, that despite the ongoing legislative debate on execution methods, broader public support for capital punishment has remained relatively flat or declined over time.

“What is increasing is the willingness of some Indiana officials to operationalize the death penalty again,” she said, pointing to renewed efforts to acquire execution drugs, consider new methods, and prepare prison facilities. “We don’t see death penalty support increasing in Indiana specifically. What is increasing is statehouse attention and executive and corrections preparation.”

Feds push for firing squad

The U.S. Department of Justice announced in April that it intends to add firing squads as an authorized federal execution method as part of a broader effort to strengthen and expand use of the federal death penalty. 

The Justice Department also directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to evaluate options for relocating or expanding federal death row — or constructing a second federal execution facility — in a state that already permits additional methods of execution.

“In accordance with the Department of Justice Report, Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty, the Bureau of Prisons is currently evaluating options to relocate or expand federal death row or to construct a second federal execution facility in a state other than Indiana that permits additional manners of execution,” Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Emery Nelson said in a statement to the Capital Chronicle. “The evaluation is ongoing at this time.”

The report identifies Indiana’s execution statute as one of the federal government’s practical constraints. Because Indiana authorizes only lethal injection, federal officials currently cannot carry out executions in Terre Haute using alternative methods like a firing squad.

DOJ officials said the department’s review of whether to relocate or expand federal death row is “primarily driven by the fact that Indiana currently authorizes only lethal injection, which limits the available execution methods for certain federal cases.”

“If Indiana were to authorize firing squads as an execution method, it would have a significant impact on the Department’s need to relocate or expand federal death row to another state,” a DOJ official said in an email to the Capital Chronicle.

The report also points to another challenge familiar to Indiana officials: difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs.

Like Indiana, the federal government has faced increasing obstacles securing pentobarbital and other drugs needed for executions, prompting DOJ officials to argue that expanding available methods would reduce its dependence on a single execution protocol.

Only three inmates remain on federal death row after former President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 others before leaving office. Justice Department officials said the remaining cases are still in different stages of the appellate process, making it unlikely any federal execution will occur for at least the next year or two.

Two of those inmates — Robert Bowers, convicted in the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, and Dylann Roof, convicted in the 2015 racially motivated killings at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina — are housed at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute. The third, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, remains incarcerated in Colorado.

“Former President Biden’s unconscionable commutations of 37 federal death-row inmates nullified lawful sentences imposed for some of the most depraved crimes in our Nation’s history. Those commutations denied victims and their families the justice they were owed. This Justice Department will not repeat that failure,” a DOJ official told the Capital Chronicle in a written statement. “We stand ready to implement the capital sentences of the three remaining federal death-row inmates once their legal review is complete—and to pursue, defend, and, where legally authorized, carry out capital sentences obtained during the Trump administration."

A faster timeline for appeals

The Justice Department is additionally pursuing changes that could speed federal court review of death penalty cases.

The proposed regulations would revise the process under Chapter 154 of the federal code, which allows states meeting certain standards for appointing and compensating attorneys in capital post-conviction cases to receive expedited federal review of death sentences.

Among other changes, the proposed rule would eliminate several procedural barriers that have prevented states from obtaining certification, make certifications permanent instead of requiring renewal every five years, and shorten deadlines for filing and resolving federal habeas petitions.

Indiana has not sought Chapter 154 certification.

Still, Rokita joined attorneys general from other states urging the Justice Department to finalize the rule.

“We … hope that the Department of Justice complies with its statutory mandate to expeditiously certify states under the relevant statutes,” a spokesperson for Rokita’s office said.

Madeira said the proposal would not change how Indiana carries out executions or authorize any new execution method. Instead, she said, it’s aimed at shortening the timeline for federal court review in states that qualify.

“The bargain is, you can expedite it on the federal level if you provide good counsel on the state level,” Madeira said. But whether Indiana’s current system would satisfy those standards “is the overall question.”

Source: indianacapitalchronicle.com, Casey Smith, June 26, 2026

"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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