INDIANAPOLIS — Eight men languish on Indiana’s death row as the state struggles to obtain the drugs needed to conduct an execution. Its longest resident has lived 29 years awaiting execution; its most recent addition has waited eight. The de-facto moratorium on executions in Indiana has some prosecutors doubting that even a successful sentencing will be carried out, and defenders concerned for the convicted who live years under threat of death. Meanwhile, other states such as Texas and Oklahoma have moved forward with executions this year. Four of the men on Indiana’s death row have exhausted all their appeals and have no other recourse, according to the Indiana Public Defender Council’s website. But Indiana’s Department of Correction has no orders for executions and no dates set, according to spokeswoman Annie Goeller. Indiana hasn’t put a man to death since December 2009, when it executed Matthew Eric Wrinkles. All the men reside in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. That’s b...
Striving for a World without Capital Punishment