This week, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill that allows prison officials in the state to execute inmates with the electric chair if the drugs used for lethal injections become even more difficult to acquire. Since many drug companies have refused to provide corrections officials with the chemicals needed for lethal injections, states have begun to experiment with new, untested cocktails. Botched executions with new drug combinations in Oklahoma and Ohio have led some states to consider other methods. A poll this week found that 56 percent of the state’s residents approve of the use of the electric chair as a method of execution. Tennessee currently has 74 inmates on death row, though there are some questions as to the legality of retroactively allowing the electric chair in their executions …
