Ohio designs single-drug execution

COLUMBUS – Ohio yesterday announced it will become the first state in the nation to switch to a one-drug method of execution, essentially administering a massive barbiturate overdose.

The state also will employ a back-up of injecting drugs directly into a muscle when prison medical technicians can’t find useable veins, such as occurred Sept. 15 in the failed execution of Romell Broom.

Broom’s execution team struggled unsuccessfully for two hours to insert intravenous shunts into his arms to administer three drugs, prompting Gov. Ted Strickland to take the unprecedented step of stopping an execution.

When it proceeds smoothly, lethal injection lasts about 15 minutes.

America’s jailed youth: tortured and abandoned

While Americans rightfully demand justice for the horrendous acts of torture at Guantanamo, many prisoners here at home are victims of America’s overburdened incarceration system. Youth are the most vulnerable prisoners in our overcrowded and understaffed jails.

A report by the United States Department of Justice highlights abuses at four juvenile residential centers and raises the possibility of a federal takeover of the state’s entire youth prison system.  The investigation found that excessive physical force was routinely used to discipline children at several juvenile prisons in New York, resulting in broken bones, shattered teeth, concussions and dozens of other serious injuries over a period of less than two years.

The report read, “Staff at the facilities routinely used uncontrolled, unsafe applications of force, departing from generally accepted standards.” Though the details of this brand of torture are undoubtedly shocking, it’s not the first symptom of the omnipresent sickness infecting America’s juvenile jail system.