Book Recommendations by Bruce – “Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection” By Corina Barrett Lain

As an abolitionist, more is continually being revealed to me about the
death penalty. In 2025, Equal Justice USA hosted a webinar with Corina
Barrett Lain, a professor of law at the University of Richmond School of
law, on her new book “Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of
Lethal Injection”.

Her talk only scratched the surface around lethal injection but it peaked my
interest. As I wanted to learn more I purchased her book, which has
recommendations by Sister Helen Prejean, Bryon Stevenson and other
notable people.

Corina Barrett Lain’s writing is well researched and provided me with a
wealth of information about lethal injection and how we kill. The sections of
the book that stood out were the birth of lethal injection, the drugs used
and who carries out the executions.

The author pulls back the curtain on lethal injection, which was developed
by Dr. Jay Chapman, the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner. An expert in
completed death, Dr. Chapman came up with a three drug protocol from an
experience of being placed under anesthesia. He completed no research,
provided no scientific data and no review of clinical veterinary or medical
literature. In addition, he failed to contact physicians who had experience
with Medically Assisted Suicide. Lethal injection was essentially developed
by a single individual with no scientific backing.

In addition to this disturbing revelation, I learned the states that carry out
lethal injections have difficulty obtaining the drugs. Pharmaceutical
companies in the US and especially in Europe will not sell the drugs due to
ethical considerations. So states, using tax payer dollars, have resorted to
purchasing drugs from secretive places. Occasionally this includes
purchases from a drug dealer or compound pharmacies who often have
significant regulation violations.

Finally, the book also provides a chapter about those who carry out the
executions. Medical doctors, nurses, and other medical providers generally
refuse due to their ethical obligations and licensing regulations preventing
them from doing harm. Though an EMT or phlebotomist might place a
catheter in a vein, the task of the execution falls to Department of
Correction (DOC) employees who undergo no or limited medical training.
Unsurprisingly, this is a significant cause of botched executions. State
legislatures have recently passed “secrecy laws” allowing them to keep
information about lethal injection from the public including where drugs are
purchased, the names of people carrying out an execution, and any
complications or prolonged deaths.

I highly recommend “Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal
Injection” for your own reading. The book educated and raised my awareness about

lethal injection and how, too often, executions are concealed from the public.