Inmates allege Texas plans to use unsafe execution drugs

Texas plans to use expired and unsafe drugs to execute people early this year in violation of state law, according to a lawsuit.

The state's execution drugs are safe, according to prison officials.

Robert Fratta will be put to death on January 10. The Texas Attorney General's Office is appealing the decision by the state's highest criminal court to put the lawsuit on hold. The state doesn't want the case to be decided in a civil court.

Shawn Nolan is an attorney for two men who are set for execution in February.

Drug suppliers were not allowed to be disclosed for executions starting in 2015. The law was upheld by the Texas supreme court.

Nolan said, "Texas continues to rely on secrecy in these executions and that's why they're trying to do an end run around this lawsuit because they don't want to tell anyone that these drugs are expired."

Nolan said that attorneys for the inmates want to know if prisoners are at risk of pain and suffering in the execution process.

The first state to use lethal injections was Texas in 1982. Difficulty finding veins, needles becoming disengaged or issues with drugs are some of the problems.

Texas has used compounding pharmacies to get pentobarbital, which it uses for executions, after traditional drugmakers refused to sell their products to prison agencies.

All lethal injection drugs have been tested and are within their use dates.

According to Michaela Almgren, a professor at the University of South Carolina, the pentobarbital in the possession of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is no longer valid.

According to Almgren, a drug that has surpassed its use date is at risk of stability and sterility problems.

Some of the pentobarbital were more than 630 days old, while others were more than 1,300 days old. The beyond use date limit for compounded drugs is 45 days.

According to records obtained by attorneys for the inmates, prison officials tested their supply of pentobarbital in September and November to make sure it was still usable.

The state's testing was completely unscientific and incorrect.

Nolan said that using expired drugs would be against the law.

The lawsuit was filed by Fratta. Lawyers for the three inmates don't want the state to carry out lawful executions.

The state can execute these people if they want to. They need non-expired drugs.

That's right.

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