The Gas Chamber

The method of execution by lethal gas was established in the hopes of finding a more humane way to execute convicts. However, it has been ruled unconstitutional in some states as cruel and unusual punishment due to the physical reactions to the lethal gas. Once the prisoner is strapped into a chair in an airtight chamber with a long stethescope attached to their chest, the chamber is sealed and sodium cyanide crystals are released into a bucket underneath the inmate's chair, where they react with the sulfuric acid inside the bucket, causing a chemical reaction which releases hydrogen cyanide gas. Unconsciousness and death are far from instantaneous. The skin turns purple and what the inmate feels is akin to the pain of a heart attack, while their heart is being deprived of oxygen. This process can last for several minutes or more. The cause of death for the inmate is hypoxia, a condition which results from lack of oxygen to the brain. After death, a fan sucks the poison gas out of the air in the chamber and the body is sprayed with a chemical to neutralize any lingering poison so that the body can be removed*. Only 11 people have been executed by the gas chamber since 1976**.