No. Texas does not use the electric chair and hasn’t for decades. The state retired electrocution in 1977 and has carried out every execution since then by lethal injection, which is now the only method Texas law authorizes.1State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 43.14 – Execution of Convict The old chair, nicknamed “Old Sparky,” sits behind glass in a Huntsville museum.
What Texas Uses Instead
Texas law requires every death sentence to be carried out by intravenous injection of a lethal dose of one or more substances, administered until the person is dead. The director of the Correctional Institutions Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice oversees the procedure.1State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 43.14 – Execution of Convict Executions take place at the Huntsville Unit and cannot begin before 6 p.m. on the scheduled date.
The current protocol uses a single drug: pentobarbital, a powerful sedative that causes unconsciousness and then stops breathing. Texas previously used a three-drug combination of sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride. The shift to one drug happened after pharmaceutical manufacturers began refusing to sell their products for executions, creating supply shortages that forced several states to simplify their protocols.
Up to five witnesses chosen by the condemned person from their approved visitation list may watch, including family members, friends, and a spiritual advisor. Victims’ family members and close friends may also watch from a separate room, and media representatives are permitted five total witness spots divided between the two viewing rooms.2Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Victim Services Division – Viewing Executions
Why Texas Retired the Electric Chair
Texas adopted lethal injection as its execution method in 1977, though it didn’t actually carry one out for several years.3Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Death Row Information The timing tracked a national upheaval over capital punishment. In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia that the way states were imposing death sentences amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, effectively halting executions nationwide.4Justia. Furman v Georgia, 408 US 238 The decision didn’t abolish the death penalty, but it required states to rewrite their sentencing laws to be less arbitrary.
Texas responded by passing new capital punishment legislation that named lethal injection as the sole execution method, replacing the electric chair that had been in use since 1924. Between 1924 and 1964, a total of 361 people were electrocuted in Texas, with the last electrocution carried out on July 30, 1964. The first execution under the new injection law took place on December 7, 1982, when Charles Brooks Jr. was put to death. He was the first person in the United States ever executed by lethal injection.3Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Death Row Information
Legislators believed a medicalized procedure would better survive constitutional challenges under the Eighth Amendment. The Supreme Court later reinforced that reasoning in Glossip v. Gross (2015), holding that a lethal injection protocol is constitutional as long as it does not create a substantial risk of severe pain compared to known alternatives, and that a prisoner challenging the method must identify a feasible, less painful option.5Justia. Glossip v Gross, 576 US 863
Can a Texas Inmate Choose the Electric Chair?
No. People on death row in Texas have no say in how they are executed. Article 43.14 prescribes lethal injection as the only method, with no exception for personal preference, religious objection, or the date of conviction.1State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 43.14 – Execution of Convict The chair isn’t an option even for inmates who were sentenced before 1977.
That sets Texas apart from a handful of other states where method selection still exists. South Carolina defaults to electrocution but allows a condemned person to elect death by firing squad or lethal injection (when available) in writing at least fourteen days before the execution date.6South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 24-3-530 – Death Penalty Alabama allows inmates a one-time choice between lethal injection, electrocution, and nitrogen hypoxia.7Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 15-18-82.1 – Methods of Execution Election of Method Constitutionality Texas lawmakers deliberately chose a single-method approach to standardize the process and reduce litigation over method selection.
Where Old Sparky Is Now
The wooden electric chair that carried out those 361 executions over four decades now sits behind glass at the Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville, a short distance from the prison unit where it was once used.3Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Death Row Information It is disconnected from any power source and stripped of its original straps.
The museum displays related items from the electrocution era alongside the chair, including a hangman’s noose, the tubing and straps used in the 1982 Brooks execution, and a teletype machine that once received last-minute reprieves from the Governor’s office. The chair’s move from a working prison to a museum case is the clearest sign of where Texas stands on the electric chair question. It’s history, not policy.