The Director is hereby authorized and directed to provide and maintain a permanent death chamber and necessary appurtenant facilities within the confines of a state correctional facility. The death chamber shall have all the necessary appliances for the proper execution of prisoners by electrocution or by continuous intravenous injection of a substance or combination of substances sufficient to cause death. Any such substance shall be applied until the prisoner is pronounced dead by a physician licensed in the Commonwealth. All prisoners upon whom the death penalty has been imposed shall be executed in the death chamber. Each execution shall be conducted by the Director or one or more assistants designated by him.The identities of persons designated by the Director to conduct an execution, and any information reasonably calculated to lead to the identities of such persons, including, but not limited to, their names, residential or office addresses, residential or office telephone numbers, and social security numbers, shall be confidential, shall be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.), and shall not be subject to discovery or introduction as evidence in any civil proceeding unless good cause is shown.

History

Code 1950, §§ 19-275, 19-302, 53-317; 1960, c. 366; 1972, c. 145; 1978, c. 667; 1982, c. 636; 1989, c. 541; 1994, c. 921; 2007, cc. 652, 737.