By Terri Langford
Texas Tribune
DALLAS — At a time when a botched lethal injection in Oklahoma and secrecy about how Texas prisons obtain lethal injection drugs have increased public scrutiny of the procedure, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is allowing fewer media outlets to attend executions.
There are only five media spots available in one of two tiny viewing rooms adjacent to the Texas execution chamber in Huntsville. While some of those spaces have long been reserved for specific media outlets, the TDCJ has in the past allowed other reporters to fill empty spots when those journalists couldn’t attend. Now, they remain empty, reducing the number of witnesses in the nation’s busiest death chamber.
About two to three years ago, TDCJ public affairs officials began more strictly apportioning media spaces, said Jason Clark, who became the agency’s chief spokesman in 2013. The media spots in the viewing room are the only way members of the public who aren’t related to the murder victim or the condemned inmate can obtain independent observations of the controversial procedure.
“We are not under any obligation to open media witness slots to any organization who asks to view an execution,” Clark said.
While the TDCJ argues it is simply following long-standing procedure, media lawyers say the stricter enforcement of the rules prevents transparency.
Full story: TDCJ Viewing Policy Reduces Witnesses to Executions