Federal executions will be halted for 60 days unless the government implements certain measures to prevent Covid-19 spread where the executions are conducted, the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Indiana ruled (article available here).
The court wrote that the federal government's poor management of the previous ten executions since July 2020 “has created a substantial risk” that other inmates and staff may contract the virus. Accordingly, the court bars the federal government from executing inmates in its Terre Haute, Ind., chamber for the next 60 days unless measures—including masks, negative tests, and contact tracing for staff—are put in place.
Three executions are set for President Donald Trump’s last full week in office: Lisa Montgomery on Jan. 12, Corey Johnson on Jan. 14, and Dustin Higgs on Jan. 15. All three have pending legal challenges that could reach the Supreme Court in the coming days. Johnson and Higgs themselves have tested positive for Covid-19 and argue that their executions would violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The case is Smith v. Barr , No. 2:20-cv-00630 (S.D. Ind. Jan. 7, 2021).