The new death chamber scheduled for Ely State Prison will be wheelchair friendly and handicapped accessible, thanks to a vote of the Nevada Legislature.
But while getting to the death chamber may gotten easier, getting to the execution will get a little harder.
For the first time in more than 20 years the remote Ely State Prison will house the death chamber for the state of Nevada.
While ESP has always been home to death row, the few executions the state has carried out have remained in the now closed Nevada State Prison in Carson City. The obsolete death house was cited as not in compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act. State officials have said for about four years that they wouldn’t be able to carry out an execution there.
This week a joint Assembly and Senate budget committee approved the construction the budget of $860,000 on a new execution chamber at the Ely State Prison.
Executions remain rare in Nevada, which has only carried out the death penalty 12 times since 1977.
Department of Corrections officials say there are about 80 inmates on Nevada’s death row, but the state hasn’t executed anyone since 2006.
