Tennessee on Thursday released a redacted version of its new execution manual, blacking out sporadic titles and team names throughout the trimmed-down document that now provides vague guidelines and omits previously detailed steps on carrying out the death penalty. The Department of Correction initially would not hand over the manual when pressed by the AP, arguing that the government had to keep the entire manual secret to protect the identities of the executioner and other people involved. On Thursday, the agency reversed course and provided the AP with a copy of the lethal injection protocol.

The 44-page manual is noticeably shorter than the 2018 version the state had been operating under, which contained nearly 100 pages, including 11 detailing how lethal injection drugs should be procured, stored, and administered. The failure to follow those procedures forced Republican Gov. Bill Lee in 2022 to call a last-minute halt to the execution of Oscar Smith and place a moratorium on new executions while the process was under review. An independent report later found that none of the drugs prepared for the seven people executed since 2018 had been fully tested as required by the manual. The report also revealed that officials considered trying to acquire drugs through a veterinarian or even importing them internationally. Later, the state Attorney General’s Office conceded in court that two of the people most responsible for overseeing the drugs “incorrectly testified” that they were being tested as required.

The new manual contains a single page on the lethal injection chemicals with no specific directions for testing them. It removes a requirement that the drugs come from a licensed pharmacist, per the AP. Yet the new protocol has several additions, including now authorizing the state to deviate from the protocol whenever the correction commissioner deems it necessary. The 2018 protocol required a series of three drugs administered in sequence; the version unveiled last week requires a single dose of pentobarbital. And the people most responsible for carrying out the execution will now be outside contractors. The manual requires an IV team and a physician who are not Department of Correction personnel.

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