Just days after Tennessee announced it had a new manual for executing death row inmates, the state’s top prison officials said they aren’t going to release the document to the public.

The Tennessee Department of Correction last week told The Associated Press to file a public records request to obtain a copy of the latest execution manual, known as a protocol. However, the agency this week denied the request, saying it needs to keep the entire document secret to protect the identities of the executioner and other people involved.

The decision to maintain secrecy differs from how the state has handled similar requests in the past, but mirrors efforts across the U.S. to suppress public access surrounding executions, especially after anti-death penalty activists used records to expose problems.

The protocol is typically a detailed set of procedures describing how the state executes death row inmates. Tennessee had been operating under a 2018 protocol that included directions on selecting execution team staff and the training they should undergo. It explained how lethal injection drugs should be procured, stored and administered. It gave instructions on the inmate’s housing, diet and visitation in the days leading up to execution. It provided directions on how to choose media witnesses.

For lethal injection, the 2018 protocol required a series of three drugs administered in sequence.

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The new version unveiled last week requires only a single dose of pentobarbital. But that is all that is known about the revised protocol.

In an email sent Monday, Tennessee correction spokesperson Kayla Hackney told the AP the “protocol is not a public record” and cited a Tennessee statute that makes the identities of the people carrying out executions confidential.

However, that same statute says the existence of confidential information in a record is not a reason to deny access to it, noting that the confidential information should be redacted.

What has Tennessee done in the past?

In 2018, Tennessee’s correction agency provided a redacted copy of the protocol to an AP reporter over email.

In 2007, a previous version of the protocol was treated as a public record and provided to the AP after former Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, announced a surprise halt to executions. A reporter’s review of that 100-page “Manual of Execution” found a jumble of conflicting instructions that mixed new lethal-injection instructions with those for electrocution.

Why did Tennessee update its protocol?

Executions have been on hold in Tennessee since 2022, when the state admitted it had not been following the 2018 protocol. Among other things, the Correction Department was not consistently testing the execution drugs for potency and purity.

An independent review of the state’s lethal injection practice later found that none of the drugs prepared for the seven inmates executed since 2018 had been fully tested. Later, the state Attorney General’s Office conceded in court that two of the people most responsible for overseeing Tennessee’s lethal injection drugs “incorrectly testified” under oath that officials were testing the chemicals as required.

Executions in the U.S. have remained at historic lows for years, but the small group of states still carrying out the death penalty have only increased the secrecy surrounding the procedures, particularly over how and where the state secures the drugs used for lethal injections.

Many states argue that secrecy is critical to protect the safety of those involved in the execution process. Yet in a 2018 report, the Washington-D.C.-based nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center found that this argument often led to these states refusing to provide information about the qualifications of their execution teams and some courts have criticized such arguments for lack of evidence that more public disclosure would result in threats against prison officials.

Kelley Henry, chief of the federal public defender’s habeas unit that represents many of Tennessee’s death row inmates, described the state’s refusal to release the new protocol, given that background, as “mystifying.”

“The secrecy, which cloaked the former execution protocol, created a culture of incompetence and lack of accountability,” she said in an email.

No. 13 Tennessee (12-0) will open Southeastern Conference basketball play on Thursday. Rankings reflect the USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll.

Texas A&M (7-5) will host the Lady Vols at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas. Tennessee leads the basketball series versus the Aggies, 11-8, dating to 1997.

Tennessee is looking to start the 2024-25 basketball season 13-0 for the first time since the 2017-18 campaign (15-0).

The Lady Vols enter Thursday’s SEC opener having scored 100 points six times during the 2024-25 season. The all time record for the Lady Vols is seven during the 1987-88 season.

READ: 2024-25 Tennessee Lady Vols basketball roster

PHOTOS: Kim Caldwell through the years

Here is how to watch the Tennessee-Texas A&M basketball game, including time, TV schedule and streaming information.

What channel is Tennessee vs. Texas A&M game on? Time, TV schedule

TV channel: SEC Network+

Start time: 8 p.m. EST

Steve Miller (play-by-play) and Tab Bentz (analyst) will be on the call.

Watch Tennessee vs. Texas A&M live on ESPN+

Tennessee Lady Vols 2024-25 basketball results

Oct. 31 Carson-Newman (Exhibition — W, 135-49)

Nov. 5 Samford (W, 101-53)

Nov. 7 UT Martin (W, 90-50)

Nov. 12 Middle Tennessee State (W, 89-75)

Nov. 16 Liberty (W, 109-93)

Nov. 26 Western Carolina (W, 102-50)

Dec. 4 Florida State (W, 79-77)

Dec. 7 Iowa (W, 78-68 — Brooklyn, New York)

Dec. 14 North Carolina Central (W, 139-59)

Dec. 18 at Memphis (W, 90-75)

Dec. 20 Richmond (W, 92-67 — West Palm Bech, Florida)

Dec. 21 Tulsa (W, 102-61 — West Palm Beach, Florida)

Dec. 29 Winthrop (W, 114-50)

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Former Alabama and Florida State WR Malik Benson is set to visit Knoxville soon.

Tennessee will be the host of a very talented wide receiver’s visit. Tennessee will be hosting Florida State wide receiver transfer Malik Benson on a visit.

Benson is a former Alabama Crimson Tide and Florida State Seminole wide receiver. Before committing to the Tide, Tennessee was heavily in the conversation to land Benson. Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama were the finalists for the talented wideout.

Benson finished his season with 311 yards and one touchdown. In the season prior with Alabama, he finished with 162 yards and one touchdown.

Benson will visit both Tennessee and Oregon after calling off his Texas A&M visit.

Tennessee still awaits news from Mike Matthews on if he plans to continue the transfer process. If he does that will be the sixth departure to the portal at the wide receiver position. The Vols will need to bring talent in from the portal to even the playing field and it starts with a big impression from Benson. 

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