The chair is equipped with a metal container beneath the seat. Cyanide is placed in this container. A metal canister is on the floor under the container filled with sulfuric acid solution. When executioners turn three keys in the control room, an electric switch causes the bottom of the cyanide container to open allowing the cyanide to fall into the solution and produce the lethal gas. Inhalation of this gas renders the victim unconscious.
Death usually occurs within six to eighteen minutes.
A heart monitor will be attached to the inmate which can be read in the control room by a staff member. After the warden pronounces the inmate dead, ammonia is pumped into the execution chamber to neutralize the gas. Exhaust fans then pump the inert fumes from the chamber into two scrubbers that contain water and serve as a neutralizing agent. All rights reserved.