22 May 2015
Nevada considers turning active execution chamber into tourist attaction
BY Tom Anstey
The State of Nevada is considering turning an active execution chamber into a tourist attraction.
Located at the 150-year-old Nevada State Prison, tourists may be able to visit the active execution chamber after state legislators recently passed a bill to open a museum in the prison. The experience would include a visit to the room.
Since 1976, 12 people have been executed by the state. As of May 12, 2013 there were 83 people on Death Row.
Despite being an active chamber, Nevada hasn’t executed anyone since 2006 and has no scheduled executions for at least the next two years.
“If we did have tourists, we’d shut [the museum] down several weeks prior, because it is still an active execution chamber,” said Republican assemblyman PK O’Neill. “We want to be, and we will be, respectful of that.”
Beyond the museum plans, the state has still to decide the fate of the execution chamber, with a joint subcommittee vote split 5-5 on whether or not a new chamber should be built or to maintain the existing one. If plans do go ahead, a second execution chamber would built in the Ely State Prison where death row inmates are housed.
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