Idaho allows volunteers to shoot dead eight death row inmates under strict new execution rules

A controversial new rule in Idaho will allow volunteers to shoot and kill death row inmates.

The state has become the first to adopt a firing squad as the main form of execution, with critics calling the method 'excruciating' and open to being 'botched' in order to deliberately make the inmate suffer.

The switch was made with effect from July 1, 2026, after the state experienced a series of issues when attempting to use lethal injection as the method of execution.

Idaho uses a volunteer system to find their firing squad, and they use a team made up of three anonymous certified law enforcement officers.

They are then instructed to shoot the restrained inmate from a distance of approximately 10 yards away using .308 caliber rifles.

There are currently eight inmates on death row in Idaho, including one woman.

Idaho is one of only a few states to allow execution by firing squad, and is the only one to have it as the primary method (Tyla/Getty Stock Images)

The volunteers must meet strict rules in order to be chosen, and only the state prison director and deputy knows their identity.

Other states to allow firing squad executions include Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah and South Carolina, but Idaho is the only one to make it their primary method.

Strict rules

Unsurprisingly, there is a host of rules and requirements that the volunteer must meet to be selected.

Volunteers must hold a Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) certification for a minimum of three years.

They must have had no disciplinary action in the past 12 months relating to firearms or use of force.

The volunteer must be able to demonstrate a proficiency in firearms.

Volunteers must meet strict rules (Getty Stock)

In order to be selected, they must also pass a test proving they can:

• Fire each provided firearm with 100% accuracy from at least 21 feet.
• Hit a target of the same size, shape and height as will be used in an actual execution

Any potential volunteer automatically fails if they cannot hit the target with one round from each of the firearms

They also cannot have any blood or legal relation to the victim, victim's family, the prisoner or the prisoner's family.

The state of Idaho switched to firing squad after issues with executions by lethal injection (Getty Stock)

New death chamber

Before the new rules could come into force, the state had to show they had updated and retrofitted a death chamber at a maximum security prison south of Boise.

They had to meet the July 1 deadline, and according to The Guardian the state spent more than $1 million getting the new chamber ready.

It is reported they spent $24,000 on a rack of AR-style, .308-caliber, scoped rifles to be used by the volunteers.

Four firing squad executions have been carried out in the US since 2025, and two of those went wrong, with accusations of 'botching'.

The state's Department of Corrections (IDOC) insisted they are ready 'to ensure that any execution is conducted in a secure, orderly, and dignified manner'.

States are using alternate execution methods for Death Row

With many pharmaceutical companies opposing the use of their drugs on Death Row, as well as a handful of botched lethal injection executions, inmates are opting for alternate execution methods.

Nitrogen hypoxia

First used: 2024 - in Alabama to execute convicted murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith

States where it’s authorised: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma

Process: Inmates are strapped to a gurney and breathe pure nitrogen; death occurs as the body is deprived of oxygen

Risks: Confusion, the feeling of suffocation, panic

Electrocution

Most recently used: 2020 - by quadruple murderer Nicholas Todd Sutton in Tennessee, who was one of several prisoners who viewed lethal injection as state-sanctioned torture

States where it’s authorised: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky (if offence before 1988), Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee (if offence before 1998)

Process: According to a lawyer's account of a 2007 Tennessee execution by the electric chair, inmates are strapped into the chair; electrodes are fastened to their feet and wet sponges are placed between the metal contacts and their skin; a sponge and a metal headpiece are placed on their head and they are offered a blindfold. A huge electric current is applied for 15 seconds, which is meant to kill the inmate instantly. After a short interval, another current is applied.

Risks: Electrocution in the past has resulted in inmates' bodies being badly burned, with some states ruling it is an inhumane method of execution