Idaho Will Recruit Law Enforcement Volunteers for Firing Squad Executions
With Idaho scheduled to transition to firing squads as its primary method of conducting executions this month, officials from the state Department of Corrections (DOC) are recruiting law enforcement volunteers, including guards, to shoot prisoners to death.
As reported by the Idaho Statesman, the DOC is seeking six volunteers with demonstrated firearm proficiency who have been certified for no less than three years through Peace Officer Standards Training (POST). The volunteers are required to have not faced disciplinary action over firearms, use of force, or related conduct within the previous year. The firing squad, according to the DOC, will consist of three primary shooters and two alternates, and none of its members can have a blood or legal relationship to the condemned prisoner or any related parties.
Earlier this year, PLN reported that the DOC was spending more than $900,000 to renovate its execution chamber at Idaho State Correctional Institution so that it could accommodate a firing squad. [See: PLN, May 2026, p.13.] That construction, which began in May 2025, is now complete. Although the state has not carried out an execution since 2012, eight prisoners are on death row in Idaho, which is currently the only state to have made firing squads its lead form of execution (five other states—Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina Utah—have legalized firing squads, but do not prioritize it over other methods).
As outlined in the DOC’s firing squad operating procedures, the condemned prisoner will be offered a sedative the night before the execution; the following day, they will be escorted to the execution chamber, strapped to an execution chair and marked with a target directly over their heart. After the prison director reads the prisoner’s death warrant, the firing will commence and a second “volley of fire” will be ordered if needed.
Source: Idaho Statesman
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