What is midazolam? Lethal injection drug used for sedation on death row and in executions in Arkansas back in 2017
It has been the source of some controversy as several prisoners have taken some time to die and appeared to be in pain when midazolam was used
IT is a drug used for people who have trouble sleeping and it can decrease anxiety.
But midazolam is also used to kill people on death row. Here's the lowdown on the hugely controversial drug...
What is midazolam?
It is a drug that has been used in executions by lethal injection in certain states, combined with other drugs.
It has been used as part of a three-drug cocktail.
The drug acts as a sedative to make the prisoner unconscious.
The other drugs then stop the lungs and heart working.
It has been the source of some controversy as several prisoners have taken some time to die and appeared to be in pain when midazolam was used.
Death penalty critics have argued midazolam is a sedative - not an anaesthetic - and the condemned would feel pain from the drugs that come next.
What happened in Arkansas in 2017?
The state of Arkansas wanted to carry out eight executions in 10 days.
This was due to the supply of midazolam being due to expire.
Four of the prisoners were granted a stay of execution, but four were given the lethal injection.
Marcel Willilams, Lendell Lee, Jack Jones and Kenneth Williams all died in 2017.
How many states still have the death penalty?
The death penalty is still legal in 31 states and illegal in 19 states.
The United States is the only Western country still applying the death penalty.
It was the first to develop lethal injections as a method of execution.
More than 2,900 are still on death row, with more than 1,400 having been executed.
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What is Life and Death Row: The Mass Execution?
It is a documentary series about the historic number of executions scheduled in Arkansas of eight men in ten days.
The reason for this is to use up the state's supply of a lethal injection drug called midazolam before it expires.
The BBC speaks to the families of victims and those on death row in the lead up to the execution.
It aired for four weeks on BBC Two on Sundays - with the last show being aired on March 11.