Information about Virginia’s electric chair

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia inmate Larry Bill Elliott is scheduled to become the first Virginia inmate to die by electrocution since 2006. Here is some basic information about electrocutions in Virginia and nationwide.

—Of the 35 death penalty states, Virginia and six other Southern states still offer electrocution.

—Elliott would be the first inmate electrocuted in Virginia since 2006 and the first nationwide since June 2008, when South Carolina inmate James Earl Reed was executed for killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents.

—Virginia began offering lethal injection as an option in 1995. Since that time, only four inmates have died by electrocution.

—Virginia performed its first electrocution in 1908 at the old Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond. The electric chair was moved to Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt in 1991.

—The electric chair is believed to have been made by inmates at the penitentiary in 1908. It is an oak armchair with leather straps attached.

—The electrical equipment is designed to deliver electricity in two applications, each lasting one and a half minutes, for a total of three minutes. After five minutes, a physician checks to see if death has occurred.

—The busiest day for Virginia’s electric chair was Feb. 2, 1951, when five people were executed. The busiest year was 1909, when 17 people died by electrocution.

Source: Virginia Department of Corrections