Christa Pike discharged from hospital and returned to Tennessee prison

What the report says

Christa Pike has been discharged from hospital and returned to the Tennessee women’s prison where she has been held for about 30 years, according to Al Jazeera and the Associated Press. Her lawyers said the 50-year-old is back at the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center and is still receiving medical care after the state’s failed execution attempt.

Pike was moved to hospital on September 30 after Tennessee officials gave her two doses of pentobarbital in an effort to carry out her execution. The article says she survived the procedure, drawing renewed attention to capital punishment in the US. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer.

Her legal team said they will keep monitoring her recovery and thanked the emergency responders and medical staff involved in her treatment. The report also notes that a Tennessee judge has ordered prison officials to preserve evidence connected to the failed execution.

More broadly, the story comes amid continuing national debate over the death penalty, including discussion of other execution methods in Tennessee and a separate Pentagon plan to livestream the execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan. Al Jazeera’s report said the broader issue has prompted criticism from some politicians and religious leaders, while capital punishment remains legal in many US states.