When convicted murderer Kenneth “Kenny” Eugene Smith was executed early last year in Alabama, witnesses reported that the 58-year-old prisoner ​“shook and writhed” for at least four minutes as deadly gas flooded his lungs. It took him half an hour to die.

Now, a group of faith leaders in another southern state, Arkansas, are speaking out against the new and relatively untested method of using gas to suffocate prisoners, arguing that killing people in this way — even those who have committed terrible crimes — violates their God-given dignity.

The faith leaders, including Bishop Anthony Taylor of Little Rock, released an open letter Thursday addressed to Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders expressing significant concern that the execution method in question — nitrogen gas hypoxia, newly authorized for use in Arkansas — could constitute torture.

“Our call not to restart executions in our state is an expression of our desire to uphold a humane vision of seeking safety through acknowledging harm, repairing the harm as able, and changing society so the harm can’t happen again, which honors the sacred dignity of all people, including both victims and those who have caused immeasurable harm,” the group of faith leaders wrote.

“Like many of Arkansas’s civil leaders who share our values, we long to see the mercy, compassion, equity, and justice of God reflected in public policies that promote safety, human dignity, and healing for all our citizens.”

Nitrogen hypoxia executions, so far approved in five U.S. states, involves either a gas chamber or the fitting of a mask over the condemned person’s face and a stream of pure nitrogen — a normally harmless gas that makes up 78% of earth’s atmosphere — being pumped through it, leading eventually to the person’s suffocation.

Observers such as the United Nations Human Rights Office have warned that the novel execution method, which is controversial due to a lack of data on what the inmate could experience during the execution, could amount to torture under international human-rights law.

Alabama was the first state to authorize nitrogen hypoxia as a method of execution, doing so in 2018, and in August 2023 the state released a protocol for using the method.

In January 2024, Kenny Smith was put to death in Alabama using the method, over and above the protestations of the Catholic group Community of Sant’Egidio, which claimed that Smith was the first person in the world to be executed in this manner.

In March, Louisiana carried out its first execution in 15 years, putting convicted killer Jessie Hoffman Jr. to death using nitrogen gas.

Arkansas became the fifth state to authorize nitrogen hypoxia when Gov. Sanders approved legislation on the matter in March. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Arkansas has not executed anyone since 2017, but currently has 25 people on death row. On Aug. 5, a group of 10 Arkansas death-sentenced prisoners filed a lawsuit challenging the method on constitutional grounds.

The Church’s teaching on the death penalty is summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which describes capital punishment as “inadmissible” and an “attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” (2267). Because of this teaching — reflecting a 2018 update promulgated by Pope Francis — the Church “works with determination for its abolition worldwide,” the Catechism continues.

The signatories of the Aug. 21 letter urged Sanders to review recent scientific studies and eyewitness accounts of gas executions to prevent the state from engaging in such practices, calling the method “at odds with recognizing the inherent human dignity in every person.”

“Arkansas has the means of keeping society safe without violating the inherent human dignity of every person. We need to do more to help victims in the aftermath of tragedy by providing emotional and financial support and services that help promote healing and recovery, instead of focusing solely on what happens to the person who caused harm,” the letter continues.

“[The death penalty] also denies an opportunity for redemption and healing, and drains resources that could be better used serving all victims and preventing crime in the first place. Resources would be better spent preventing child abuse, providing mental health care and substance abuse treatment, and by investing in community safety programs.”

There are no executions currently scheduled to take place in Arkansas.