Oklahoma prisons chief expects November executions

ENID, Okla. (AP) – The head of Oklahoma’s prisons system says he is confident the state can resume executions in November despite a federal judge’s concern that the prison staff must be retrained following Clayton Lockett’s prolonged death in April.

At a meeting of the state Corrections Board on Thursday in Enid, prisons director Robert Patton said he expects that inmate Charles Warner will die Nov. 13 and that other inmates will be executed in the weeks that follow.

Patton said a renovated death chamber will be ready next month.

A state review conducted after Lockett’s 43-minute execution included a recommendation that the execution staff be retrained. A number of inmates have challenged Oklahoma’s execution procedures and a federal judge this month said he was concerned the state couldn’t be ready by Nov. 13.