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However, the agency this week denied the AP69制片厂制作传媒檚 request, saying it needs to keep the entire document secret to protect the identities of the executioner and other people involved.

The decision to maintain secrecy differs from how the state has handled similar requests in the past, but mirrors efforts across the U.S. to suppress public access surrounding executions, especially after anti-death penalty activists used records to expose problems.

Here69制片厂制作传媒檚 what to know:

What is an execution protocol?

The protocol is typically a detailed set of procedures describing how the state executes death row inmates. Tennessee had been operating under a 2018 protocol that included directions on selecting execution team staff and the training they should undergo.

It explained how lethal injection drugs should be procured, stored and administered. It gave instructions on the inmate69制片厂制作传媒檚 housing, diet and visitation in the days leading up to execution. It provided directions on how to choose media witnesses.

For lethal injection, the 2018 protocol required a series of three drugs administered in sequence.

The new version unveiled last week requires only a single dose of pentobarbital. But that is all that is known about the revised protocol.

What reason does Tennessee give for not releasing the new protocol?

In an email sent Monday, Tennessee correction spokesperson Kayla Hackney told the AP the 69制片厂制作传媒減rotocol is not a public record69制片厂制作传媒� and cited a Tennessee statute that makes the identities of the people carrying out executions confidential.

However, that same statute says the existence of confidential information in a record is not a reason to deny access to it, noting that the confidential information should be redacted.

What has Tennessee done in the past?

In 2018, Tennessee69制片厂制作传媒檚 correction agency provided a redacted copy of the protocol to an AP reporter over email.

In 2007, a previous version of the protocol was treated as a public record and provided to the AP after former Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, announced a surprise halt to executions.

A reporter69制片厂制作传媒檚 review of that 100-page 69制片厂制作传媒淢anual of Execution69制片厂制作传媒� found a jumble of conflicting instructions that mixed new lethal-injection instructions with those for electrocution.

Why did Tennessee update its protocol?

Executions have been on hold in Tennessee since 2022, when the state admitted it had not been following the 2018 protocol. Among other things, the Correction Department was not consistently testing the execution drugs for potency and purity.

An independent review of the state69制片厂制作传媒檚 lethal injection practice later found that none of the drugs prepared for the seven inmates executed since 2018 had been fully tested.

Later, the state Attorney General69制片厂制作传媒檚 Office conceded in court that two of the people most responsible for overseeing Tennessee69制片厂制作传媒檚 lethal injection drugs 69制片厂制作传媒渋ncorrectly testified69制片厂制作传媒� under oath that officials were testing the chemicals as required.

So what69制片厂制作传媒檚 with all

the secrecy?

Executions in the U.S. have remained at historic lows for years, but the small group of states still carrying out the death penalty have only increased the secrecy surrounding the procedures, particularly over how and where the state secures the drugs used for lethal injections.

Many states argue that secrecy is critical to protect the safety of those involved in the execution process.

Yet in a 2018 report, the Washington-D.C.-based nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center found that this argument often led to these states refusing to provide information about the qualifications of their execution teams and some courts have criticized such arguments for lack of evidence that more public disclosure would result in threats against prison officials.

Kelley Henry, chief of the federal public defender69制片厂制作传媒檚 habeas unit that represents many of Tennessee69制片厂制作传媒檚 death row inmates, described the state69制片厂制作传媒檚 refusal to release the new protocol, given that background, as 69制片厂制作传媒渕ystifying.69制片厂制作传媒�

69制片厂制作传媒淭he secrecy, which cloaked the former execution protocol, created a culture of incompetence and lack of accountability,69制片厂制作传媒� she said in an email.