BOISE, Idaho — Idaho will spend more than $900,000 to renovate its execution chamber to accommodate a firing squad as its lead method, state prison officials told the Idaho Statesman.

The Idaho Department of Correction announced in late May that it was set to begin construction but did not detail the cost. The decision to move forward with the remodel project is tied to meeting a July 2026 deadline included in a bill the Legislature passed in March to prioritize the execution method, which Gov. Brad Little signed into law.

The legislation followed a prior law Little approved in 2023 that made the firing squad a backup method to lethal injection, and set aside $750,000 for construction. No new funds were included when lawmakers made the firing squad the primary method to carry out the death penalty once IDOC finishes the transition with the retrofit at the maximum security prison south of Boise. Prison officials said they plan to make up the cost difference with other budget savings.

The project’s expected price tag of $911,000 is about $42,000 less than a prior estimate issued last year. The previous cost would have expedited construction, officials said, which would have taken three to four months. IDOC now plans for the project overseen by the Idaho Division of Public Works to take between six and nine months.

The state prison system paused all possible executions until early 2026, when the project is complete, because construction effectively takes the execution chamber offline, including for lethal injections. IDOC already was under a federal injunction against carrying out the death penalty until they make changes to a room where prison officials prepare and administer lethal injection drugs.

Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic, IDOC’s spokesperson, told the Statesman that she doesn’t know why officials chose to approve the longer construction timeline.

A judge in April ruled in favor of the injunction after three news outlets, including the Statesman, sued IDOC to improve witnesses’ access to executions on First Amendment grounds. The Attorney General’s Office, which represents IDOC in the matter, appealed the judge’s decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

When it takes effect next year, Idaho’s new law will make it the only U.S. state with a firing squad as its main execution method. Four other states — Utah, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Mississippi — also have the controversial method on the books, but none as its primary.

South Carolina upgraded its execution chamber in 2022 to add a firing squad at a cost of $54,000, The Associated Press reported. The state executed two prisoners by firing squad this year, the first time the method was used in the U.S. in nearly 15 years.

By comparison, Idaho’s estimated price tag drew criticism from lawmakers who opposed the new law.

“The expense to this is getting to be considerable,” Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, said during debate of the bill. “You can build a gorgeous, gorgeous mansion for $1 million, and I don’t know why a firing squad facility is costing so much.”

The sponsors of Idaho bill’s pursued the change after the state failed to put a prisoner to death for the first time in state history. Prison officials attempted to execute Thomas Creech — the state’s longest-serving death row prisoner — in February 2024, but called off his lethal injection when they were unable to find a vein suitable for an IV.

Creech, now 74, was returned to death row and has remained in legal limbo since. Eight other people convicted of murder, including one woman, make up the rest of those prisoners in Idaho who have been sentenced to death.

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