Following a death row inmate testing positive for COVID-19, several US senators Tuesday sent a letter to the Department of Justice’s Inspector General requesting that he open an investigation into why the Trump administration resumed federal executions after a 17-year hiatus. The US federal government has executed 10 people since July, and three more are scheduled for execution before President-elect Biden’s inauguration.
The letter, signed by eight US senators, warns that the “spree of executions marks a break with modern-history and decades-old practice,” noting that the federal government had only executed three people in the 50 years prior to 2003.
