Governor Northam Announces Commonwealth’s Implements of Execution Donated to Virginia Museum of History and Culture

RICHMOND –Governor Ralph Northam announced today that 114 years after acquiring an oak electric chair to execute people sentenced to death, the Commonwealth asked the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond to accept the chair and other implements of execution. The implements were conveyed this week.

“This action closes the era of state-sponsored execution in Virginia,” said Governor Northam. “The Commonwealth asked the Museum to accept these items, as they have the curatorial expertise to appropriately manage and interpret such materials. The Commonwealth’s history of using capital punishment is an important part of history, and the Museum is focused on telling Virginia’s full and true story for future generations.”

In March 2021 Governor Northam signed legislation to end use of the death penalty, making Virginia the first southern state to do so. Virginia has executed more than 1,300 people in its history, more than any other state.

The chair was used to execute 267 people. It was installed at the Virginia State Penitentiary on Spring Street near downtown Richmond in 1908, and later was moved to Greensville Correctional Center. When Virginia moved to executions by lethal injection, the chair remained in place.

Also donated to the museum is the medical gurney used for executing people by lethal injection, along with other implements used to carry out executions, including leather straps. Those items were dismantled and removed from Greensville Correctional Center to the museum earlier this week.

Also, this week, in confirmation of the change in law, Governor Northam commuted to life in prison the death sentences of Thomas Porter and Anthony Juniper, the two persons on death row when capital punishment was abolished. Also as provided in the legislation, Thomas Porter and Anthony Juniper will not be eligible for parole, any good conduct allowance or any earned sentence credits, or conditional release.

Below are photos of the electric chair and medical gurney used to execute people. These and other implements were removed this week from the execution chamber at the Greensville Correctional Center.

Here is an inventory of all the items transferred to the Museum: