3 states are set to hold executions on the same day, a first in the US since 2010

(AP) — Tennessee, Alabama and Oklahoma plan to execute inmates Thursday in what would be the first time in nearly 16 years that three people are put to death on the same day in the United States.The executions come as a small number of states, including the three with scheduled lethal injections Thursday, drive execution numbers in the United States.“You look at the country as a whole, you’ve just got this little pocket of five or six states that are using the death penalty, executing people, and a small number of states that are still imposing new death sentences,” said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Maher said it is highly unusual to have three executions on one day, although it is largely a scheduling coincidence.Eleven states executed a total of 47 people in 2025, the highest number since 2009. Florida accounted for most of the surge with 19 executions.

Alabama, South Carolina and Texas each carried out five. Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arizona and Indiana each carried out two. Louisiana and Missouri each carried out one execution.The 19 executions so far in 2026 have occurred in four states.

Florida, which again leads the country, executed two inmates on the same day in July.The last time three executions were held on the same day was Jan. 7, 2010, when Louisiana, Ohio and Texas put inmates to death. Three executions were scheduled on the same day in 2018, but only one went forward after a Texas man was granted a reprieve and prison officials in Alabama had problems with the IV line.Tennessee will attempt another lethal injection after IV problemsTennessee plans to execute Anthony Darrell Hines three months after the attempted lethal injection of another inmate was called off because of problems inserting an IV.

The aborted execution put a spotlight on issues states have sometimes had in establishing IV lines during lethal injections.“All eyes really are on Tennessee at this moment because of the problem that happened,” Maher said.During the attempted execution of Tony Carruthers in May, the IV team established a primary line right away but then worked for more than an hour trying to insert a required backup line. The execution was ultimately called off and Carruthers was given a one-year reprieve.Hines, 66, has seized on the problems with the previous execution, saying … The executions come as a small number of states, including the three with scheduled lethal injections Thursday, drive execution numbers in the United States.

“You look at the country as a whole, you’ve just got this little pocket of five or six states that are using the death penalty, executing people, and a small number of states that are still imposing new death sentences,” said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Eleven states executed a total of 47 people in 2025, the highest number since 2009. Louisiana and Missouri each carried out one execution.

The 19 executions so far in 2026 have occurred in four states. The last time three executions were held on the same day was Jan. Tennessee will attempt another lethal injection after IV problems Tennessee plans to execute Anthony Darrell Hines three months after the attempted lethal injection of another inmate was called off because of problems inserting an IV.