Many states have backup execution plans, but failures still happen

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Long before Christa Pike was brought into Tennessee's execution chamber, prison leaders reviewed and approved a backup plan detailing exactly what to do if the first attempt at lethal injection failed.

But the backup plan also failed, and Thursday — 24 hours later — Pike was still alive but in critical condition at a Tennessee hospital, though her prognosis remained uncertain. It's not yet clear what went wrong.

Twenty-seven states have capital punishment, and they vary widely in how they administer the death penalty and just how much of that lethal process they keep hidden from public view, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, a clearinghouse for information on U.S. executions.

Some states have extensive backup plans. Others don't

Tennessee falls somewhere in the middle of the pack when it comes to contingency plans, with two redundancies built into its execution process.

First, inmates are supposed to have two intravenous lines placed. Thus, if the first IV site fails, the execution team can switch to the second one. A physician on the execution team can even insert a central line — which typically involves making an incision in a major blood vessel in the groin, neck or armpit in order to thread a catheter into the body to a spot near the heart — if needed.

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