AUSTIN (May 18, 2012)--The Texas attorney general's office says state prison officials must disclose information about who supplies lethal drugs for executions and how much of the drugs the state Department of Criminal Justice has on hand.
The opinion this week was issued in response to public information requests filed earlier this year by the Austin American-Statesman and a British newspaper, The Guardian.
Prison officials argued the release of the information could be harmful to employees and provide death penalty opponents with an avenue to harass the drug suppliers in the hope those firms would refuse to do business with the state.
The Statesman reported Friday that the attorney general considered those reasons too speculative and vague.
Prison officials told the newspaper they hadn't seen the opinion yet.
