The following summarizes publicly reported elements of Idaho’s firing squad protocol as finalized ahead of the July 1, 2026 effective date. Some operational details remain shielded from public disclosure under Idaho’s execution secrecy statutes, a pattern described in Chapter 8 and substantially widened by House Bill 803, discussed in Chapter 13.
Facility. Executions are carried out in a renovated unit of F-Block at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution, south of Boise. Construction began in 2025 and cost in excess of 1.2 million dollars, against an early departmental estimate closer to nine hundred thousand. The renovation included gun ports cut into a wall separating the shooting team from the execution chamber, a restraint chair, and sandbags positioned to catch rounds that do not strike or that pass through the condemned person. For comparison, South Carolina retrofitted its own chamber to add a firing squad in 2022 for roughly fifty-four thousand dollars.
Shooting team composition. The team is drawn from trained, POST-certified law enforcement officers serving voluntarily, rather than from an open call for civilian volunteers. Idaho’s 2023 statute had framed participation in broader terms; the narrowing to sworn officers came with the finalized protocol.
Qualification requirements. A volunteer must hold a minimum of three years of active POST certification; must have no disciplinary action relating to firearms use or use of force within the preceding twelve months; must have no blood or legal relationship to the condemned person or to any victim; and must demonstrate one hundred percent accuracy from a minimum of seven yards against a target matching the size, shape, and height of the one used in an actual execution. Failure to hit the target with every round from every assigned firearm disqualifies the volunteer outright.
Firing procedure. Each member of the shooting team is issued one live round, and on the command to fire the team discharges simultaneously. Unlike the historical Utah protocol, in which one rifle among several was loaded with a blank or wax round to preserve ambiguity about individual responsibility, Idaho’s protocol as reported issues live ammunition to every member of the team.
Target. A marker approximately the size of a fist is positioned over the condemned person’s heart before the execution, located and placed by a physician.