 which, naturally, if they cause them more harm, should be violations of the Eighth Amendment under cruel and unusual punishment. Texas plans to execute a prisoner named Ruben Gutierrez with pentobarbital on July 16th. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice declined an interview with me to talk about any of this. I emailed them to ask whether the state intends to use drugs from right away to stop Gutierrez's heart next week, but the Department of Criminal Justice declined to comment on that, too.