Last week, the Supreme Court stayed the execution of Buddhist inmate Patrick Henry Murphy, "unless the State permits Murphy's Buddhist spiritual advisor or another Buddhist reverend of the State's choosing to accompany Murphy in the execution chamber during the execution." At the time, Texas' prison policy allowed Christian or Muslim inmates to have a spiritual adviser present in the chamber, but did not afford the same treatment to Buddhists.
Rather than comply with the order, however, Texas announced on Wednesday that it would no longer permit spiritual advisers of any kind to be present during an execution.
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