Calls to 911 reveal confusion after Christa Pike's botched execution

A recording of the 911 call made during the botched execution of a death row inmate in the US state of Tennessee has been released by authorities.

The records reveal a disjointed back-and-forth between officials at the maximum security prison where the execution was taking place and emergency personnel.

Pike, 50, was given two doses of the lethal injection drug pentobarbital before being rushed to hospital in critical condition.

She has since been released from hospital and taken to a state women's prison.

In the first call, made at 8:40pm on September 30, local time, an unidentified caller said: "We've been carrying out an execution tonight … we're calling for an ambulance."

The caller said Pike was unconscious, adding her breathing was "very laboured".

But the caller did not have the "code" to give the emergency dispatcher, which would have allowed ambulances onto prison property without police escort.

"How do they … not have a code?" a fire department employee could be heard asking.

A second call was made to the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) Central Control, seeking to verify the need for an ambulance.

Ambulances wait at prison gates as officials say call for help 'false'

The calls were released by Metro Nashville's Emergency Communications Center, following a records request by local media.

Two other calls were released to media by TDOC and by Pike's legal team.

Local outlet The Tennessean said it had received recordings of six outgoing calls from the emergency dispatch to highway patrol, the fire department, police, and TDOC.

Dispatch calls reviewed by the Associated Press also painted a picture of the confusion as the execution seemed to go horribly wrong.

In the first call, the caller said they had administered "10 grams of pentobarbital", equal to two doses of the drug according to Tennessee protocol.

"The person is not yet deceased," the caller said.

"That started approximately one hour ago. And we're calling for an ambulance."

At 9:03pm, according to AP, an unidentified person said the initial call was "false".

Four minutes later, a responder reported they were outside the prison.

"Somebody is outside the gate at the prison telling us that it's real and demanding us to go in," the unidentified responder said.

"They say they are some sort of state official.

"I need somebody to get out to the gate and talk to those people."

Ambulances arrived at the prison at 9:10pm, and at 9:11pm the dispatcher called, saying first responders were stuck at the prison gates without a code for entry.

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At that time, prison officials affirmed the call for help was legitimate.

As of Saturday, local time, Pike was continuing to receive medical treatment at the women's prison she had been housed in for 30 years, according to her attorneys.

She was first sentenced to death in 1996, for the murder of classmate Colleen Slemmer, when Pike was 18 years old.