Death row

Death row is the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution ("being on death row"), even in places where a special facility or separate section of a prison does not exist. After individuals are found guilty of an offense and sentenced to death, they will remain on death row while following any appeals procedure, and then until there is a convenient time for execution. Due to the complex, expensive and time-consuming appeals procedure that must be followed in some jurisdictions, e.g. the United States, before an execution can be carried out, prisoners may wait years before execution; nearly a quarter of deaths on death row in the U.S. are in fact due to natural causes.^[1]

Opponents of capital punishment claim that a prisoner's isolation and uncertainty over his fate constitute a form of mental cruelty and that especially long-time death row inmates are liable to become mentally ill, if they are not already. This is referred to as the death row phenomenon.

In Great Britain, the convicted were given one appeal of their sentence. If that appeal was found to involve an important point of law it was taken up to the House of Lords and at that point the sentence was changed to life in prison.^[2] In some Caribbean countries which still authorize execution, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is the ultimate court of appeals. It has upheld appeals by prisoners who have spent several years under sentence of death, stating that it does not desire to see the death row phenomenon emerge in countries under its jurisdiction. Haiti continued the conventional 'reprieved if not executed within 90 days' process adopted by Great Britain before its abolition (Haiti later abolished the death penalty in 1987)^[3].

Death row in the United States

San Quentin State Prison houses the male death row prisoners sentenced by the U.S. state of California

Louisiana State Penitentiary, which houses the male death row prisoners sentenced by the State of Louisiana

The Mississippi State Penitentiary, which houses male death row prisoners sentenced by the State of Mississippi

As of 2008^[update], there were 3,263 prisoners awaiting execution in the United States.^[4] Also as of 2008, the longest-serving prisoner on death row in the U.S.A. who has been executed was Jack Alderman who served over 33 years. He was executed in 2008.^[5] However, Alderman only holds the distinction of being the longest-serving executed inmate so far. A Florida inmate, Gary Alvord, arrived on Florida's death row before Alderman arrived on Georgia's death row and, on 9 April 2009, Alvord had been on death row for exactly 35 years^[6], longer than any other United States death row inmate. The oldest prisoner on death row in the United States was Leroy Nash, age 94, in Arizona. He died of natural causes on February 12, 2010.

Death row locations in the United States

Notes: ¹Naval Consolidated Brig, Miramar is the only facility in the United States Department of Defense designated to house female Level III inmates.
²Last death sentence reversed in 2007.

Death row in Japan

Japanese death row inmates are imprisoned inside the detention centers of Kagoshima, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka (Takamatsu is the 8th city having High Court, but for unexplained reasons the Takamatsu Detention Center is not equipped with execution chamber so executions administered by the Takamatsu High Court are carried out in the Osaka detention center). Because they are awaiting execution, those on death row are not classified as prisoners by the Japanese justice system and the facilities they are held at are not referred to as prisons. Inmates lack many of the rights afforded to other Japanese prisoners. The nature of the regime they live under is largely up to the director of the Detention Centre, but it is usually significantly harsher than normal Japanese prisons. Inmates are held under solitary confinement and are forbidden communication with their fellows. They are permitted two periods of exercise a week – reportedly, inmates are not permitted to do even limited exercise within their own cell. They are not allowed televisions and may only possess three books. Prison visits, both by family members and legal representatives, are infrequent and closely supervised.

See also

• Live from Death Row
• The Green Mile
• The Chamber
• Dead Man Walking
• Capital punishment
• List of United States death row inmates
• List of exonerated death row inmates

References

External links

• Texas's official Death Row website
• Arizona Department of Corrections Death Row Information
• Photos from The Arizona Republic -- the faces of Arizona's Death Row
• Death row facts
• Louisiana Correctional Institute For Women