As the time between sentencing and execution in the U.S. has lengthened from a few years to decades, the conditions of confinement for death row inmates have come under closer scrutiny. Some Supreme Court Justices have raised constitutional concerns about the physical and psychological effects of being held for extensive time in solitary confinement, separate from challenges to the death penalty itself. Many legal experts in the U.S. and elsewhere have concluded that this prolonged isolation is a form of cruel and unusual punishment, comparable to torture.
Many death row inmates suffer from mental illness, and the isolation on death row often exacerbates their condition. Older inmates also suffer from increasing physical disabilities, rendering their ultimate execution a particularly demeaning action.
At Issue
The issue of extensive time on death row presents a dilemma: If death penalty appeals are rushed through the system, it might lessen the time spent on death row, but more innocent people will be executed, and grave injustices will remain undiscovered. A thorough review of each case, with an openness to retrial upon the emergence of new evidence, has the side effect of keeping inmates in degrading conditions for twenty years or more. This inherent tension alone could lead to the end of the death penalty.
What DPIC Offers
DPIC provides summaries of the conditions and rules governing inmates on death row in each state. It also tracks the amount of time that inmates spend under these conditions. Finally, DPIC collects the important court decisions related to this issue.
NEWS & DEVELOPMENTS
NEWS
Jul 16, 2019
Facing Prison-Conditions Court Challenge, South Carolina Moves Its Death Row to a New Facility
Amidst an ongoing lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of South Carolina’s death-row conditions, the state has moved its death-row prisoners to a different prison. On July 11, 2019, the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDOC) moved the state’s 38 death-row prisoners from Kirkland Correctional Institution to the nearby Broad River Correctional Institution (pictured), into a facility that had originally been built to house death-row prisoners in 1988. In a press release, SCDOC said the move “will address some of the concerns raised in a recent lawsuit filed on behalf of the…
NEWS
Feb 15, 2024
In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Keri Blekinge, a journalist at the Los Angeles Times and former reporter for the Marshall Project — a nonprofit news organization focused on the U.S. criminal justice system. At the Marshall Project, Ms. Blekinge wrote stories about the human beings in the criminal justice system — a focus that is still a priority in her reporting with the Los Angeles Times.
NEWS
Jan 09, 2024
According to statements from several federal death row prisoners, the new “adverse conditions” on death row in Terre Haute, Indiana, contributed to the December 1, 2023, death of Nasih Khalil Ra’id. Fellow prisoners say Mr. Ra’id, whose given name at birth was Odell Corley, died by suicide. Prison officials have not released the report from Mr. Ra’id’s autopsy or commented on the cause of his death.
NEWS
Oct 05, 2023
In July 2023, the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) released its report and position statement on mental health and the death penalty. The issues addressed in the report include: the imposition of the death penalty on prisoners with mental illness or developmental and intellectual disabilities, the overrepresentation of death-sentenced prisoners who have been socioeconomically marginalized, and the role of psychiatrists in death penalty cases.
NEWS
Sep 05, 2023
Sole Woman on Tennessee Death Row, Age 18 at Time of Crime, Raises New Appeal Based on Youthfulness
Attorneys for Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, filed a motion on August 30 to re-open her appeals based on a recent decision from the Tennessee Supreme Court. In 2022, the Court ruled in State v. Booker that mandatory life sentences in homicide cases are unconstitutional when imposed on juveniles, drawing on U.S. Supreme Court precedent that held that juveniles are less mature, more vulnerable to peer pressure, and generally less culpable than adults. Ms. Pike’s attorneys argue that Booker’s reasoning applies to all youthful defendants, not…
NEWS
Aug 16, 2023
Idaho U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill has ruled in favor of death row prisoner Gerald Pizzuto, indefinitely pausing his March 2023 execution date, and granting him a hearing in his claim that the state of Idaho violates his Constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment by repeatedly scheduling execution dates while knowing the state does not have the means to carry it out. “As Pizzuto describes it,” Judge Winmill wrote, “defendants’ repeated rescheduling of his execution is like dry firing in a mock execution or a game of Russian…
NEWS
Apr 13, 2023
BOOKS: “He Called Me Sister: A True Story of Finding Humanity on Death Row”
In He Called Me Sister: A True Story of Finding Humanity on Death Row, author Suzanne Craig Robertson details her journey from reluctance to true friendship during her challenging fifteen-year relationship with Cecil Johnson, a Tennessee death-row prisoner, who was executed in December 2009. Using letters, poems, and a personal memoir written by Johnson, Robertson tells their mutual story of perseverance, recalling that “differences don’t have to be barriers.”
NEWS
Mar 21, 2023
California to Close San Quentin’s Death Row as Part of a Broader Prison Reform
Death-sentenced prisoners in California will be moved out of San Quentin State Prison (pictured) and placed in other maximum security facilities, as part of a broad plan announced by Governor Gavin Newsom on March 17, 2023. The governor seeks to “transform” the state’s oldest prison into “a one-of-a-kind facility focused on improving public safety through rehabilitation and education.” The state launched a pilot program in 2020 allowing some death-row prisoners to voluntarily move to other state prisons. Under that program, more than 100 death-row prisoners have already been transferred out…
NEWS
Mar 16, 2023
A 2022 article in the Columbia Journal of Law & Social Problems presents both a historical overview of the practice of death-row confinement in the U.S. and the findings of a survey of the conditions on death rows in every jurisdiction with capital punishment in America. Regarding the use of highly restrictive confinement, the author states that “the system of permanent solitary confinement on death row has neither the weight of history nor the support of the majority in either contemporary practice or social values.”
NEWS
Feb 28, 2023
NEW RESOURCES: Interactive Display Illustrates Conditions on Death Row
A joint research project begun by two Texas universities illustrates the confinement conditions of death-row prisoners, including areas such as visitation, health care, attorney visits, recreation, food, and opportunities for work. The Capital Punishment & Social Rights Research Initiative has created an initial infographic describing the conditions in Texas.
NEWS
Jan 19, 2023
Lawsuit Alleges Federal Death-Row Conditions Violate U.S. Constitution and Human Rights Treaties
A Russian national on the U.S. federal death row has filed a civil rights lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the federal government’s use of automatic and prolonged solitary confinement to house individuals sentenced to death.
IN THIS SECTION
VOICES FROM DEATH ROW
“I miss the stars. You know, I haven’t seen the stars in years and years and years. I miss the rain. I miss food. I miss all these things. But what it comes down to the most — and this is the thing that will scar me the most and that I’ll carry with me as a scar the longest — the thing I miss the most is being treated like a human being.”
-CNN interview with Damien Echols on Arkansas death row since 1993 (Jan. 13, 2011) (released August 2011).
A Mother Visits her son on “Texas Death Row” c- Ken Light
Living in Limbo: The Human Cost of Extended Stays on Death Row
In the United States, the time between sentencing and execution has grown from a few years to decades. This has placed a harsh spotlight on the conditions of confinement for death row inmates.
Solitary Confinement and its Toll
Many death row inmates are held in solitary confinement for extended periods, with limited human contact and natural light. Experts warn that these conditions can cause severe mental health problems, worsening existing conditions and leading to despair.
A Growing Debate
This prolonged isolation raises fundamental questions about the ethics of capital punishment. Some argue that lengthy stays on death row constitute cruel and unusual punishment in themselves. Others raise concerns about the fairness of a system where lengthy appeals can leave innocent people languishing in prison for years.
