Death row-
Recently I watched a programme on channel 4; Trevor MacDonald was going around America visiting some prisons, and specifically the inmates on death and awaiting their execution. The programme was filled with detail so I decided this would be a good topic for my talk, I was also very interested in learning more about it.
What is death rowThe clue is in the name, Death row is a prison block or section for the prisoners that have been given the death penalty and the death penalty is legal in 35 states across America so there are many death row prisons across the counrty
Why is there a death rowFor certain crimes where the accused is guilty beyond any violent acts of murder, serial murder and rape etc., the accused should be punished by death and that death should be carried out quickly.
It costs about $20-30K/year/inmate to keep them in prison and why should American’s taxes pay to allow some of the worst criminal to remain in prison for many, many years.
When sent to death row the average inmate stays for about 13-15 years, during this time the court & jury do many in-depth trials to make sure the prisoner is guilty and can be executed, on a number of occasions innocent people have been sent death, 130 to be exact, many got executed, on one occasion minutes before being sent to the death room, the court decided one man was innocent, and was soon released from prison after 14 years on death row.
The first ever executed inmate was Frank Johnson, in Florida’s electric chair on October 7th,1929. He was sent to death for first degree murder which is any murder that is wilful and planned in advance
The executer is a private citizen who is paid $150 per execution. The state law allows his or her identity to remain anonymous.
The cells
In death row the inmates get a 9×6 cell, but many Florida state prisons have death watch cells which are 12×7. Death row inmates are served 3 meals a day, one at 5am, 10:30-11 and one more at 4-4:30. Food is…