ABSTRACT
There are over 2,900 prisoners living under sentence of death in 34 states and the federal prison system. The vast majority of death row prisoners live under conditions of solitary confinement. This chapter focuses on the more restrictive solitary confinement death row regimes, since these are the regimes more closely associated with the death penalty in action. The risk of deterioration on death row is real, likely affecting all death row prisoners to some degree. Fear of deterioration can be a source of anxiety, leading prisoners to question their sanity. The structure and routine of the job on death row make it in some respects an easier assignment than a normal housing block, where prisoners have a fair amount of freedom of movement and there are many unstructured interactions between inmates and officers. But structure and routine must be actively sought and preserved. Thus, most death row officers, much like the inmates they guard, report being suspicious, vigilant, and fearful.
