Why do prisoners spend so long on death row before it’s carried out?

[Soubriquet]

Currently watching trial by fire which is a true story about a man who was convicted for the death of his 3 children by arson.

He spent years on death row before it was finally carried out. Now I know he tried to get appeals because he was adamant he was innocent but I also know that in several cases, people spent years on death row before actually being executed.

Why does it take so long?

Appeals, habeas proceedings, and a huge backlog (In California, since 1978, approximately 20-40 people have been added to death row per year, while fewer than 10 per year are executed).

Average time on death row is about 20 years.

And a strong appeals process is necessary - because of the finality of execution. You can't take it back.

So (understandably) every appeal option is usually exhausted before execution actually occurs –and each appeal can take years.

I don’t agree with death sentences anyway but I do think it’s particularly cruel as it appears these prisoners are held in almost solitary confinement for the time it takes to their sentence

There's a lengthy appeals process for death row prisoners, to show they are sure they have the right person (even though innocent people have been executed).

As a result it's more expensive in the US to kill someone than keep them in prison for life.

I'm sure there was an issue at one point about getting hold of the drugs approved for lethal injection. The company didn't want to supply them for that use.

@Soubriquet

I don’t agree with death sentences anyway but I do think it’s particularly cruel as it appears these prisoners are held in almost solitary confinement for the time it takes to their sentence

It is – there'slots of research on the impact of living waiting for your own execution on people's mental state.

And then you consider that at least 4% of death row prisoners are innocent...

In 1972 the US supreme court stopped all executions in the US as they said it was unconstitutional - states varied so much in their procedures and how it all operated, some were way more lax than others, that it amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. So everyone on death row at the time had their sentence changed to life instead. After that individual states passed new laws, so some picked it back up again but there are always very lengthy appeal processes both at state and federal that can be followed so it takes years and years to get through.

US Law students spend time looking into finding out the truth into finding them innocent or not.

So many are innocent it's really sad due to false witness statements and dubious identification etc.

I think the ones where it's not obvious they committed the crime should be kept in better conditions.

I’m also curious why so many women (and some men) seem to become infatuated with the prisoner and will become pen pals and everything to be point where they feel they love them