How Death Row Is Different Around The World

Unlike many nations on this list, the USA is at least somewhat honest with its capital punishment statistics. There are approximately 2,500 individuals currently on death row, with an average of 12 years between sentencing. The lethal injection drugs are widely reported (though in a handful of states prisoners can request alternate methods of dying).

Each state that carries the death penalty has its own male and female death rows (some have more than one, notably Texas, the most frequent practiser of capital punishment). Prisoners are kept in isolation, though with access to visitors, legal counsel, and through charitable programmes like Prison Writers, the ability to communicate with the outside world.

Famously, prisoners are granted a final meal of their choice. In comparison with many other countries, everything is more or less above board, with a requirement for witnesses to be in place, announcements of impending executions, and the recording of the condemned’s final words.

All the same it’s not uncommon to hear reports of American executions rushed, botched, or otherwise carried out in disturbing circumstances, like the 2011 spree in Arkansas in which the fast approaching expiry date of the lethal drugs prompted seven executions in 11 days.