The people on death row
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On death row live the people who have been sentenced and are waiting to be executed. The wait can last years or decades, often in isolation, with a date that arrives or is put off again and again. It is a punishment inside the punishment, and in many countries the number of people held there is the hardest figure of all to obtain.
This page collects the news on the people on death row, on the conditions they are held in, and on the numbers the association is able to document.
Latest news
JUNE 15, 2023ArizonaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Arizona. Barry Jones Freed from Arizona’s Death Row after 29 Years
The death sentence commutes to 25 years, which the man has already served
MAY 27, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Juvenile Offender Hossein Shahbazi at Risk of Execution
Despite Third Postponement
MAY 22, 2023United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Death Row USA Summer 2022 Report: 2,394 on death row
MAY 19, 2023AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Joseph Clifton Smith cannot be executed due to intellectual disability
MAY 12, 2023ArizonaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Arizona. Joe Cota Morales, a 1981 case, added to the Innocence List
APRIL 26, 2023OklahomaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Oklahoma. Board denies clemency for Glossip
Against the advice of the Attorney General
APRIL 26, 2023IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Plea to Save Ahmadreza Djalali
Iranian-Swedish Scholar in Death Row
APRIL 20, 2023NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: 3298 INMATES ON DEATH ROW - GOVERNORS HESITANT TO SIGN DEATH WARRANTS (NCOS)
The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) says 3,298 inmates across custodial centres in Nigeria are on death row.
APRIL 19, 2023TexasDEATH PENALTYUSA - Texas. Joseph Jean’s death sentence overturned
APRIL 10, 2023OhioDEATH PENALTYUSA - Ohio. Report: Average Ohio death sentence lasts 21 years, costs millions
MARCH 31, 2023FloridaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Florida. Former death row inmate J.B. Parker to serve life term
MARCH 20, 2023NigeriaDEATH PENALTYNIGERIA: 122 MALE, THREE FEMALE INMATES ON DEATH ROW IN GOMBE, BAUCHI
The Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) says it has at least 125 inmates on death row in its facilities in Gombe and Bauchi states.
MARCH 18, 2023IndianaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Indiana. Former death row inmate Thomas Schiro released from prison
MARCH 17, 2023CaliforniaDEATH PENALTYUSA - California. California to transform San Quentin from prison to rehab centre
MARCH 15, 2023JapanDEATH PENALTYJAPAN: HIGH COURT ORDERS RETRIAL OF LONGEST-SERVING DEATH ROW CONVICT OVER 1966 MURDER CASE
The world’s longest-serving death row convict was on 13 March 2023 granted a retrial by a Japanese court in the latest twist in a legal saga dating back to the 1960s.
FEBRUARY 28, 2023TennesseeDEATH PENALTYUSA - Tennessee. SB 1152 to execute by firing squad passes the House Committee
FEBRUARY 22, 2023MarylandDEATH PENALTYUSA - Maryland. John Huffington, Former Death Row Prisoner, Exonerated After 40 Years
FEBRUARY 22, 2023ArizonaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Arizona. U.S. Supreme Court voids John Montenegro Cruz death sentence
JANUARY 30, 2023IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA: 165 SENTENCED TO DEATH IN 2022, HIGHEST IN 2 DECADES
Trial courts in India sentenced 165 people to death in 2022, the highest in a year in the last two decades. This is up from 146 prisoners who were sent to death row in 2021.
JANUARY 26, 2023United StatesDEATH PENALTYUSA - Family Members of Murder Victims Call on North Carolina, Nevada to Commute States’ Death Rows
- JANUARY 25, 2023KenyaDEATH PENALTY
KENYA: 43% OF PRISONERS ON DEATH ROW DID NOT KNOW WHAT WAS HAPPENING DURING TRIAL - REPORT
Fourty-three per cent of inmates on death row did not understand what was happening during their trial. This is according to a report launched on 24 January 2023 by the Death Penalty Project, in partnership with Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
JANUARY 17, 2023CaliforniaDEATH PENALTYUSA - California is doing away with death row, relocating inmates
JANUARY 15, 2023AlabamaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Alabama. Airgas refuses to supply nitrogen for executions
JANUARY 12, 2023OklahomaDEATH PENALTYUSA - Oklahoma. Scott Eizember executed on January 12
- DECEMBER 21, 2022NevadaDEATH PENALTY
USA - Nevada. Governor Sisolak can not empty death row
- DECEMBER 19, 2022IranDEATH PENALTY
IRAN - Riot at Karaj Penitentiary at least one prisoner killed
Mohsen Mansouri, and 17 transferred to solitary confinement in preparation for their executions
- DECEMBER 16, 2022United StatesDEATH PENALTY
USA DPIC 2022 Year End Report
22 death sentences and 18 executions in 2022
DECEMBER 13, 2022OregonDEATH PENALTYUSA - Oregon. Gov. Kate Brown commuted the sentences of all 17 people on death row
DECEMBER 13, 2022IranDEATH PENALTYIRAN - Five Protestors Awaiting Execution in Karaj
Mohammad-Mehdi Karami, Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, Hamid Ghara-Hasanlu and Hossein Mohammadi
NOVEMBER 29, 2022JapanDEATH PENALTYJAPAN: DEATH-ROW INMATES SEEK END TO HANGING AS INHUMANE EXECUTION
Three death-row inmates in Osaka filed a suit against the state on 29 November 2022, seeking an end to the practice of execution by hanging, claiming the method was inhumane under international conventions.