Death row phenomenon

The death row phenomenon is a term used to refer to the emotional distress felt by prisoners on death row. Concerns about the ethics of inflicting this distress upon prisoners have led to some legal concerns about the constitutionality of the death penalty in the United States and other countries. In relation to the use of solitary confinement with death row inmates, death row phenomenon and death row syndrome are two concepts that are gaining ground. The death row syndrome must be seen as a distinct concept, which refers to the enduring psychological effects of the death row phenomenon, which merely refers to the triggers of the syndrome.

Harrison and Tamony define death row phenomenon as the harmful effects of death row conditions, while death row syndrome is the consequent manifestation of psychological illness that can occur as a result of death row phenomenon.

Death row syndrome is a psychological disorder that inmates on death row can go through when they are put in isolation. Inmates on death row syndrome face suicidal attempts and psychotic delusions. According to some psychiatrists, the results of being confined to death row for an extended period of time, including the effects of knowing one will die and the living conditions, can fuel delusions and suicidal tendencies in an individual and can cause insanity in a form that is dangerous. Prisoners wait years for execution on death row and while waiting the prisoners go through painful isolation. They live in cells the size of parking spaces. Living in this kind of condition can amplify the effects of isolation. Most of the inmates stay in their cells for more than twenty hours a day. This kind of isolation and waiting for execution cause many inmates to die naturally.

The theory of the death row phenomenon may be traced to 1989, when the European Court of Human Rights agreed that poor conditions on death row in Virginia should mean that a fugitive should not be extradited to the US unless the US agreed it would not execute the fugitive should he or she be convicted. Additionally, the number of years that the fugitive would be on death row was considered problematic. The case is known as Soering v. United Kingdom. Earlier, however, in 1950, a justice on the United States Supreme Court in Solesbee v. Balkcom remarked that the "onset of insanity while awaiting execution of a death sentence is not a rare phenomenon". Often the death row phenomenon, being a result of a prolonged stay on death row, is an unintentional result of the long procedures used in the attempt to ensure the death penalty is applied only to the guilty.

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