Daily Life & Conditions

Told by a death row incarcerated individual (2018)

I’m allowed a certain amount of room, as long as everything I have fits inside two lockers I’m okay.

We are “supposed” to get 6 hours outside every week, but they constantly cut our time short or even skip us entirely… On average I go outside 4 to 5 hours a week. Outside we can play basketball, volleyball, or exercise. There’s usually between 30 or 40 people on the yard at a time. I mostly play basketball unless it’s wet then I’ll play volleyball or exercise but I can exercise inside so I rarely do this outside. It’s twice a week we go out for 3 hours, each time…
When you read about death row, they usually tell you they are locked up 23 hours a day and only go out one hour a day. But they actually only go out twice a week – as he specified – for 6 hours (rarely) which means not even an hour for each day of the week.
They only have one basket on the basketball “court”, that is in a corner shape >
The court is quickly flooded when it rains.
They now have regular assigned days for yard, depending on which floor they live on. 

My visitation day is Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m with up to 5 adult visitors.
Contrary to general population death row inmates only get one visiting day a week. They are divided by Saturday-Sunday. They can have a special visit approved every 60 days (it’s an extra visit on the other day).

 

I can’t go to the library but I can mail a request for 3 books at a time… but the library sucks. They have mostly novels (which I don’t read) and almost all the educational books I’ve got from the library have had missing pages or they don’t have anything close to what I’m looking for. There’s no educational programs for death row. I understand though, why pay for an education for someone you plan to kill! Not a wise investment.

I’m sending you a canteen list so you can see everything. There are other ordering lists for clothes, art supplies, and one list with TVs and fans (both TV and fan are about 12 inches). Oh and there’s a list for the MP3 and songs.
TV and fans are bought by the inmates with their own money. They have no air-conditioning and there is no cable TV.

The front of my cell is all bars, even the door is bars. I can hand things to my neighbors and can hear them snore clearly.”
Death row cells are 6 x 9 x 9.5 feet high.

 

© Florida DOC/Doug Smith

Death row inmates can only shower every other day.

Meals are served 3 times a day – breakfast, lunch and dinner – at various hours (depending on the guards’ activity again) on trays in their cell. Death row inmates have no access to common rooms. They still organize “group meals” sometimes when inmates on the same floor will gather their food, cook and eat “together”. They are able to purchase food/snacks from the prison canteen.

They are counted every hour and escorted in handcuffs (and sometimes shackles) everywhere. They have to wear their orange uniform as well.
There is a pretty recent decision (since May) that enforces the rule that they have to wear their complete uniform (orange pants and shirt) from Monday to Friday, 8 a.m-5 p.m (they used to be able to wear shorts in their cells), but they sometimes make inspection at 7:30 or on Saturdays. This is aggravating because the uniforms are in thick material and we’re talking about Florida summer!

They receive (and can send) mail from Monday to Friday. Mail arrives between 7 p.m to 11 p.m depending on how busy the guards are and the outgoing mail is picked up at midnight. They are allowed to receive books and magazines from approved vendor.
They were not allowed any phone calls (unless they were on death watch…) until now (I think since June or July at Florida State Prison and since last week at Union Correctional Institution). They are now allowed one 15-min social phone call a month.

They can make a request to marry.