Death row and death watch

More than 1,000 persons have been sent to North Carolina's death row since the state assumed responsibility for executing criminals in 1910. �

The Division of Prisons houses male death row inmates at Central Prison and female death row inmates at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women. Both prisons are located in Raleigh.

At Central Prison, the men are housed in cellblocks of Unit III. Two correctional officers in a control center watches the inmates at all times.� Each cell block is divided into eight pods with 24 single cells - 12 cells on each level.� The cells open into a dayroom area that has a television at one end, stainless steel tables in the middle and showers at the other end.� Each cell has a bed, a lavatory, commode, and a wall-mounted writing table.

Inmates on death row spend nearly all their time in either their cells or the adjacent dayroom. They may stay in their dayroom from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m.� While in the dayroom, they may watch television.

Death row dayroom at Central Prison
A dayroom on death row at Central Prison.

Death row inmates may be assigned incentive wage jobs in the canteen or clothes house, or may work as barbers or janitors within their housing areas. They are required to keep their cells and dayrooms clean. Inmates are allowed at least one hour per day for exercise and showers. Two days a week, officers escort death row inmates in groups from each cellblock pod to outdoor exercise areas, weather permitting, where the inmates can play basketball, walk or jog. Officers also escort the death row inmates by cellblock to the dining halls for each meal.

Death row inmates may receive one visit a week with a maximum of two visitors. In the visiting booths, visitors may see and talk with inmates, but physical contact is not possible.� Inmates may participate in a one-hour Christian worship service each Sunday, or Islamic worship services for one hour each Friday. A Bible study class is also conducted by the prison's chaplain for 90 minutes each Tuesday morning.

If a death row inmate violates prison regulations, he may be placed in a segregation cellblock outside of the death row area. He must eat his meals in his cell and is separated from other death row inmates for his daily hour of exercise and shower.

Conditions are similar for female inmates on death row. The women are housed in a cellblock of the maximum security building at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women. Each of the single cells has a bed, lavatory and commode. The seven cells are side by side down a corridor. At the front of the cellblock is a dayroom with a television, table and chairs. This is where the women eat their meals. This room also serves as the visiting area, and all visits are supervised by correctional staff. As a group, the women inmates are given at least an hour daily for exercise and showers. Volunteers provide Sunday worship services on death row. Chaplains are available for counseling.

Death Watch area
cellblock	bed in cell

When a death row inmate exhausts all appeals, the attorney general directs the secretary of correction to set an execution date. That inmate - male or female - is moved into the death watch area of Central Prison three to seven days prior to the execution date. The death watch area is adjacent to the execution chamber and is located in the prison's custody control building. The inmate moves all personal belongings from the death row cell to one of the four cells in the death watch area.�

Each cell has a bed, lavatory, commode and a wall-mounted writing table.� The cells are side by side and open into a dayroom where there is a table, a television and shower. With the exception of 15 minutes allowed for a shower, the inmate spends the entire day in the cell. A sergeant and a correctional officer are stationed just outside the cell in the dayroom 24 hours a day.

The inmate may receive visits from his attorney, chaplains, psychologists and others authorized by the Division of Prisons and may receive non-contact family visits in the prison's regular visiting area. Contact visits may be allowed at the warden's discretion in the days immediately preceding execution.� An inmate on death watch is not allowed contact with other inmates. The inmate remains in the death watch area until receiving a stay or until escorted to the execution chamber.

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