DOI: 10.3886/icpsr09917.v1
title: Management of Death Row Inmates, 1986-1987: [United States]
title: Version 1

description: These data offer objective and subjective information about current death row inmates and the management policies and procedures related to their incarceration. The major objectives of the study were to gather data about the inmate population and current management policies and procedures, to identify issues facing correctional administrators in supervising the growing number of condemned inmates, and to offer options for improved management. Four survey instruments were developed: (1) a form for the Department of Corrections in each of the 37 states that had a capital punishment statute as of March 1986, (2) a form for each warden of an institution that housed death-sentenced inmates, (3) a form for staff members who worked with such inmates, and (4) a form for a sample of the inmates. The surveys included questions about inmate demographics (e.g., date of birth, sex, race, Hispanic origin, level of education, marital status, and number of children), the institutional facilities available to death row inmates, state laws pertaining to them, training for staff who deal with them, the usefulness of various counseling, medical, and recreational programs, whether the inmates expected to be executed, and the challenges in managing the death row population. The surveys did not probe legal, moral, or political arguments about the death penalty itself.
description: The American Correctional Association undertook this study to explore prison management practices insofar as they affect the death row population. The increasing number of inmates awaiting execution nationwide and the increasing length of time those inmates spend on death row may affect management practices now and in the future. Areas of inquiry for this study included classification of death row inmates as well as their housing, security, staffing, and freedom of movement. The survey gathered basic demographic data about the inmates and their use of time during incarceration, including policies for the access given death row inmates to medical services, counseling services, religious and recreational activities, food service, vocational and avocational training, work, education, legal visits, mail and telephone privileges, and grievance procedures. Other policy questions addressed by this study included determining the necessity of confining all condemned inmates in one location, the extent of contact between death row inmates and other inmates, the necessity of altering staffing patterns and training staff to manage these inmates, and the liability concerns of death row supervision.
description: This study was designed to help provide information on death-sentenced inmates in terms of long-term correctional assignments. The study design was developed to address three goals: (1) to collect demographic data on death-sentenced inmates, (2) to compile state laws, departmental and institutional policies and procedures, and special reports relating to management of death-sentenced inmates, and (3) to obtain the thoughts and recommendations of those individuals most closely associated with the inmates. In order to achieve these goals, the survey design attempts to measure both the opinions and the demographic characteristics of the subject. State Department of Corrections directors, wardens, representative staff, and the inmates themselves were chosen as survey subjects.
description: Survey topics about the death row population included inmate demographics, inmate work assignments, payments to inmates, housing options, litigation regarding conditions of confinement, opportunities for fraternization with inmates in the general population, communication privileges, custody classifications and precautions, assaults and other disturbances, escapes, staff demographics, and warden and staff opinions on management techniques.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None
description: Response Rates: For Departments of Corrections in the 37 states with capital punishment statutes, the response rate was 97 percent. For wardens in the regular institutions which house death row inmates, the response rate was 85.1 percent. For staff, the response rate was 87.8 percent. For male inmates, the response rate was 52.2 percent and for female inmates, 70.0 percent.
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS0: Study-Level Files 
 DS1: Department of Corrections Survey Data 
 DS2: Warden Data 
 DS3: Staff Data 
 DS4: Inmate Data 
 DS5: Codebook for All Parts 
 DS6: SAS Data Definition Statements for Department of Corrections Data 
 DS7: SAS Data Definition Statements for Warden Data 
 DS8: SAS Data Definition Statements for Staff Data 
 DS9: SAS Data Definition Statements for Inmate Data 
 DS10: User Guide
description: Directors of state Departments of Corrections, wardens and staff who dealt with death-sentenced inmates, and death-sentenced inmates in the United States.
description: Surveys were sent to directors of the Departments of Corrections in the 37 states that had a death penalty as of March 31, 1986. Subsequently, the other three types of survey forms were packaged for 40 of the 50 United States institutions which housed death row inmates. Five to 10 staff surveys were sent to each institution. In institutions housing 20 or fewer death row inmates, surveys were sent to all inmates. For those institutions with larger death row populations, male death row inmates were randomly sampled, but all female death-sentenced inmates were surveyed.