The death row block is a two-storey building with rows of cells on either side of a corridor. There is little natural light and an open gutter runs alongside the cell doors. The inmates empty slop buckets into the gutter and wash over it. There are electric light sockets in the cells but lightbulbs are a precious commodity. Each cell is about 6ft x 10ft.
Some inmates have a mattress with blankets, others have foam blocks and nothing more.
After an attempted escape by three prisoners in March 1997, all death row inmates had their possessions burnt, including their legal documents. Food is provided. I saw a vast saucepan of cold rice with something brown in it. This was salt fish, which is varied with chicken back. Many inmates suffer from stomach ulcers and eye infections caused by allergies to the lime used to paint the cells in which they spend 23 hours a day.