Death Row Too Slow in Florida
Florida inmates scheduled to be executed are dead men crawling
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BAGHDAD, IRAQ- AUGUST 23: A prisoner sits handcuffed and watched by U.S. soldiers as he waits to be sent to trial by the judge at the Albeiya court house August 23, 2003 in Baghdad, Iraq. The court system in Iraq is still under transformation and finding it difficult to deal with the mass of prisoners waiting to be sent to trial. (Photo by Graeme Robertson/Getty Images)
The execution Tuesday of D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad in Virginia is raising questions about the inefficiency of Florida's death row, where inmates sit for years costing the state's taxpayers millions.
An analysis of Florida inmates sentenced to death shows that 86 percent committed their crime before Muhammad, but are nowhere near an execution.
Of the 387 people currently on the state's death row, 343 of them committed their crime before Muhammad was arrested for his shooting spree in October 2002.
In fact, 17 inmates on death row were sentenced to death over 30 years ago, still alive, still on your dime. The longest surviving death row con is Gary Alvord, sentenced to death in 1974 for strangling three women near Tampa.
"Florida's in serious financial trouble, and you've got to start looking at places like capital punishment where you can save some serious dollars," lawyer Larry Spalding said.
In Virginia, the average stay on death row is 7.1 years. In florida, it's five years more. And the space used to keep death row inmates costs three times as much as other prison space.
The state is spending $53 million to house death row inmates and probably just as much to fight their appeals.
With four dozen inamtes over the age of 60, it's becoming increasingly likely that most of them will die from natural causes rather than execution.
Some say Florida needs to step up and get moving on the executions.
"I think we all want it, but I think most folks involved in it just don't have the stomach for doing what needs to be done," said State Attorney Willie Meggs.
Posted Friday, Nov 13, 2009 - 11:48 AM EST
