ICPSR 9917

Management of Death Row

Inmates, 1986-1987: [United States]

Description

Inter-university Consortium for

Political and Social Research
P.O. Box 1248
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
www.icpsr.umich.edu

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Bibliographic Description
ICPSR Study No.:
Title:
Principal Investigator(s):

9917
Management of Death Row Inmates, 1986-1987: [United States]
Rauch W. Hardy
American Correctional Association

Funding Agency:

Grant Number:
Bibliographic Citation:

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National

Institute of Justice
85-IJ-CX-0065
Hardy, Rauch W., and American Correctional Association. Management
of Death Row Inmates, 1986-1987: [United States]. ICPSR9917-v1. Ann
Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social
Research[distributor], 1993. doi:10.3886/ICPSR9917.v1

Scope of Study
Summary:

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.

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- ICPSR 9917 Subject Term(s):

Geographic Coverage:

capital punishment, correctional facilities, correctional guards, corrections

management, death row inmates, imprisonment, inmate populations,
policies and procedures
United States

Time Period:

1986 - 1987

Date(s) of Collection:

1986 - 1989

Unit of Observation:
Universe:

Data Type:

Individuals.
Directors of state Departments of Corrections, wardens and staff who
dealt with death-sentenced inmates, and death-sentenced inmates in
the United States.
survey data

Methodology
Purpose of the Study:

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.

Study Design:

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
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- ICPSR 9917 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.
Sample:

Sources of Information:

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.
self-enumerated questionnaires

Description of Variables:

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.

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.

Presence of Common
Scales:

None

Access and Availability

Note:

Original ICPSR Release:

Version History:

A list of the data formats available for this study can be found in the
summary of holdings. Detailed file-level information (such as record
length, case count, and variable count) is listed in the file manifest.
1993-10-02
The last update of this study occurred on 2006-01-12.

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- ICPSR 9917 2006-01-12 - All files were removed from dataset 5 and flagged as
study-level files, so that they will accompany all downloads.
Dataset(s):

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

Publications
Final Reports and Other
Publication Resources:

A list of publications related to, or based on, this data collection can be
accessed from the study's download page on the NACJD Web site or
through the ICPSR Bibliography of Data-Related Literature at
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ICPSR/citations/index.html. The list of citations
includes links to abstracts and publications in Portable Document Format
(PDF) files or text files when available.
Final reports and other publications describing research conducted on a
variety of criminal justice topics are available from the National Criminal
Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). NCJRS was established in 1972
by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), an agency of the U.S. Department
of Justice, to provide research findings to criminal justice professionals
and researchers. NCJRS operates specialized clearinghouses that are
staffed by information specialists who supply a range of reference, referral,
and distribution services. Publications can be obtained from NCJRS at
NIJ/NCJRS, Box 6000, Rockville, MD, 20849-6000, 800-851-3420 or
301-519-5500. TTY Service for the Hearing Impaired is 877-712-9279
(toll-free) or 301-947-8374 (local). The URL for the NCJRS Web site is:
http://www.ncjrs.gov/

NIJ Data Resources Program

About the DRP:

The National Institute of Justice Data Resources Program (DRP) makes

datasets from NIJ-funded research and evaluation projects available to
the research community and sponsors research and training activities
devoted to secondary data analysis. Datasets are archived by the National
Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) at the Inter-university
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- ICPSR 9917 Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University
of Michigan.
The NACJD maintains a World Wide Web site with instructions for
transferring files and sending messages. Criminal justice data funded by
the Department of Justice are available via the Internet at this site at no
charge to the user. NACJD may be contacted at NACJD/ICPSR, P.O.
Box 1248, Ann Arbor, MI, 48106-1248, 800-999-0960. The URL for the
NACJD Web site is:
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACJD/

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