Georgia’s Response to Death Row Suicides: Restrict Family Visits
Three convicted killers on Georgia’s death row died recently in the span of three months–but none of them was executed. In October of 2009, Kim McMichen died of pneumonia. In November, Timothy Pruitt died from what was reported to be a botched suicide attempt. And on New Year’s Day 2010, Leeland Mark Braley was found hanged in his cell.
Living for years or decades in solitary confinement under threat of execution, it’s hardly surprising that men on death row become suicidal. Several recent cases in which condemned inmates elected to waive their right to appeal–or even requested speedy executions–have been viewed by some as legal suicides, and attributed to the psychological effects of life on death row.
