LABELLE, FL. -- Florida's condemned inmates are almost as likely to die in
prison from natural causes as they are to be executed. Thirty-four inmates have been executed since 1993, and 29 have died in prison, mostly from natural causes,according to a new report by the Sarasota Herald Tribune newspaper. Prison officials were unable to provide detailed statistics before 1993.
If the current average of two executions a year continues, it will take about 187
years to execute the 374 men and women currently on death row in Florida. By comparison, Texas averaged two executions a month in 2006 and has executed six inmates so far this year.
Some legal experts said the number of Florida prisoners awaiting execution points to flaws in the state's system. Florida is the only one of the nation's 38 death penalty states that doesn't require a jury to unanimously agree on a death sentence. Judges make the final sentencing determination, but are required to give great weight to a jury's wishes. Since a simple majority vote of a jury is all that's needed for a death sentence, experts say it may be too easy for a convicted person to end up on death row instead of serving a life sentence.
Florida's lethal injection process just underwent scrutiny after a botched execution last year, also contributing somewhat to a backup in executions.
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