WAYNESBURG – Just saying the words "death row" brings to mind movie scenes of horrid prison conditions like those in "Escape From Alcatraz" and creepy inmates like Hannibal Lecter in "Silence of the Lamb."
But officials at the State Correctional Institution Greene that houses the largest number of Pennsylvania's death row inmates say life in their facility is not at all like that for their so-called capital case inmates.
It's clean. Inmates are fed. They get some social time. But most of their time is spent in their cells watching TV.
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Inside this 20-year-old maximum security prison located nearly four hours from Harrisburg, 150 men between the ages of 24 and 74 sit in solitary confinement waiting for the day they will either die or win a court appeal that frees them from the possibility of being executed by lethal injection.
Until then, Greene's superintendent Robert Gilmore and capital case unit manager Stephan Longstreth offered this rundown of the daily routine.
A voice blasts over the intercom at 6 a.m., "Count time. Count time. Standing Count."
That signals inmates to stand by the door or bunk in their cell with lights on so when staff go past they can be sure the inmates are there and awake and physically able to get up. It is the first of several counts conducted throughout the day.
Breakfast gets delivered around 6:20 followed at 7, by yard time. This is their one and only chance throughout the day to go outside so many take advantage of this break from their 12-by-12-foot cell to venture outdoors regardless of the weather.
But they don't get to roam. Each of these inmate, along with another capital case inmate of their choosing, goes into a 18-by-16 foot unit to exercise and socialize for two hours before being ordered back to their cells.
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Showers come on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon. And daily, they can visit the law library in the unit to work on their appeals, although no more than four inmates are allowed in that supervised area at one time.
Then it's lights out around 9:30 p.m. although some lights stay on inside the jail at all times for security. (Story continues below gallery.)
Visitors to this prison arriving from the interstate pass a few hotels and a myriad of fast-food restaurants on a road that leads to Progress Drive where the facility is located. One look at the highly guarded complex and there's no mistaking it as anything other than a prison with its tall fences topped with razor wire.
A red sign in the parking lot warns that taking photos of the facility is taboo and guards are quick to enforce that rule. A number of other security measures are in place as well, ranging from security cameras everywhere to passing through a metal detector if you are visiting an inmate.
More signs in the prison's lobby indicate other rules. No firearms. Cameras are prohibited without proper authorization. There also are restrictions on the amount of money a visitor can carry with them in the inmate visiting area.
This is, after all, a facility that houses what some regard as the worst of the worst inmates in the state. In fact, most of those who are on death row in Pennsylvania occupy many of its cells.
Each cell comes furnished with a bed, desk, toilet, locker and stool. They also have a single narrow window that allows inmates to look beyond the four walls that surround them.
Inmates are allowed to buy a TV or a radio through the commissary and can pay $16.50 a month for a basic cable service if they want more programming options. They can have books and other personal belongings in their cell as well provided it fits in a file box. They have to pay to see the doctor unless it's an emergency. And they have to buy medications that are not for treating chronic conditions such as hypertension.
They are permitted to have visitors but unlike general population inmates, they must speak through glass and are restricted to one visitor a week for no more than hour.
There are numerous other policies that differentiate between the death row inmates and general population inmates. Items they can order from the prison's commissary are more restricted. They also can't go to school or chapel or walk to and from dining halls inside the facility. Telephone calls are limited to one a week if they are allowed them at all.
Additionally, death row inmates are segregated at all times from the general inmate population. The only jobs they can do to earn nominal pay include housekeeping chores inside the unit that is kept at 74 degrees in the winter and slightly cooler in the summer.
Anytime they leave their cell, two staff persons must accompany them. That extra staffing requirement accounts for why the cost to house a death row inmate is about $47,000 a year versus $37,000 for other inmates.
All of the policies relate to security and controlling what goes in and on inside the facility, said state Department of Corrections spokeswoman Susan Bensinger.
What Gilmore said most people who visit that capital case unit find surprising is how quiet and calm it is.
"They probably believe the capital case offenders are a little bit more difficult to manage, maybe a tad more aggressive than a normal inmate. I would argue that's not the case that we have found so far," he said.
Gilmore took charge of the prison in March after having worked there as a deputy for over a year before that. Since then, he said there has only been one disturbance in the unit involving two inmates who got into a fight but no incidents involving inmates attacking staff.
"It's not that type of a unit," he said.
Gilmore credits that to the professionalism of Longstreth, who has run that part of the facility since June 2013.
"It's clean. It's organized. It's well maintained. His floors are probably some of the best in the institution," Gilmore said.
Longstreth said the death row inmates take pride in their housing. "I had one of them tell me one day. He goes, 'we don't do this for a show out here. I've lived in older facilities and they were dirty.' And they said, 'we like the clean facility. We want to be clean.'"
Inmates are addressed as Mr. so-and-so or Inmate so-and-so. Occasionally, one might be heard speaking to an inmate in a nearby cell but generally, it's quiet. TV and radio volumes are kept low or headphones are used.
"Normally you could go by a cell and they'll be listening to their TV or watching their TV but you won't hear it from the door. Or if you do, it's very minimal," Longstreth said.
Inmates don't discuss the crimes that brought them to prison, at least not that Longstreth recalls ever overhearing. He also has never heard any of them express doubt about whether their execution will ever be carried out even though it's been 16 years since Pennsylvania has put an inmate to death.
"They take it seriously. If they weren't serious about it, they wouldn't work on their cases as earnestly as they do," Longstreth said.
That is the inmates' big focus – finding a way out of the situation that has landed them on death row. Yard time, books, showers, watching TV fills the rest of their days while waiting to find out if their time spent in the law library makes a difference.
