As Supreme Court Denies Stay of Execution, Justice Breyer Urges Consideration of Death Row Conditions

On March 7, the United States Supreme Court denied a stay of exe­cu­tion for Texas death-row pris­on­er Rolando Ruiz, declin­ing to con­sid­er his claim that the more than 20 years he had been incar­cer­at­ed on death row, most­ly in soli­tary con­fine­ment, vio­lat­ed the Eighth Amendment pro­hi­bi­tion against cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment. Ruiz’s lawyers had urged the Court to con­sid­er this issue, writ­ing, ​“At this point, a quar­ter-cen­tu­ry has elapsed since Mr. Ruiz com­mit­ted a con­tract mur­der in 1992, two days after he turned twen­ty years old. Mr. Ruiz has lived for over two decades under a death sen­tence, spent almost twen­ty years in soli­tary con­fine­ment, received two eleventh-hour stays of exe­cu­tion, and has received four dif­fer­ent exe­cu­tion dates.” Justice Stephen Breyer (pic­tured) agreed, say­ing, ​“Mr. Ruiz argues that his exe­cu­tion ​‘vio­lates the Eighth Amendment’ because it ​‘follow[s] lengthy [death row] incar­cer­a­tion in trau­mat­ic con­di­tions,’ prin­ci­pal­ly his ​‘per­ma­nent soli­tary con­fine­ment.’ I believe his claim is a strong one, and we should con­sid­er it.” Breyer dis­sent­ed from the Court’s denial of a stay, cit­ing the Court’s ​“seri­ous objec­tions” to extend­ed soli­tary con­fine­ment, which date back as far as 1890, when the Court, ​“speak­ing of a peri­od of only four weeks of impris­on­ment pri­or to exe­cu­tion, said that a prisoner’s uncer­tain­ty before exe­cu­tion is ​‘one of the most hor­ri­ble feel­ings to which he can be sub­ject­ed.’ ” He also quot­ed fel­low Justice Anthony Kennedy, who in 2015 urged the court to con­sid­er the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of extend­ed soli­tary con­fine­ment. Justice Breyer and for­mer Justice John Paul Stevens have repeat­ed­ly ques­tioned the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of pro­longed incar­cer­a­tion under death-row con­di­tions, but the Court has nev­er reviewed the issue. Long stays on death row are increas­ing­ly com­mon: the Fair Punishment Project esti­mates about 40% of death row inmates have spent more than 20 years on death row. These delays, Breyer not­ed in Ruiz’s case, are ​“attrib­ut­able to the State or the low­er courts.” Ruiz was the fifth pris­on­er exe­cut­ed in the U.S. in 2017 and the third in Texas. Prior to his exe­cu­tion, he expressed his remorse to the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly, say­ing, ​“Words can­not begin to express how sor­ry I am and the hurt I have caused you and your fam­i­ly. May this bring you peace and forgiveness.”

(C. Geidner, ​“Texas Executes Man Convicted In Murder-For-Hire Scheme,” BuzzFeed News, March 7, 2017; ​“Remorseful hit man in Texas mur­der-for-hire slay­ing exe­cut­ed,” Associated Press, March 8, 2017; R. McCray, ​“40 Years Awaiting Execution,” Slate, March 7, 2017.) Read Justice Breyer’s dis­sent. See Executions in 2017 and Time on Death Row.