Updating the (dormant) state of the death penalty in Ohio

The headline of this local article, “Ohio death row inmates spend 21 years waiting for execution date,” caught my eye, and the piece includes a useful summary of the Buckeye State’s modern death penalty history.  Here is an excerpt:

Ohio’s next execution of a death row inmate was originally on the calendar for exactly three months from now on November 16. But that date, like so many others, was recently pushed back.

It’s been five years since the state’s last execution. We found state officials are calling the system “broken” as Ohio’s unofficial death penalty moratorium continues.

The governor keeps pushing back execution dates for death row inmates as the struggle to find the drugs needed for lethal injection stretches on. 122 inmates are currently on death row in Ohio. 19 Investigates found 31 of those inmates are scheduled for execution….

The average time an inmate spends on death row is now 21 years. Ohio death row inmates are more likely to die from natural causes or suicide than lethal injection.

In the Ohio Attorney General’s most recent Annual Capital Crimes Report, state officials said “It is a system that is not fairly, equally or promptly enforced.”

“Ohio’s residents and their elected leaders should make one of two decisions: Either overhaul the capital punishment system to make it effective, or end it,” the report concluded.

The report cited studies showing it costs at least one million dollars per inmate to keep them on death row, which is much more than the cost of life in prison.