In-depth reports and analysis from our extensive network of correspondents throughout the region. In the United States 3,200 inmates await execution on death row. Over 40% of them are African Americans, who make up only 13% of the nation’s population. A total of 31 states still use the death penalty, and 25 of them hold the prisoners in solitary confinement 23 hours a day before they are killed. Death penalty opponents point to the possibility of executing an innocent person. Since 1973, 155 people have been wrongfully sentenced to death and later exonerated. teleSUR