Pittsburgh Synagogue Killer: What's Next After Death Penalty Verdict

PITTSBURGH, PA — What awaits convicted Pittsburgh synagogue killer Robert Bowers while he awaits execution will not be pleasant.

Bowers, being formally sentenced to death by a judge Thursday after a jury brought down that sentence on Wednesday for killing 11 worshipers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, likely will spend his days at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.

That's where 42 of the 43 prisoners sentenced to death in the country are being held. In 1993, the federal government designated the site as where federal death sentences would be carried out.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, Bowers can expect to be in the solitary confinement unit in a cell that is 12 feet deep by 7 feet wide - roughly the size of a parking space.

“Each cell contains a table and stool affixed to the floor, a metal sink/toilet unit, and a shower, leaving even less space for movement," according to a lawsuit the ACLU authored earlier this year on behalf of a death row inmate at the prison.

The lawsuit alleges that the severely isolating and unrelenting solitary confinement to which the prisoners are subjected violates the U.S. constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

“It is well known that prolonged isolation and solitary confinement can cause, and predictably will cause, prisoners to suffer serious emotional and psychological injuries,” the complaint states.