 This is about ten times the rate of suicide in the United States as a whole and about six times the rate of suicide in the general U.S. prison population.Since the re-institution of the death penalty in 1976 to January 1, 2017, 145 prisoners have waived their appeals and asked that the execution be carried out.In the post-"Furman" era, four states (Connecticut, New Mexico, Oregon, and Pennsylvania) have executed only volunteers.