The twelve-man jury, made up of seven women and five men, who found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty of terrorism and other charges, began the deliberation as to his fate for those crimes on Wednesday. Tsarnaev was convicted of 30 counts, of which, 17 counts are eligible for the death penalty.

It is up to the jury to determine whether Tsarnaev will face the death penalty or remain in prison for the rest of his life. Tsarnaev’s defense attorneys, when speaking to the jury during the penalty phase, worked to save Tsarnaev’s life, and described the harsh environment of the Federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, saying that Tsarnaev would die in prison, the only question would be when.

In order to be placed on the list to die for his crimes, the jury must vote unanimously for death in at least one of the 17 counts that provide the death penalty as punishment.

If sentenced to die, Tsarnaev will become the 63rd prisoner awaiting federal execution. If he is given life in prison, Tsarnaev will likely join other convicted terrorists at Colorado’s Supermax prison south of Denver,  the likes of Zacarias Moussaoui, a plotter in the 9/11 attacks, Ramzi Yousef, who planned the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to blow up an airplane with his underwear bomb.

Other denizens of the Supermax or ADX, include Timothy McVeigh’s co-conspirator Terry Nichols, the Oklahoma City bombers, and Ted Kaczynski, the long-time mail bomber.

Although there is a remote possibility that Tsarnaev will be housed at another penitentiary if spared the  death penalty, it is unlikely. Instead, he will be housed at the 490-bed ADX and be confined to a 12×7 foot cell 22 to 23 hours a day for the rest of his life.

The federal government has executed 37 prisoners since 1927. The last to die was Louis Jones Jr, who died by lethal injection in 2003 for his murder conviction.

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