Arizona used to hang their death row inmates until the mid 1930’s, I believe. It was then that we hanged a woman whose head popped off when she dropped. The blood-stained rope is still on display in the museum at the Arizona State Prison in Florence.
Prisoners’ necks need to have better tensile strength. There’s an Army field manual on executions which specifies the length of drop dependent on the weight of the convict. With the advent of generation supersize, it may need revision. Error on the side of caution: use steel cable and a shallow drop. Let ‘em twist.