Margaret E. Noonan, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Harley Rohloff, Scott Ginder, RTI International

August 4, 2015    NCJ 248756

Presents national and state-level data on the number of inmate deaths that occurred in local jails and state prisons, the distribution of deaths across jails, and the aggregate count of deaths in federal prisons. The report presents annual counts and 14-year trends between 2000 and 2013 in deaths in custody. It provides mortality rates per 100,000 inmates in custody in jail or prison; details the causes of death, including deaths attributed to homicide, suicide, illness, intoxication, and accidental injury; describes decedents' characteristics, including age, sex, race or Hispanic origin, legal and hold status, and time served; and specifies the state where the deaths occurred. Data are from the Bureau of Justice Statistics' Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, initiated in 2000 under the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-297).

Highlights:

• Local jail inmate deaths increased 1%, from 958 deaths in 2012 to 967 deaths in 2013.
• Suicides in local jails increased 9%, from 300 suicides in 2012 to 327 in 2013.
• Jail inmate deaths due to liver disease decreased 35%, from 29 deaths in 2012 to 19 in 2013.
• Deaths in prison increased from 3,357 in 2012 to 3,479 in 2013, reaching the highest number since the prison data collection began in 2001. The total number of deaths increased 4% between 2012 and 2013.
• Illness-related deaths accounted for 89% of all deaths in prison in 2013.
• The prisoner mortality rate increased 3%, from 265 deaths per 100,000 state prisoners in 2012 to 274 per 100,000 in 2013.

Part of the Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons Series

Press Release
Summary (PDF 223KB)
Full report (PDF 2.3MB)
ASCII file (46KB)
Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 66KB)

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