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The Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP) collects data on deaths that occur in the process of arrest, local jails or state prison custody. Arrest-related mortality data is collected through a centralized state reporting coordinator. Local jail and state prison data are collected directly from jails and state departments of correction. The DCRP provides individual-level data on the number of deaths by year, cause of death, and decedent age, race/ethnicity, and sex. Mortality rates are also presented. The collection of individual-level data allows BJS to perform detailed analyses of comparative death rates across demographic categories and offense types, as well as facility and agency characteristics.
The DCRP began in 2000 under the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-297), which required the collection of individual death records for prison and jail fatalities. While this legislation expired in 2006, BJS has continued to collect these data, as they represent a unique national resource for understanding mortality in the criminal justice system. Prior to the passage of the law, BJS annually collected aggregate counts of deaths from state prisons and less frequently collected aggregate counts from local jails. Annual collection of individual death records from local jail facilities began in 2000, followed by a separate collection from state prison facilities in 2001. Collection of arrest-related death records began in 2003.
Data Collections & Surveys |
Publications & Products |
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000-2010 - Statistical Tables Presents national and state-level data on the number of inmate deaths that occurred in local jails and state prisons, and includes aggregated data on deaths in federal prisons. | |
Press Release | PDF (1.11M) | ASCII file (23K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Zip format 40K)
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HIV in Prisons, 2001-2010 Presents national trends in the rates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related death rates among state and federal prison inmates from 2001 to 2010. | |
Press Release | PDF (1.14) | ASCII file (27K) | Comma-delimited format (CSV) (Spreadsheet 36K)
Part of the HIV in Prisons and Jails Series |
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Mortality in Local Jails, 2000-2007 (Revised) Describes the specific medical conditions causing deaths in jails nationwide during an eight-year period. | |
Errata (PDF 2K) | Press Release | PDF (353K) | ASCII file (34K) | Spreadsheets (Zip format 43K)
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HIV in Prisons, 2007-08 Presents yearend 2007 and 2008 data from the National Prisoner Statistics and the Deaths in Custody series. | |
Press Release | PDF | ASCII file | Zip format (Spreadsheet)
Part of the HIV in Prisons and Jails Series |
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Arrest-Related Deaths in the United States, 2003-2005 Presents the first findings from the law enforcement collection of the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP), which is the largest resource of information ever collected on arrest-related deaths. | |
Press Release | PDF (157K) | ASCII file (29K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 22K) | To order paper version
Part of the Arrest-Related Deaths Series |
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Medical Causes of Death in State Prisons, 2001-2004 Describes the specific medical conditions causing deaths in state prisons nationwide during a four-year period. | |
Press Release | PDF (287K) | ASCII file (16K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 18K) | To order paper version
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Suicide and Homicide in State Prisons and Local Jails Describes historical trends in State prison and local jail inmate mortality rates based on inmate death records submitted by local jails (for 2000-2002) and State prisons (for 2001-2002). | |
Press Release | PDF (617K) | ASCII file (38K) | ZIP Format (Spreadsheet 60K) | To order paper version
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Prison and Jail Deaths in Custody, 2000-2009 - Statistical Tables Provides data on the number and causes of deaths that occurred in state prison or local jail custody. | |
Press Release | PDF (675K) | ASCII file (19K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 38K) |
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Arrest-Related Deaths, 2003-2009 - Statistical Tables Provides data on the circumstances of deaths that occur during, or shortly after, state or local law enforcement officers engage in an arrest or restraint process. | |
Press Release | PDF (1M) | ASCII file (23K) | Spreadsheet (Zip format 44K) |
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Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2007 (Update) Contains a series of data tables describing recent trends in mortality in state prison, local jails, and during the process of arrest by state and local law enforcement officers. | |
State Prison Deaths, 2001-2007 (HTML) | Local Jail Deaths, 2000-2007 (HTML) | State and Local Law Enforcement Arrest-related Deaths, 2003-2006 - Statistical Tables (HTML) |
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Deaths in Custody: State Prison Deaths, 2001-2007 - Statistical Tables These tables provide national data on both the number and rate of prison deaths, by cause and over time, as well as specific data on each state's prisons. Tables include basic data on the number and characteristics of deaths reported each year by all 50 state prison systems. | |
Deaths in Custody: Local Jail Deaths, 2000-2007- Statistical tables This web page provides basic data on the number and characteristics of deaths reported each year by approximately 3,000 local jails nationwide, and provide both national data on the number and rate of jail deaths, by cause and over time, as well as specific data on the nation's 50 largest jail jurisdictions. | |
Deaths in Custody: State and Local Law Enforcement Arrest-Related Deaths, 2003-2006 - Statistical Tables This is an update to the Deaths in Custody Data tables page that provides State and local law enforcement arrest-related deaths for 2003-2006 | |
Arrest-Related Deaths in the United States, 2003-2005 "States reported more than 2,000 arrest-related deaths from 2003 through 2005 -- Homicides by Officers Made Up More Than Half of Such Fatalities" | |
Press Release | More information about this release |
Terms & Definitions |
Federal prisons | Prison facilities run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Prisoners housed in these facilities are under the legal authority of the federal government. This definition excludes the private facilities that are under exclusive contract with BOP. |
Prison | Compared to jail facilities, prisons are longer-term facilities owned by a state or by the Federal Government. Prisons typically hold felons and persons with sentences of more than a year; however, the sentence length may vary by state. Six states (Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware, Alaska, and Hawaii) have an integrated correctional system that combines jails and prisons. There are a small number of private prisons, facilities that are run by private prison corporations whose services and beds are contracted out by state or federal governments. |
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