The Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP) is a data collection conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). BJS collects data on individual death records for all persons incarcerated in state prison or local jail facilities annually. Between 2003 and 2014, BJS also collected data on person who died while in the process of arrest.

The DCRP began in 2000 after the passage of the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-297). The original law lapsed at yearend 2006, but BJS continued to collect the data on a voluntary basis until the reauthorization of the Death in Custody Reporting Act in December of 2014 (P.L. 113-242).

Jails report the death of any inmate in their custody, even if the inmate was being held for another jurisdiction, such as the state department of corrections, another state or county, or the federal government. Jail deaths include the death of any inmate sent outside the jail facility for medical, mental health, or substance abuse treatment services, or for work-release programs. Deaths that occur while an inmate is in transit to or from the jail facility are included. Deaths of jail inmates on temporary furloughs or who escaped from the jail facility are excluded. BJS collects death records and yearend collections of population and admissions data from all jail jurisdictions nationwide annually. An average of 98% of the approximately 2,800 jail jurisdictions in the U.S. have reported to the DCRP since 2000.

State prisoner death counts include the death of any inmate held in a private prison facility under contract to the state's department of corrections. Deaths of inmates in private facilities are counted in the state that had jurisdiction over the inmate, not the state where the private facility is located. State prisons report the death of any inmate sent outside the prison facility for treatment services or for work-release programs. Deaths that occur while a prisoner is in transit to or from the prison are included. Deaths of prisoners on temporary furloughs or who escaped from the prison facility are excluded. Executions are excluded because capital punishment cases are tracked under the National Prisoner Statistics (NPS) program. In each year all 50 state departments of corrections responded to the collection. The District of Columbia submitted prison population data until 2001, then it transferred all custody operations to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).

Aggregate death counts are reported to BJS by the federal Bureau of Prisons.

When the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2000 was passed, only two states (California and Texas) collected information on all types of arrest-related deaths. For the remaining 48 states and the District of Columbia, the DCRP collection was the first attempt to perform a comprehensive count of all arrest-related deaths. BJS worked with state officials to determine which agency would collect arrest-related death reports. A state criminal justice commission, commonly administered by the governor's office, was the most common data reporting contact (22 states), followed by the state attorney general and state police department (8 states each). In five states, the department of corrections took a lead role in compiling records. In over 30 states, the reporting office also served as a state criminal justice Statistical Analysis Center (SAC).

Due to concerns regarding data quality and coverage issues, BJS temporarily suspended the arrest-related death portion (ARD) of the DCRP in 2014.

Since 2007, BJS has given respondents the option to report throughout the collection year as death investigations are finalized. In earlier collection years, BJS requested respondents report on a quarterly basis.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) assumed responsibility for the juvenile portion of the collection in 2006.

In 2008, BJS began collecting more specific information on the manner of death for suicides and deaths due to intoxication. In 2009, BJS changed and added several items on the data collection forms after receiving feedback from the field. These changes include clarifying language of existing items and adding new items. For jails and prisons, new items ask respondents 

• whether the deceased ever had an overnight stay in a mental health facility since admission
• whether the death was incidental to use of force by facility staff
• to specify the type of intoxication that led to the death.

For prisons, BJS dropped the item asking for legal status because nearly all prisoners are convicted at the time of death. Prison items include whether a death due to accident, suicide, or homicide took place while the inmate was housed on death row.