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Heart Disease, Cancer, and Suicide Continue to be Leading Causes of Prisoner Deaths

Heart Disease, Cancer, and Suicide Continue to be Leading Causes of Prisoner Deaths

by Derek Gilna

In 2000, the Bureau of Justice Statistics began to compile statistics from state and local jails on causes of prisoner mortality, and although the rates of mortality have declined slightly, mortality rates for disease continue to be high. The most recent figures contained in their August 2013 report show that 4,238 prisoners died in state and local prisons in 2011, a number that hasn’t fluctuated much over the years.

This translates into a mortality rate of 122 per 100,000 prisoners in 2011, a slight decline from 2010, and the last year for which complete statistics were available. Suicides continue to be the leading cause of death, closely followed by heart disease, cancer, liver disease, and respiratory ailments.

Males accounted for approximately 90% of jail deaths, but mortality rates for male and female prisoners were quite similar. White prisoners overall had a slightly higher mortality rate than Black prisoners, who in turn had a higher rate than Hispanic prisoners.

The mortality rates of state and local jails were very similar, but both experienced an increase in deaths from cancer, mirroring the increase in cancer deaths nationwide. Not surprisingly, mortality rates for cancer, heart disease, and respiratory disease were highest in the 55-and-higher age category, with almost five times the rate of death than any other age group.

One interesting statistic was the number of suicides occurring in the first week of prisoner incarceration, outnumbering the rate of suicides for all other periods of incarceration. The number of suicides in this under-seven-day incarceration category for the time period of 2000 to 2011 totaled 1,672, showing that prisoners were most at risk their first week of confinement.

Another interesting statistic was the fact that prisoners who were not yet convicted had higher rates of suicides than the convicted, and also had higher rates of mortality for other causes besides. Once again, perhaps it was the uncertainty of their futures that contributed to the declining health of the unconvicted prisoner.

Overall, local jails had a lower mortality rate than state prisons, declining from 155 in 2001, to 122 in 2011. State institutions in the same time period had a rate increase slightly from 232 to 254.

According to the report, “in 2011, 8 in 10 jails (81%) reported zero deaths…and from 2000 to 2011, an annual average of 82% of jails reported zero deaths…About 20% of all jails reported one or more deaths in 2011. Among these jails, 67% reported a single death.” Not surprisingly, California, Florida, New York, and Texas reported a third of jail deaths in 2011, while holding approximately 31% of all prisoners.

See: www.bjs.gov, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, August, 2013.