U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Bureau of Justice Statistics · Statistical Tables

BJS

October 2014, NCJ 247448

Mortality in Local Jails and State 

Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables

Margaret E. Noonan, BJS Statistician, and Scott Ginder, RTI International

Mean mortality rate per 100,000

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Mean total number of deaths

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

2,500 

or more 1,000–2,400

500–

999

250–

499

50–

249

49 or

fewer

Average daily population

 Rate

FIGURE 2 

Average annual local jail inmate deaths in custody, 

by average daily inmate population, 2000–2012

Note: Local jail mortality rates are per 100,000 inmates held in custody. 

Average daily population is based on average jail inmate population 

counts from 2000 to 2012.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting 

Program, 2000–2012.

FIGURE 1 

Local jail inmate and state prisoner deaths in custody, 

2001–2012

Note: Local jail mortality rates are per 100,000 inmates held in custody. 

State prison mortality rates are per 100,000 inmates held in custody, 

including private facilities.

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting 

Program, 2001–2012; and National Prisoner Statistics, 2001–2012.

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

Number of prisoner deaths

'12'11'10'09'08'07'06'05'04'03'02'01

Jail inmate mortality rate

Prisoner mortality rate

Number of jail inmate deaths

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Number Rate per 100,000

Year

I

n 2012, 4,309 inmates died while in the custody 

of local jails or state prisons—an increase of 

2% (67 deaths) from 2011. The number of deaths 

in local jails increased, from 889 in 2011 to 958 in 

2012, which marked the first increase since 2009 

(figure 1). The increase in deaths in local jails was 

primarily due to an increase in illness-related deaths 

(up 24%).These deaths accounted for 97% of the total 

increase in deaths in jails and prisons in 2012. The 

overall mortality rate in local jails increased 4%, from 

123 deaths per 100,000 local jail inmates in 2011 to 

128 deaths per 100,000 in 2012.

Suicide continued to be the leading cause of death 

in local jails (40 suicides per 100,000 jail inmates); 

however, the suicide rate declined 4% in 2012 and 

has declined 17% since 2000. Heart disease was the 

leading cause of illness-related deaths in local jails, 

increasing 14% in 2012. 

The rate of AIDS-related deaths in local jails increased 

from 2 deaths per 100,000 inmates in 2011 to 3 per 

100,000 in 2012, the first increase since 2006. Despite 

the increase in 2012, AIDS-related deaths have 

decreased 63% in jails since 2000.

Most jail jurisdictions (81%) reported no deaths 

in 2012, which was consistent with previous years. 

Mortality in jails varied by size of jail population 

between 2000 and 2012. The smallest jail jurisdictions 

had the highest mortality rates, but these jurisdictions 

averaged less than 1 death annually (figure 2).

In 2012, a total of 3,351 deaths (78% of all deaths 

in correctional facilities) occurred in state prisons, 

which was nearly equal to the number of deaths in 

2011 (3,353). Although the number of deaths in state 

prisons remained constant, the overall mortality 

rate in prisons increased 2% in 2012. The increase 

from 2011 to 2012 was largely due to decrease in the 

prison population.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 2

In 2012, cancer continued to be the leading cause of death in 

state prisons, and the cancer mortality rate remained stable. 

The mortality rate for heart disease—the second leading 

cause of death in state prisons—decreased 5% in 2012. For 

the first time since 2005, the rate of AIDS-related deaths in 

prisons increased from 4 deaths per 100,000 prisoners in 

2011 to 6 per 100,000 in 2012. Despite the rate increase, the 

number of AIDS-related deaths in state prisons has declined 

73% since 2001.

Data in this report were developed from the Bureau of 

Justice Statistics’ (BJS) Deaths in Custody Reporting 

Program (DCRP), an annual data collection about inmate 

deaths in local jails and state prisons. The program began 

collecting data from jails in 2000 and from prisons in 2001. 

This report covers deaths in custody occurring in local jails 

and state prisons between 2000 and 2012. Statistical tables 

provide information about the causes and circumstances of 

local jail and state prison inmate deaths and present trends 

by cause of death, selected decedent characteristics, and 

mortality rates for jail and prison inmates by state.

Mortality in local jails 

Cause of death

 The number of deaths in local jails increased 8%, from 

889 deaths in 2011 to 958 in 2012. This marked the first 

annual increase in the number of deaths in local jails since 

2009 (table 1).

 Illness-related deaths accounted for over half (55%) 

of all deaths in local jails in 2012. Heart disease (28%) 

continued to be the leading cause of illness-related deaths 

in local jails in 2012 (table 2).

 The overall mortality rate in local jails increased 4%, 

from 123 deaths per 100,000 local jail inmates in 2011 

to 128 per 100,000 in 2012. This was the first substantial 

increase since the mortality rate declined 13% in 2008 

(table 3).

Decedent characteristics

 While suicide continued to be the leading cause of death 

in local jails (40 suicides per 100,000 jail inmates), the 

suicide rate declined 4% in 2012.

 In 2012, males accounted for 836 deaths in local jails, and 

females accounted for 122 deaths. Male inmate deaths 

made up 84% of the total increase in jail inmate deaths in 

2012 (table 4).

 More than a third (36%) of deaths in local jails occurred 

within 7 days of admission (table 5).

 Inmates age 45 or older experienced the largest increase in 

mortality among all age groups (up 16%) and accounted 

for about half (51%) of all deaths in jail facilities in 2012 

(table 5).

 Mortality rates among non-Hispanic white inmates and 

non-Hispanic black inmates increased in 2012, while 

mortality rates decreased for Hispanic inmates (table 6).

 The average annual suicide rate for white jail inmates 

between 2000 and 2012 (80 suicides per 100,000 jail 

inmates) remained at least three times higher than any 

other race or Hispanic origin (table 8).

Facility characteristics

 The majority (81%) of jails reported no deaths in 2012, 

which was consistent with previous years (table 9).

 Among the 538 jail jurisdictions that reported an inmate 

death, the majority (373) reported a single death.

 In 2012, California’s jail population increased 11%, while 

the national jail population increased 4% (table 11).
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 3

Mortality in state prisons

Cause of death

 A total of 3,351 deaths occurred in state prisons in 

2012—two fewer deaths than in 2011 (table 15).

 Illness-related deaths accounted for the majority (88%) of 

deaths in state prisons (table 16).

 In 2012, cancer remained the leading cause of death 

in prisons (81 deaths per 100,000 state prisoners), 

followed by heart disease (63 per 100,000) (table 17).

 The AIDS-related mortality rate (up 32%) increased for 

the first time since the DCRP began collecting prison 

data in 2001, from 4 deaths per 100,000 state prisoners 

in 2011 to 6 per 100,000 in 2012.

 The homicide rate in state prisons increased 24%, from 

5 homicides per 100,000 state prisoners in 2011 to 7 per 

100,000 in 2012.

Decedent characteristics

 Male prisoners accounted for the majority (97%) of deaths 

in state prisons in 2012 (table 19).

 Persons age 55 or older made up more than half (55%) of 

deaths in prisons.

 Male prisoners accounted for nearly all (99%) homicides 

in state prisons from 2001 to 2012 (table 21).

 Suicide (5%) was the most common unnatural cause of 

death among female prisoners from 2001 to 2012.

 Male prisoners had higher mortality rates than female 

prisoners, regardless of cause of death (table 22).

 From 2001 to 2012, the average annual mortality rate for 

male prisoners (260 deaths per 100,000 state prisoners) 

was 1.7 times higher than for female prisoners (149 per 

100,000) (table 22).

 With the exception of AIDS-related deaths, white 

prisoners had the highest average annual mortality rate 

for all illness-related causes of death from 2001 to 2012. 

AIDS-related deaths were highest among black prisoners 

(18 deaths per 100,000 state prisoners) and were at least 

two times higher than for prisoners of different races or 

Hispanic origin.

 From 2001 to 2012, the suicide rate for prisoners age 

17 or younger was nearly two times higher than for 

older inmates.

 The total state prison population in custody declined 

2% in 2012. Most demographic groups exhibited some 

population decline; however, the populations for inmates 

ages 17 or younger and 54 and older increased (table 23).

Deaths by jurisdiction

 The number of deaths in federal prisons (350 deaths) 

declined 10% in 2012, the first decrease in the previous 

2 years (table 24).

 The mortality rate of federal prisoners declined, from 

220 deaths per 100,000 federal prisoners in 2011 to 

198 per 100,000 in 2012 (table 25).

 California state prisons reported 22 fewer deaths in 2012 

than in 2011—the smallest number of deaths reported by 

California (366 deaths) since 2005. The observed increase 

in the mortality is largely due to the decrease in the 

California prison population.

 From 2001 to 2012, the average annual mortality rate for 

state prisoners varied by state. The median mortality rate 

across all states was 242 deaths per 100,000 state prisoners 

(table 27).

 Overall mortality rates and mortality rates by state and 

cause of death may not be directly compared between 

states due to differences in age, sex, race or Hispanic 

origin, and other decedent characteristics.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 4

List of tables

TABLE 1 

Number of local jail inmate deaths, by cause of death, 

2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

TABLE 2 

Percent of local jail inmate deaths, by cause of death, 

2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

TABLE 3 

Mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates, by cause of 

death, 2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

TABLE 4 

Number of local jail inmate deaths, by selected decedent 

characteristics, 2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

TABLE 5 

Percent of local jail inmate deaths, by selected decedent 

characteristics, 2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

TABLE 6 

Mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates, by selected 

decedent characteristics, 2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

TABLE 7 

Number of local jail inmate deaths, by cause of death and 

selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . 11

TABLE 8 

Average annual mortality rate per 100,000 jail inmates, 

by cause of death and selected decedent characteristics, 

2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

TABLE 9 

Number and percent of local jail jurisdictions reporting 

deaths to the Deaths in Custody Program, by number of 

deaths reported each year, 2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

TABLE 10 

Number of local jail deaths, by state, 2000–2012 . . . . . . . 14

TABLE 11 

Number of local jail inmates held on an average day, by 

state, 2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

TABLE 12 

Mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates, by state, 

2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

TABLE 13 

Number of local jail jurisdictions reporting to the Deaths 

in Custody Reporting Program, by state, 2000–2012 . . . 17

TABLE 14 

Percent of local jail jurisdictions reporting one or more 

deaths to the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, by 

state, 2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

TABLE 15 

Number of state prisoner deaths, by cause of death, 

2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

TABLE 16 

Percent of state prisoner deaths, by cause of death, 

2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

TABLE 17 

Mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, by cause of 

death, 2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

TABLE 18 

Number of state prisoner deaths, by selected decedent 

characteristics, 2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

TABLE 19 

Percent of state prisoner deaths, by selected decedent 

characteristics, 2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

TABLE 20 

Mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, by selected 

decedent characteristics, 2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

TABLE 21

Number of state prisoner deaths, by cause of death and 

selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . 22

TABLE 22 

Average annual mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, 

by cause of death and selected decedent characteristics, 

2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

TABLE 23 

Estimated number of state and federal prisoners 

in custody, by selected inmate characteristics, 

2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

TABLE 24 

Number of state and federal prisoner deaths, by location, 

2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

TABLE 25 

Mortality rate per 100,000 state and federal prisoners, by 

location, 2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

TABLE 26 

Number of state and federal prisoner deaths, by cause of 

death and location, 2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

TABLE 27 

Average annual mortality rate per 100,000 state and 

federal prisoners, by cause of death and location, 

2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 5

List of appendix tables

APPENDIX TABLE 1 

Estimated number of local jail inmates in custody on 

an average day, by selected decedent characteristics, 

2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

APPENDIX TABLE 2 

Illness mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates, by 

selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . 35

APPENDIX TABLE 3 

Heart disease mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates, 

by selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2012 . . . . . . 36

APPENDIX TABLE 4 

Suicide mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates, by 

selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . 37

APPENDIX TABLE 5 

Mortality rate for all other unnatural deaths per 100,000 

local jail inmates, 2000–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

APPENDIX TABLE 6 

Illness mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, by 

selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . 38

APPENDIX TABLE 7 

Cancer mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, by 

selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . 39

APPENDIX TABLE 8 

Heart disease mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, 

by selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012 . . . . . . 39

APPENDIX TABLE 9 

Liver disease mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, by 

selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012 . . . . . . . . 40

APPENDIX TABLE 10 

Respiratory disease mortality rate per 100,000 state 

prisoners, by selected decedent characteristics, 

2001–2012. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

APPENDIX TABLE 11 

Mortality rate for all other illnesses per 100,000 state 

prisoners, by selected decedent characteristics, 

2001–2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 6

Table 1

Number of local jail inmate deaths, by cause of death, 2000–2012

Cause of death Total 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008a 2009 2010 2011 2012

All causes 12,760 904 942 970 1,002 1,021 1,045 1,094 1,100 957 960 918 889 958

Illness 6,629 516 485 508 512 529 501 604 608 444 491 477 425 529

Heart disease 2,904 198 215 221 240 227 202 246 231 184 200 240 230 270

AIDS-related 531 57 59 52 55 52 40 54 43 32 27 26 13 21

Cancer 455 31 25 39 34 29 37 39 42 25 47 34 30 43

Liver disease 379 24 27 27 32 32 32 25 39 36 31 29 15 30

Respiratory disease 345 31 18 20 20 35 21 27 48 31 31 18 18 27

All otherb 2,015 175 141 149 131 154 169 213 205 136 155 130 119 138

Suicide 3,807 289 313 314 296 299 286 278 284 228 304 305 311 300

Drug/alcohol intoxication 854 37 58 54 89 76 83 87 79 43 64 54 73 57

Accident 340 25 36 34 28 33 24 33 18 15 26 23 27 18

Homicidec 274 17 19 18 15 25 22 36 20 16 23 20 21 22

Other/unknown 502 17 24 35 52 50 110 52 71 8 24 13 22 24

Missing 354 3 7 7 10 9 19 4 20 203 28 26 10 8

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Cause-of-death rankings may differ from previously published estimates because cause of death 

was ranked on all deaths from 2000 to 2012. See Methodology for details on ranking.

aIn 2008, a high number of illness cases were missing cause-of-death information and were classified as other or unknown. See Methodology.

bIncludes other specified illnesses, such as cerebrovascular disease, influenza, cirrhosis, and other nonleading natural causes of death, as well as unspecified illnesses. 

See Methodology for illness classifications.

cIncludes homicides committed by other inmates, incidental to the staff use of force, and resulting from assaults sustained prior to incarceration. See Methodology.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.

Table 2

Percent of local jail inmate deaths, by cause of death, 2000–2012

Cause of death 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008a 2009 2010 2011 2012

All causes 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Illness 57.1% 51.5% 52.4% 51.1% 51.8% 47.9% 55.2% 55.3% 46.4% 51.1% 52.0% 47.8% 55.2%

Heart disease 21.9 22.8 22.8 24.0 22.2 19.3 22.5 21.0 19.2 20.8 26.1 25.9 28.2

AIDS-related 6.3 6.3 5.4 5.5 5.1 3.8 4.9 3.9 3.3 2.8 2.8 1.5 2.2

Cancer 3.4 2.7 4.0 3.4 2.8 3.5 3.6 3.8 2.6 4.9 3.7 3.4 4.5

Liver disease 2.7 2.9 2.8 3.2 3.1 3.1 2.3 3.5 3.8 3.2 3.2 1.7 3.1

Respiratory disease 3.4 1.9 2.1 2.0 3.4 2.0 2.5 4.4 3.2 3.2 2.0 2.0 2.8

All otherb 19.4 15.0 15.4 13.1 15.1 16.2 19.5 18.6 14.2 16.1 14.2 13.4 14.4

Suicide 32.0% 33.2% 32.4% 29.5% 29.3% 27.4% 25.4% 25.8% 23.8% 31.7% 33.2% 35.0% 31.3%

Drug/alcohol intoxication 4.1% 6.2% 5.6% 8.9% 7.4% 7.9% 8.0% 7.2% 4.5% 6.7% 5.9% 8.2% 5.9%

Accident 2.8% 3.8% 3.5% 2.8% 3.2% 2.3% 3.0% 1.6% 1.6% 2.7% 2.5% 3.0% 1.9%

Homicidec 1.9% 2.0% 1.9% 1.5% 2.4% 2.1% 3.3% 1.8% 1.7% 2.4% 2.2% 2.4% 2.3%

Other/unknown 1.9% 2.5% 3.6% 5.2% 4.9% 10.5% 4.8% 6.5% 0.8% 2.5% 1.4% 2.5% 2.5%

Missing 0.3% 0.7% 0.7% 1.0% 0.9% 1.8% 0.4% 1.8% 21.2% 2.9% 2.8% 1.1% 0.8%

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Cause-of-death rankings may differ from previously published estimates because cause of death 

was ranked on all deaths from 2000 to 2012. 

aIn 2008, a high number of illness cases were missing cause-of-death information and were classified as other or unknown. See Methodology.

bIncludes other specified illnesses, such as cerebrovascular disease, influenza, cirrhosis, and other nonleading natural causes of death, as well as unspecified illnesses. 

See Methodology for illness classifications.

cIncludes homicides committed by other inmates, incidental to the staff use of force, and resulting from assaults sustained prior to incarceration. See Methodology.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 7

Table 3

Mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates, by cause of death, 2000–2012

Cause of death 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008a 2009 2010 2011 2012

All causes 151 147 145 146 143 141 142 141 123 128 125 123 128

Illness 86 76 76 74 74 67 78 78 57 66 65 59 71

Heart disease 33 34 33 35 32 27 32 30 24 27 33 32 36

AIDS-related 10 9 8 8 7 5 7 5 4 4 4 2 3

Cancer 5 4 6 5 4 5 5 5 3 6 5 4 6

Liver disease 4 4 4 5 4 4 3 5 5 4 4 2 4

Respiratory disease 5 3 3 3 5 3 3 6 4 4 2 2 4

All otherb 29 22 22 19 22 23 28 26 17 21 18 16 18

Suicide 48 49 47 43 42 39 36 36 29 41 42 43 40

Drug/alcohol intoxication 6 9 8 13 11 11 11 10 6 9 7 10 8

Accident 4 6 5 4 5 3 4 2 2 3 3 4 2

Homicidec 3 3 3 2 3 3 5 3 2 3 3 3 3

Other/unknown 3 4 5 8 7 15 7 9 1 ! 3 2 3 3

Missing 1 ! 1 ! 1 ! 1 ! 1 ! 3 1 ! 3 26 4 4 1 ! 1 !

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Cause-of-death rankings may differ from previously published estimates because cause of death 

was ranked on all deaths from 2000 to 2012. Local jail mortality rates are per 100,000 inmates held in custody. Mortality rates are based on the average daily population 

(ADP). In 2000 and 2001, ADP was estimated by taking the average of January 1 and December 31 one-day inmate population counts. 

! Interpret with caution; estimate based on too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

aIn 2008, a high number of illness cases were missing cause-of-death information and were classified as other or unknown. See Methodology.

bIncludes other specified illnesses, such as cerebrovascular disease, influenza, cirrhosis, and other nonleading natural causes of death, as well as unspecified illnesses. 

See Methodology for illness classifications.

cIncludes homicides committed by other inmates, incidental to the staff use of force, and resulting from assaults sustained prior to incarceration. See Methodology.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 8

Table 4

Number of local jail inmate deaths, by selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2012

Characteristic 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 904 942 970 1,002 1,021 1,045 1,094 1,100 957 960 918 889 958

Sex

Male 813 847 863 867 893 925 964 970 838 850 804 778 836

Female 91 91 107 133 128 120 130 130 119 110 114 111 122

Race/Hispanic origina

White 453 514 534 538 500 560 528 548 511 535 516 525 554

Black/African American 305 283 305 322 359 332 408 398 310 272 265 234 272

Hispanic/Latino 118 115 113 119 135 116 126 125 107 109 90 106 100

Otherb 17 20 10 16 24 22 27 27 27 31 23 19 24

Age

17 or younger 8 8 7 5 7 5 6 4 6 3 3 2 2

18–24 89 107 100 103 105 107 103 101 84 86 80 81 83

25–34 184 193 186 211 210 192 196 199 167 175 187 207 189

35–44 265 280 337 283 300 284 312 292 246 236 201 198 197

45–54 239 239 236 266 263 275 303 322 275 258 253 227 274

55 or older 115 111 102 128 133 170 168 182 178 194 172 172 209

Legal status

Convictedc 258 252 245 255 226 231 238 246 200 247 232 220 255

Unconvictedd 628 683 717 739 786 798 846 850 752 693 664 664 698

Time served

7 or fewer days 328 349 360 398 399 385 382 393 347 364 345 347 348

8–30 168 173 168 176 179 188 205 184 164 166 176 172 200

31–60 111 105 100 94 115 112 126 137 106 99 91 97 99

61–120 115 124 121 120 111 128 148 147 122 117 92 90 116

121–180 56 63 73 73 76 69 80 81 68 51 58 56 58

180 or more 119 113 134 124 124 127 123 152 128 147 133 124 133

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Detail may not sum to total due to missing data.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

cIncludes inmates who returned on a probation or parole violation. See Methodology.

dIncludes inmates whose status was marked as other or was unspecified.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 9

Table 5

Percent of local jail inmate deaths, by selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2012

Characteristic 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Sex

Male 89.9% 90.3% 89.0% 86.7% 87.5% 88.5% 88.1% 88.2% 87.6% 88.5% 87.6% 87.5% 87.3%

Female 10.1 9.7 11.0 13.3 12.5 11.5 11.9 11.8 12.4 11.5 12.4 12.5 12.7

Race/Hispanic origina

White 50.7% 55.2% 55.5% 54.1% 49.1% 54.4% 48.5% 49.9% 53.5% 56.5% 57.7% 59.4% 58.3%

Black/African American 34.2 30.4 31.7 32.4 35.3 32.2 37.5 36.2 32.5 28.7 29.6 26.5 28.6

Hispanic/Latino 13.2 12.3 11.7 12.0 13.3 11.3 11.6 11.4 11.2 11.5 10.1 12.0 10.5

Otherb 1.9 2.1 1.0 1.6 2.4 2.1 2.5 2.5 2.8 3.3 2.6 2.1 2.5

Age

17 or younger 0.9% 0.9% 0.7% 0.5% 0.7% 0.5% 0.6% 0.4% 0.6% 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2%

18–24 9.9 11.4 10.3 10.3 10.3 10.4 9.5 9.2 8.8 9.0 8.9 9.1 8.7

25–34 20.4 20.6 19.2 21.2 20.6 18.6 18.0 18.1 17.5 18.4 20.9 23.3 19.8

35–44 29.4 29.9 34.8 28.4 29.5 27.5 28.7 26.5 25.7 24.8 22.4 22.3 20.6

45–54 26.6 25.5 24.4 26.7 25.8 26.6 27.8 29.3 28.8 27.1 28.2 25.6 28.7

55 or older 12.8 11.8 10.5 12.9 13.1 16.5 15.4 16.5 18.6 20.4 19.2 19.4 21.9

Legal status

Convictedc 29.1% 27.0% 25.5% 25.7% 22.3% 22.4% 22.0% 22.4% 21.0% 26.3% 25.9% 24.9% 26.8%

Unconvictedd 70.9 73.0 74.5 74.3 77.7 77.6 78.0 77.6 79.0 73.7 74.1 75.1 73.2

Time served

7 or fewer days 36.6% 37.6% 37.7% 40.4% 39.7% 38.2% 35.9% 35.9% 37.1% 38.6% 38.5% 39.2% 36.5%

8–30 18.7 18.7 17.6 17.9 17.8 18.6 19.3 16.8 17.5 17.6 19.7 19.4 21.0

31–60 12.4 11.3 10.5 9.5 11.5 11.1 11.8 12.5 11.3 10.5 10.2 10.9 10.4

61–120 12.8 13.4 12.7 12.2 11.1 12.7 13.9 13.4 13.0 12.4 10.3 10.2 12.2

121–180 6.2 6.8 7.6 7.4 7.6 6.8 7.5 7.4 7.3 5.4 6.5 6.3 6.1

180 or more 13.3 12.2 14.0 12.6 12.4 12.6 11.6 13.9 13.7 15.6 14.9 14.0 13.9

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Detail may not sum to total due to missing data.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

cIncludes inmates who returned on a probation or parole violation. See Methodology.

dIncludes inmates whose status was marked as other or was unspecified.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 10

Table 6

Mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates, by selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2012

Characteristic 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 151 147 145 146 143 141 142 141 123 128 125 123 128

Sex

Male 153 150 146 143 142 143 143 142 123 129 125 123 129

Female 133 123 138 162 145 127 130 129 120 120 124 122 123

Race/Hispanic origina

White 211 223 222 218 195 211 191 196 185 202 202 212 220

Black/African American 127 110 114 119 129 117 141 138 109 100 102 94 109

Hispanic/Latino 107 97 91 94 102 85 88 87 70 71 58 67 60

Otherb 52 57 27! 38 48 39 42 38 41 53 36 28 31

Age

17 or younger 122 ! 114 ! 96 ! 69 ! 97 ! 70 ! 84 ! 58 ! 86 ! 43 ! 47 ! 34 ! 36 !

18–24 52 59 53 53 53 53 49 48 40 42 41 43 43

25–34 96 94 87 96 92 81 80 81 67 72 77 85 73

35–44 169 167 193 160 166 154 166 156 137 143 126 129 127

45–54 396 371 350 358 318 302 302 300 259 255 251 225 259

55 or older 870 785 691 773 714 818 726 728 666 707 614 599 678

Legal status

Convictedc 98 95 92 94 80 82 81 83 69 87 81 77 87

Unconvictedd 187 182 179 177 182 173 176 175 153 149 148 152 154

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Detail may not sum to total due to missing data. Local jail mortality rates are per 100,000 inmates 

held in custody. Mortality rates are based on the average daily population (ADP). In 2000 and 2001, ADP was estimated by taking the average of January 1 and December 

31 one-day inmate population counts.

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

cIncludes inmates who returned on a probation or parole violation. See Methodology.

dIncludes inmates whose status was marked as other or was unspecified.

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Annual Survey of Jails, 2000–2012, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012; National Inmate Survey, 2007–2012; and 

Survey of Inmates in Local Jails, 2002.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 11

Table 7

Number of local jail inmates deaths, by cause of death and selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2012

Illness

Characteristic All causes

Heart

disease

AIDSrelated CancerLiver

disease

Respiratory 

disease All othera Suicide

Drug/alcohol 

intoxication Accident Homicideb

Total 12,760 2,904 531 455 379 345 2,015 3,807 854 340 274

Sex

Male 10,947 2,597 464 410 347 275 1,671 3,494 682 308 270

Female 1,457 307 67 45 32 70 343 312 172 32 4

Race/Hispanic originc

White 6,657 1,380 87 202 204 155 849 2,690 534 210 104

Black/African American 3,957 1,216 377 196 83 149 849 532 186 86 113

Hispanic/Latino 1,441 242 64 49 85 34 265 440 111 33 51

Otherd 283 51 3 7 5 5 39 130 18 10 4

Age

17 or younger 60 2 1 0 0 1 5 44 3 1 1

18–24 1,195 77 10 7 3 14 103 725 112 39 58

25–34 2,435 280 93 29 20 49 280 1,163 273 81 70

35–44 3,345 695 215 69 78 86 523 1,115 261 98 61

45–54 3,348 1,022 171 155 195 104 694 575 166 80 56

55 or older 1,973 823 38 195 83 89 401 173 36 39 27

Legal status

Convictede 3,035 883 143 132 108 93 541 667 173 103 70

Unconvictedf 9,280 2,002 383 321 271 247 1,462 3,121 677 236 198

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Detail may not sum to total due to missing data. 

aIncludes other specified illnesses, such as cerebrovascular disease, influenza, cirrhosis, and other nonleading natural causes of death, as well as unspecified illnesses. 

See Methodology for illness classifications.

bIncludes homicides committed by other inmates, incidental to the staff use of force, and resulting from assaults sustained prior to incarceration. See Methodology.

cExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

dIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

eIncludes inmates who returned on a probation or parole violation. See Methodology.

f

Includes inmates whose status was marked as other or was unspecified.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 12

Table 8

Average annual mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates, by cause of death and selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2012

Illness

Characteristic All causes

Heart

disease

AIDSrelated CancerLiver

disease

Respiratory 

disease All othera Suicide

Drug/alcohol 

Intoxication Accident Homicideb

Total 137 31 6 5 4 4 22 41 9 4 3

Sex

Male 132 31 6 5 4 3 20 42 8 4 3

Female 137 29 6 4 3 7 32 29 16 3 --

Race/Hispanic originc

White 198 41 3 6 6 5 25 80 16 6 3

Black/African American 106 32 10 5 2 4 23 14 5 2 3

Hispanic/Latino 83 14 4 3 5 2 15 25 6 2 3

Otherd 55 10 1 ! 1 ! 1 ! 1 ! 8 25 4 2 1 !

Age

17 or younger 59 2 ! 1 ! 0 0 1 ! 5 ! 43 3 ! 1 ! 1 !

18–24 45 3 -- -- -- 1 4 27 4 1 2

25–34 81 9 3 1 1 2 9 39 9 3 2

35–44 137 28 9 3 3 4 21 46 11 4 2

45–54 356 109 18 16 21 11 74 61 18 8 6

55 or older 956 399 18 94 40 43 194 84 17 19 13

Legal status

Convictede 74 21 3 3 3 2 13 16 4 3 2

Unconvictedf 177 38 7 6 5 5 28 60 13 5 4

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Detail may not sum to total due to missing data. Local jail mortality rates are per 100,000 inmates 

held in custody. Mortality rates are based on the average daily population (ADP). In 2000 and 2001, ADP was estimated by taking the average of January 1 and December 

31 one-day inmate population counts. See Methodology.

-- Less than 0.5.

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

aIncludes other specified illnesses, such as cerebrovascular disease, influenza, cirrhosis, and other nonleading natural causes of death, as well as unspecified illnesses. 

See Methodology for illness classifications.

bIncludes homicides committed by other inmates, incidental to the staff use of force, and resulting from assaults sustained prior to incarceration. See Methodology.

cExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

dIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

eIncludes inmates who returned on a probation or parole violation. 

f

Includes inmates whose status was marked as other or was unspecified.

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Annual Survey of Jails, 2000–2012; Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012; National Inmate Survey, 2007–2009; and 

Survey of Inmates in Local Jails, 2002.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 13

Table 9

Number and percent of local jail jurisdictions reporting to the Deaths in Custody Program, by number of deaths reported each 

year, 2000–2012

 0 deaths 1 death 2 or more deaths

Year Total Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent 

2000 2,988 2,553 85.4% 289 9.7% 146 4.9%

2001 2,973 2,489 83.7 331 11.1 153 5.1

2002 2,958 2,473 83.6 332 11.2 153 5.2

2003 2,941 2,430 82.6 350 11.9 161 5.5

2004 2,924 2,406 82.3 367 12.6 151 5.2

2005 2,897 2,375 82.0 362 12.5 160 5.5

2006 2,869 2,330 81.2 368 12.8 171 6.0

2007 2,848 2,314 81.3 350 12.3 184 6.5

2008 2,833 2,333 82.4 344 12.1 156 5.5

2009 2,748 2,247 81.8 330 12.0 171 6.2

2010 2,754 2,253 81.8 340 12.3 161 5.8

2011 2,746 2,223 81.0 352 12.8 171 6.2

2012 2,805 2,267 80.8 373 13.3 165 5.9

Annual average, 2000–2012 2,868 2,361 82.3% 345 12.0% 162 5.6%

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Includes all jails that reported population or death data. All jails are asked to report population 

data, regardless of whether an inmate death occurred. Jails are locally run jurisdictions under the authority of a sheriff, county government, or other local authority. Jail 

jurisdictions include counties (parishes in Louisiana) or municipal governments that administer one or more local jails. See Methodology.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.
Table 10

Number of local jail deaths, by state, 2000–2012

State 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 904 942 970 1,002 1,021 1,045 1,094 1,100 957 960 918 889 958

Alabama 24 27 21 15 23 23 34 21 19 20 28 18 18

Alaskaa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

Arizona 15 18 24 16 12 27 19 21 12 11 16 9 10

Arkansas 9 13 14 22 13 7 11 10 15 5 7 16 10

California 109 124 131 126 120 156 126 129 106 138 121 92 112

Colorado 13 16 14 13 11 18 13 21 21 14 20 12 9

Connecticut ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Delaware ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

District of Columbia 4 0 10 12 13 11 12 10 7 8 4 7 2

Florida 82 98 79 85 86 79 99 103 77 88 57 66 69

Georgia 38 39 50 45 54 41 46 44 55 45 48 45 47

Hawaii ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Idaho 3 3 1 2 1 7 5 7 1 6 3 5 4

Illinois 31 21 22 30 41 25 37 31 28 29 23 21 23

Indiana 21 21 14 23 18 16 26 18 11 16 22 21 19

Iowa 2 4 3 1 4 4 3 5 2 6 3 8 4

Kansas 9 9 12 10 15 11 10 7 12 11 10 10 11

Kentucky 16 13 12 14 16 22 21 25 22 18 21 16 21

Louisiana 10 22 22 32 41 31 26 31 34 22 26 20 42

Maine 2 2 7 3 2 1 5 1 1 2 3 7 0

Maryland 22 20 20 25 15 23 27 32 25 20 24 21 17

Massachusetts 5 10 16 9 8 21 14 14 17 17 16 5 14

Michigan 23 17 18 26 20 29 21 18 12 20 18 24 17

Minnesota 6 8 6 9 9 8 11 8 4 3 10 6 7

Mississippi 9 12 17 17 17 16 18 18 14 13 14 14 9

Missouri 16 14 8 17 6 10 13 25 17 20 21 12 27

Montana 3 1 5 5 3 6 1 2 2 6 3 8 3

Nebraska 5 5 6 2 4 2 6 2 5 7 6 5 4

Nevada 15 18 6 6 8 14 9 10 8 14 8 13 12

New Hampshire 3 2 5 3 3 1 4 4 2 5 1 4 3

New Jersey 31 17 17 38 34 32 36 34 27 25 29 20 25

New Mexico 15 9 9 7 17 11 21 15 11 11 17 23 16

New York 57 52 51 47 43 51 52 52 32 37 37 36 40

North Carolina 15 17 32 22 21 17 21 28 19 21 24 17 25

North Dakota 1 1 2 2 1 0 2 1 1 2 2 1 3

Ohio 23 20 30 30 18 24 26 26 23 26 23 28 33

Oklahoma 15 18 9 13 14 18 21 24 17 18 18 12 13

Oregon 10 10 7 7 15 8 11 3 15 7 9 8 3

Pennsylvania 38 50 51 53 66 57 56 55 44 37 31 46 58

Rhode Island ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South Carolina 17 23 17 11 16 19 21 14 19 15 19 7 22

South Dakota 4 2 1 0 1 3 1 1 2 2 0 1 0

Tennessee 29 28 29 23 39 36 30 35 37 34 20 40 35

Texas 97 84 96 96 99 89 98 90 86 76 84 70 72

Utah 6 6 13 7 11 10 7 11 6 12 8 14 11

Vermont ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Virginia 34 41 36 42 33 30 36 59 49 39 29 42 40

Washington 8 10 11 16 11 11 19 15 16 14 16 16 20

West Virginiab 2 6 2 6 5 6 6 4 6 7 5 7 10

Wisconsin 7 11 12 11 10 11 11 15 17 11 13 14 13

Wyoming 0 0 2 3 4 3 2 1 1 2 1 1 4

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Jails are locally run jurisdictions under the authority of a sheriff, county government, or other local 

authority. Jail jurisdictions include counties (parishes in Louisiana) or municipal governments that administer one or more local jails. See Methodology.

~ Not applicable. Prisons and jails form one integrated system. See prison tables for mortality data.

aPrisons and jails form one integrated system. Includes data for 14 locally operated jails; excludes data for prisons and jails operated by the Alaska Department of 

Corrections.

bIn 2007, the Bureau of Justice Statistics began receiving data from a centralized regional jail respondent that covered all West Virginia jails.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 15

Table 11

Number of local jail inmates held on an average day, by state, 2000–2012

State 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 598,397 639,941 668,168 688,030 715,660 742,261 772,334 782,592 779,704 749,449 733,775 722,735 745,965 

Alabama 12,951 11,857 13,380 12,613 13,454 14,653 14,921 15,858 16,156 13,868 15,054 15,333 14,944 

Alaskaa 60 81 97 79 105 80 70 64 52 70 64 73 104 

Arizona 10,859 13,590 12,704 13,815 14,648 15,302 15,085 16,539 17,844 15,043 13,242 13,467 14,542 

Arkansas 5,271 5,571 6,111 6,248 6,167 6,023 6,402 6,986 7,373 7,453 7,420 7,189 7,447 

California 72,640 72,452 75,594 76,168 77,964 81,951 81,778 83,483 83,520 81,652 74,830 71,781 79,513 

Colorado 9,179 10,394 11,107 11,713 11,555 13,243 13,871 13,540 13,111 13,207 12,703 11,779 12,561 

Connecticut ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Delaware ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

District of Columbia 1,656 1,618 3,161 2,268 3,477 2,318 3,473 3,142 2,987 3,089 3,037 3,011 2,455 

Florida 49,358 50,056 54,638 53,556 60,056 63,386 64,721 66,956 66,823 61,606 58,958 57,959 57,040 

Georgia 33,617 35,492 37,969 39,568 42,248 44,555 45,774 44,963 47,625 46,417 47,101 44,559 44,850 

Hawaii ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Idaho 2,668 2,964 3,280 3,402 2,946 3,939 3,929 4,062 3,938 3,750 3,529 3,718 3,728 

Illinois 17,452 19,701 20,691 21,478 20,370 29,744 20,391 20,660 20,966 19,601 20,224 20,666 21,376 

Indiana 12,760 16,958 14,752 15,398 16,447 17,415 18,716 17,246 17,811 18,302 17,703 17,342 17,533 

Iowa 3,046 3,109 3,612 3,853 3,620 4,167 4,023 4,158 4,085 3,891 3,993 4,099 4,264 

Kansas 5,093 5,657 6,163 7,437 6,864 7,412 7,721 7,383 7,668 6,992 7,692 7,236 6,961 

Kentucky 11,492 19,129 13,954 14,429 16,382 16,380 16,906 18,129 18,070 17,803 17,460 18,252 19,537 

Louisiana 22,744 26,967 27,229 27,824 28,640 29,863 25,979 29,801 29,060 29,572 32,199 31,022 32,651 

Maine 1,297 1,411 1,508 1,572 1,484 1,567 1,767 1,630 1,598 1,571 1,062 1,322 1,299 

Maryland 10,471 10,960 12,069 12,545 12,974 12,696 13,039 14,005 13,577 12,205 12,398 12,423 12,233 

Massachusetts 9,427 11,040 11,745 12,342 13,114 12,485 13,873 13,527 13,309 13,184 10,724 10,326 9,616 

Michigan 15,869 16,460 16,644 16,713 17,956 18,197 18,739 18,436 17,676 17,001 16,457 16,541 17,089 

Minnesota 4,958 5,663 5,954 6,408 7,033 7,265 7,286 7,582 7,105 6,747 6,835 6,537 6,473 

Mississippi 9,885 9,280 10,160 10,872 10,495 10,984 10,981 11,811 11,057 9,732 10,501 10,601 12,620 

Missouri 7,596 8,194 8,997 9,400 10,027 10,277 11,245 10,660 11,658 11,402 10,664 11,520 12,393 

Montana 1,291 1,884 1,804 1,921 2,011 2,084 1,981 1,721 1,781 1,741 1,952 1,035 1,972 

Nebraska 2,140 2,365 2,494 2,485 2,855 2,962 2,741 2,940 3,135 3,427 3,391 3,406 3,442 

Nevada 5,216 5,407 5,656 7,537 6,869 6,144 6,479 7,638 7,531 7,737 7,410 7,083 6,922 

New Hampshire 887 1,376 1,550 1,561 1,658 1,841 2,048 2,039 2,024 2,108 2,103 2,063 2,143 

New Jersey 15,102 15,683 16,295 16,858 17,384 18,035 19,096 18,403 17,824 16,426 15,955 15,280 16,193 

New Mexico 5,918 6,426 6,611 7,387 8,091 8,585 9,031 8,753 9,089 8,273 8,886 8,297 8,408 

New York 27,403 28,709 30,640 30,488 30,588 30,778 32,229 31,335 30,304 29,877 30,122 29,793 28,259 

North Carolina 12,276 12,901 15,103 15,319 16,454 17,958 18,295 19,104 19,382 16,470 18,601 18,288 19,168 

North Dakota 619 650 746 828 876 997 963 889 962 897 947 1,111 1,190 

Ohio 16,118 16,948 18,626 19,592 19,701 19,594 20,664 20,539 19,254 19,944 17,454 17,788 18,704 

Oklahoma 7,228 7,243 7,534 8,206 9,114 10,053 10,988 10,796 10,062 10,493 8,632 8,654 9,544 

Oregon 6,685 7,593 6,354 6,583 6,510 6,812 6,684 8,296 6,304 5,803 5,890 5,872 7,844 

Pennsylvania 28,248 30,296 33,240 32,227 32,934 34,264 36,168 38,221 37,350 38,010 35,444 36,290 37,519 

Rhode Island ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South Carolina 8,752 10,565 12,181 11,009 11,590 12,104 12,749 13,608 13,634 12,654 12,236 11,970 11,472 

South Dakota 1,163 1,138 1,296 1,347 1,514 1,562 1,645 1,537 1,417 1,626 1,572 1,505 1,746 

Tennessee 20,232 20,265 20,955 23,042 23,188 24,224 32,464 25,177 26,547 26,350 23,553 24,104 24,783 

Texas 57,999 54,639 56,185 60,223 62,907 53,967 68,106 69,284 69,392 67,519 67,302 66,604 67,396 

Utah 5,378 5,616 5,817 6,271 6,517 6,407 6,567 6,881 6,929 6,928 7,267 7,194 7,288 

Vermont ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Virginia 20,021 22,154 23,612 24,943 25,488 26,567 28,407 29,561 28,824 28,276 29,003 27,313 30,013 

Washington 8,638 12,289 12,095 11,808 11,867 12,899 13,390 13,727 13,461 13,076 12,350 12,988 12,008 

West Virginiab 2,824 3,240 3,068 3,289 3,622 4,081 4,321 4,331 4,336 3,879 4,145 3,882 4,351 

Wisconsin 12,986 12,865 13,557 14,063 14,397 14,908 15,098 15,641 15,401 12,157 14,143 13,965 12,835 

Wyoming 924 1,085 1,230 1,342 1,499 1,534 1,532 1,553 1,694 1,620 1,567 1,494 1,536 

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Jails are locally run jurisdictions under the authority of a sheriff, county government, or other local 

authority. Jail jurisdictions include counties (parishes in Louisiana) or municipal governments that administer one or more local jails. See Methodology.

~ Not applicable. Prisons and jails form one integrated system. See prison tables for mortality data.

aPrisons and jails form one integrated system. Includes data for 14 locally operated jails; excludes data for prisons and jails operated by the Alaska Department of 

Corrections.

bIn 2007, the Bureau of Justice Statistics began receiving data from a centralized regional jail respondent that covered all West Virginia jails.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 16

Table 12

Mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates, by state, 2000–2012

State 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 151 147 145 146 143 141 142 141 123 128 125 123 128

Alabama 185 228 157 119 171 157 228 132 118 144 186 117 120

Alaskaa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,370 ! 962 !

Arizona 138 132 189 116 82 176 126 127 67 73 ! 121 67 ! 69 !

Arkansas 171 ! 233 229 352 211 116 ! 172 ! 143 ! 203 67 ! 94 ! 223 134 !

California 150 171 173 165 154 190 154 155 127 169 162 128 141

Colorado 142 154 126 111 95 ! 136 94 155 160 106 157 102 72 !

Connecticut ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Delaware ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

District of Columbia 242 ! 0 316 ! 529 374 475 ! 346 318 ! 234 ! 259 ! 132 ! 232 ! 81 !

Florida 166 196 145 159 143 125 153 154 115 143 97 114 121

Georgia 113 110 132 114 128 92 100 98 115 97 102 101 105

Hawaii ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Idaho 112 ! 101 ! 30 ! 59 ! 34 ! 178 ! 127 ! 172 ! 25 ! 160 ! 85 ! 134 ! 107 !

Illinois 178 107 106 140 201 84 181 150 134 148 114 102 108

Indiana 165 124 95 149 109 92 139 104 62 ! 87 124 121 108

Iowa 66 ! 129 ! 83 ! 26 ! 110 ! 96 ! 75 ! 120 ! 49 ! 154 ! 75 ! 195 ! 94 !

Kansas 177 ! 159 ! 195 134 ! 219 148 ! 130 ! 95 ! 156 157 ! 130 ! 138 ! 158!

Kentucky 139 68 86 97 98 134 124 138 122 101 120 88 107

Louisiana 44 ! 82 81 115 143 104 100 104 117 74 81 64 129

Maine 154 ! 142 ! 464 ! 191 ! 135 ! 64 ! 283 ! 61 ! 63 ! 127 ! 282 ! 530 ! 0

Maryland 210 182 166 199 116 181 207 228 184 164 194 169 139

Massachusetts 53 ! 91 ! 136 73 ! 61 ! 168 101 103 128 129 149 48 ! 146

Michigan 145 103 108 156 111 159 112 98 68 118 109 145 99

Minnesota 121 ! 141 ! 101 ! 140 ! 128 ! 110 ! 151 ! 106 ! 56 ! 44 ! 146 ! 92 ! 108 !

Mississippi 91 ! 129 167 156 162 146 164 152 127 134 133 132 71 !

Missouri 211 171 89 ! 181 60 ! 97 ! 116 235 146 175 197 104 218

Montana 232 ! 53 ! 277 ! 260 ! 149 ! 288 ! 50 ! 116 ! 112 ! 345 ! 154 ! 773 ! 152 !

Nebraska 234 ! 211 ! 241 ! 80 ! 140 ! 68 ! 219 ! 68 ! 159 ! 204 ! 177 ! 147 ! 116 !

Nevada 288 333 106 ! 80 ! 116 ! 228 139 ! 131 ! 106 ! 181 108 ! 184 173

New Hampshire 338 ! 145 ! 323 ! 192 ! 181 ! 54 ! 195 ! 196 ! 99 ! 237 ! 48 ! 194 ! 140 !

New Jersey 205 108 104 225 196 177 189 185 151 152 182 131 154

New Mexico 253 140 ! 136 ! 95 ! 210 128 ! 233 171 121 ! 133 ! 191 277 190

New York 208 181 166 154 141 166 161 166 106 124 123 121 142

North Carolina 122 132 212 144 128 95 115 147 98 128 129 93 130

North Dakota 162 ! 154 ! 268 ! 242 ! 114 ! 0 208 ! 113 ! 104 ! 223 ! 211 ! 90 ! 252 !

Ohio 143 118 161 153 91 122 126 127 119 130 132 157 176

Oklahoma 208 249 119 ! 158 154 179 191 222 169 172 209 139 136

Oregon 150 ! 132 ! 110 ! 106 ! 230 117 ! 165 ! 36 ! 238 121 ! 153 ! 136 ! 38 !

Pennsylvania 135 165 153 164 200 166 155 144 118 97 87 127 155

Rhode Island ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South Carolina 194 218 140 100 ! 138 157 165 103 139 119 155 58 ! 192

South Dakota 344 ! 176 ! 77 ! 0 66 ! 192 ! 61 ! 65 ! 141 ! 123 ! 0 66 ! 0

Tennessee 143 138 138 100 168 149 92 139 139 129 85 166 141

Texas 167 154 171 159 157 165 144 130 124 113 125 105 107

Utah 112 ! 107 ! 223 112 ! 169 ! 156 ! 107 ! 160 ! 87 ! 173 110 ! 195 151!

Vermont ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Virginia 170 185 152 168 129 113 127 200 170 138 100 154 133

Washington 93 ! 81 ! 91 ! 136 93 ! 85 ! 142 109 119 107 130 123 167

West Virginiab 71 ! 185 ! 65 ! 182 ! 138 ! 147 ! 139 ! 92 ! 138 ! 180 ! 121 ! 180 ! 230 !

Wisconsin 54 ! 86 ! 89 78 ! 69 ! 74 ! 73 ! 96 110 90 ! 92 100 101

Wyoming 0 0 163 ! 224 ! 267 ! 196 ! 131 ! 64 ! 59 ! 123 ! 64 ! 67 ! 260 !

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Jails are locally run jurisdictions under the authority of a sheriff, county government, or other local 

authority. Jail jurisdictions include counties (parishes in Louisiana) or municipal governments that administer one or more local jails. See Methodology. Local jail mortality 

rates are per 100,000 inmates held in custody. Mortality rates are based on the average daily population (ADP). In 2000 and 2001, ADP was estimated by taking the 

average of January 1 and December 31 one-day inmate population counts. Mortality rates between states are not directly comparable because rates are not adjusted.

~ Not applicable. Prisons and jails form one integrated system. See prison tables for mortality data.

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

aPrisons and jails form one integrated system. Includes data for 14 locally operated jails; excludes data for prisons and jails operated by the Alaska Department of 

Corrections.

bIn 2007, the Bureau of Justice Statistics began receiving data from a centralized regional jail respondent that covered all West Virginia jails.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 17

Table 13

Number of local jail jurisdictions reporting to the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, by state, 2000–2012

State 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 2,988 2,973 2,958 2,941 2,924 2,897 2,869 2,848 2,833 2,748 2,754 2,746 2,805

Alabama 151 149 147 146 145 142 136 132 125 115 117 115 122

Alaskaa 15 15 15 14 14 15 15 15 15 14 15 15 15

Arizona 16 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15

Arkansas 85 84 84 83 82 83 81 81 81 76 71 73 77

California 68 67 67 67 67 66 65 64 64 63 63 62 63

Colorado 55 55 55 55 55 55 53 53 53 53 52 50 52

Connecticut ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Delaware ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

District of Columbia 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Florida 68 68 68 68 67 67 67 67 67 65 66 66 67

Georgia 176 174 174 172 170 167 164 162 159 152 153 154 158

Hawaii ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Idaho 39 38 38 38 38 38 38 37 37 35 34 34 35

Illinois 90 89 90 90 89 90 90 90 90 90 90 88 90

Indiana 90 91 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 89 89 90 90

Iowa 94 93 93 93 93 93 93 93 93 92 90 93 93

Kansas 95 95 95 95 95 95 94 94 93 90 92 90 93

Kentucky 80 78 80 79 79 76 74 74 74 70 72 73 75

Louisiana 87 86 85 85 85 83 83 83 83 79 82 75 83

Maine 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 14 14 14 11 12 12

Maryland 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 23 24 24 24

Massachusetts 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13

Michigan 83 83 82 82 82 82 81 81 81 81 81 80 81

Minnesota 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 71 70 68 70 69 70

Mississippi 91 90 89 88 88 85 84 84 83 80 77 77 83

Missouri 125 125 125 124 120 119 120 119 119 111 115 115 116

Montana 41 41 40 40 41 40 40 40 40 37 39 39 39

Nebraska 64 63 63 63 63 63 62 62 62 61 61 60 61

Nevada 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20

New Hampshire 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

New Jersey 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 20 21 21 21

New Mexico 34 35 35 34 34 32 32 32 32 29 29 31 31

New York 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 57 57 58 56

North Carolina 96 96 96 96 94 94 94 94 93 89 92 93 93

North Dakota 23 23 23 23 23 23 22 21 21 22 22 22 22

Ohio 97 96 96 93 93 93 92 91 91 91 90 93 93

Oklahoma 100 100 100 99 98 96 94 93 93 88 90 88 89

Oregon 33 33 33 33 33 32 32 32 32 31 31 30 31

Pennsylvania 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 63 63

Rhode Island ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South Carolina 46 46 46 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 42 44 45

South Dakota 28 29 29 29 29 28 28 28 28 26 27 25 27

Tennessee 97 97 96 96 96 96 95 94 94 90 89 89 95

Texas 248 247 246 245 242 242 242 237 236 232 229 228 234

Utah 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 25 26

Vermont ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Virginia 73 72 72 72 72 69 66 64 64 64 65 65 62

Washington 58 58 58 57 57 56 56 56 56 56 55 55 55

West Virginiab 28 28 19 18 16 13 12 12 12 11 11 10 11

Wisconsin 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 70 69 70 70 70

Wyoming 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 23 23

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Jails are locally run jurisdictions under the authority of a sheriff, county government, or other 

local authority. Jail jurisdictions include counties (parishes in Louisiana) or municipal governments that administer one or more local jails. See Methodology.

~ Not applicable. Prisons and jails form one integrated system. See prison tables for mortality data.

aPrisons and jails form one integrated system. Includes data for 14 locally operated jails; excludes data for prisons and jails operated by the Alaska Department of 

Corrections.

bIn 2007, the Bureau of Justice Statistics began receiving data from a centralized regional jail respondent that covered all West Virginia jails.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 18

Table 14

Percent of local jail jurisdictions reporting one or more deaths to the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, by state, 

2000–2012

State 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 14.6% 16.3% 16.4% 17.4% 17.7% 18.0% 18.8% 18.8% 17.6% 18.2% 18.2% 19.0% 19.2%

Alabama 9.9 14.8 13.6 9.6 11.0 15.5 18.4 12.1 12.0 14.8 20.5 13.9 13.9

Alaskaa 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 6.7 6.7

Arizona 31.3 33.3 46.7 26.7 26.7 46.7 33.3 33.3 33.3 33.3 40.0 26.7 20.0

Arkansas 8.2 11.9 11.9 19.3 13.4 4.8 12.3 8.6 13.6 5.3 8.5 17.8 10.4

California 44.1 47.8 43.3 53.7 47.8 51.5 41.5 50.0 46.9 52.4 44.4 45.2 46.0

Colorado 10.9 12.7 20.0 10.9 16.4 21.8 18.9 20.8 24.5 11.3 21.2 14.0 13.5

Connecticut ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Delaware ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

District of Columbia 100 0.0 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Florida 33.8 44.1 39.7 39.7 46.3 43.3 44.8 49.3 37.3 47.7 34.8 42.4 40.3

Georgia 13.6 16.1 19.5 18.0 17.1 19.8 17.7 20.4 18.2 17.8 19.6 19.5 22.2

Hawaii ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Idaho 7.7 5.3 2.6 5.3 2.6 18.4 13.2 18.9 2.7 17.1 5.9 11.8 11.4

Illinois 7.8 6.7 12.2 22.2 15.7 12.2 14.4 16.7 13.3 10.0 13.3 15.9 16.7

Indiana 12.2 18.7 12.2 16.7 16.7 15.6 21.1 13.3 11.1 12.4 16.9 17.8 16.7

Iowa 2.1 4.3 3.2 1.1 3.2 4.3 3.2 5.4 2.2 5.4 3.3 7.5 4.3

Kansas 8.4 9.5 10.5 9.5 10.5 11.6 7.4 6.4 11.8 7.8 6.5 10.0 8.6

Kentucky 13.8 12.8 11.3 16.5 17.7 15.8 20.3 23.0 20.3 22.9 26.4 20.5 20.0

Louisiana 5.7 17.4 17.6 18.8 28.2 18.1 20.5 19.3 28.9 20.3 19.5 17.3 30.1

Maine 13.3 13.3 33.3 20.0 6.7 6.7 33.3 7.1 7.1 14.3 27.3 41.7 0.0

Maryland 29.2 37.5 12.5 41.7 25.0 37.5 45.8 25.0 29.2 43.5 37.5 45.8 37.5

Massachusetts 23.1 46.2 53.8 38.5 38.5 61.5 61.5 53.8 61.5 61.5 61.5 23.1 38.5

Michigan 14.5 9.6 15.9 22.0 18.3 20.7 18.5 17.3 14.8 12.3 14.8 16.3 14.8

Minnesota 7.0 11.3 8.5 11.3 9.9 8.5 12.7 8.5 5.7 2.9 11.4 8.7 7.1

Mississippi 8.8 12.2 13.5 17.0 17.0 15.3 17.9 15.5 15.7 13.8 14.3 15.6 9.6

Missouri 8.0 8.0 5.6 11.3 5.0 7.6 8.3 14.3 10.1 14.4 16.5 8.7 17.2

Montana 7.3 2.4 10.0 12.5 7.3 10.0 2.5 5.0 5.0 16.2 5.1 15.4 5.1

Nebraska 7.8 7.9 9.5 3.2 6.3 3.2 8.1 3.2 8.1 4.9 8.2 6.7 3.3

Nevada 35.0 40.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 30.0 25.0 25.0 30.0

New Hampshire 30.0 20.0 50.0 20.0 20.0 10.0 30.0 30.0 20.0 40.0 10.0 40.0 20.0

New Jersey 57.1 47.6 33.3 57.1 57.1 52.4 57.1 71.4 57.1 55.0 57.1 47.6 61.9

New Mexico 26.5 20.0 17.1 14.7 23.5 12.5 25.0 31.3 18.8 13.8 34.5 38.7 29.0

New York 20.7 17.2 29.3 25.9 20.7 20.7 20.7 22.4 15.5 31.6 19.3 31.0 25.0

North Carolina 13.5 17.7 18.8 15.6 18.1 17.0 18.1 18.1 15.1 19.1 20.7 12.9 24.7

North Dakota 4.3 4.3 8.7 8.7 4.3 0.0 9.1 4.8 4.8 9.1 9.1 4.5 4.5

Ohio 13.4 14.6 16.7 20.4 16.1 18.3 18.5 20.9 17.6 17.6 16.7 19.4 23.7

Oklahoma 10.0 11.0 7.0 7.1 6.1 13.5 12.8 14.0 9.7 13.6 14.4 10.2 13.5

Oregon 12.1 21.2 12.1 12.1 21.2 18.8 21.9 9.4 28.1 16.1 16.1 16.7 9.7

Pennsylvania 23.8 33.3 36.5 30.2 44.4 28.6 31.7 39.7 25.4 30.2 23.8 33.3 36.5

Rhode Island ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South Carolina 23.9 30.4 30.4 15.6 31.1 33.3 31.1 22.2 33.3 22.2 28.6 13.6 37.8

South Dakota 14.3 6.9 3.4 0.0 3.4 10.7 3.6 3.6 7.1 7.7 0.0 4.0 0.0

Tennessee 17.5 13.4 15.6 13.5 25.0 19.8 15.8 20.2 23.4 21.1 15.7 24.7 22.1

Texas 20.2 16.2 16.3 17.1 19.4 20.2 20.2 16.0 15.7 18.5 17.9 19.3 17.1

Utah 11.5 19.2 15.4 19.2 30.8 15.4 11.5 30.8 7.7 23.1 19.2 32.0 15.4

Vermont ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Virginia 28.8 33.3 30.6 27.8 23.6 27.5 33.3 40.6 42.2 31.3 26.2 33.8 32.3

Washington 13.8 12.1 12.1 17.5 10.5 19.6 19.6 14.3 16.1 16.1 18.2 21.8 16.4

West Virginiab 7.1 21.4 10.5 33.3 31.3 15.4 41.7 25.0 41.7 45.5 36.4 50.0 72.7

Wisconsin 10.0 11.4 11.4 14.3 5.7 11.4 11.4 17.1 17.1 13.0 14.3 15.7 17.1

Wyoming 0.0 0.0 9.1 13.6 13.6 13.6 9.1 4.5 4.5 9.1 4.5 4.3 8.7

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published. Jails are locally run jurisdictions under the authority of a sheriff, county government, or other local 

authority. Jail jurisdictions include counties (parishes in Louisiana) or municipal governments that administer one or more local jails. See Methodology.

~ Not applicable. Prisons and jails form one integrated system. See prison tables for mortality data.

aPrisons and jails form one integrated system. Includes data for 14 locally operated jails; excludes data for prisons and jails operated by the Alaska Department of 

Corrections.

bIn 2007, the Bureau of Justice Statistics began receiving data from a centralized regional jail respondent that covered all West Virginia jails.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 19

Table 15

Number of state prisoner deaths, by cause of death, 2001–2012

Cause of death Total 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007a 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

All causes 38,668 2,869 2,934 3,152 3,123 3,168 3,233 3,389 3,450 3,414 3,232 3,353 3,351

Illness 34,281 2,567 2,615 2,830 2,783 2,817 2,830 2,980 3,032 3,025 2,867 2,982 2,953

Cancer 10,122 691 681 811 733 805 806 772 874 973 927 1,028 1,021

Heart disease 9,874 743 802 801 842 835 854 840 827 844 830 856 800

Liver disease 3,709 307 297 306 283 318 303 316 318 333 286 339 303

Respiratory disease 2,364 139 155 194 198 212 193 205 253 196 206 198 215

AIDS-related 1,681 275 241 209 147 156 132 120 99 98 73 57 74

All otherb 6,531 412 439 509 580 491 542 727 661 581 545 504 540

Suicide 2,386 168 168 199 199 213 219 215 197 202 216 185 205

Drug/alcohol intoxication 489 35 37 23 22 37 56 41 58 50 40 58 32

Accident 377 22 29 26 34 28 32 28 26 32 32 38 50

Homicidec 672 39 48 49 49 56 55 57 40 54 70 70 85

Other/unknown 277 0 0 25 36 17 41 16 97 16 4 11 14

Missing 186 38 37 0 0 0 0 52 0 35 3 9 12

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Excludes executions; for execution data, see Capital Punishment, 2011 - Statistical Tables

(NCJ 242185, BJS web, July 2013). 

aIn 2007, a high number of illness cases were missing cause-of-death information and were classified as all other illnesses. See Methodology.

bIncludes other specified illnesses, such as cerebrovascular disease, influenza, cirrhosis, and other nonleading natural causes of death, as well as unspecified illnesses. 

See Methodology for illness classifications.

cIncludes homicides committed by other inmates, incidental to the staff use of force, and resulting from assaults sustained prior to incarceration. See Methodology.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012.

Table 16

Percent of state prisoner deaths, by cause of death, 2001–2012

Cause of death 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007a 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

All causes 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Illness 89.5% 89.1% 89.8% 89.1% 88.9% 87.5% 87.9% 87.9% 88.6% 88.7% 88.9% 88.1%

Cancer 24.1 23.2 25.7 23.5 25.4 24.9 22.8 25.3 28.5 28.7 30.7 30.5

Heart disease 25.9 27.3 25.4 27.0 26.4 26.4 24.8 24.0 24.7 25.7 25.5 23.9

Liver disease 10.7 10.1 9.7 9.1 10.0 9.4 9.3 9.2 9.8 8.8 10.1 9.0

Respiratory disease 4.8 5.3 6.2 6.3 6.7 6.0 6.0 7.3 5.7 6.4 5.9 6.4

AIDS-related 9.6 8.2 6.6 4.7 4.9 4.1 3.5 2.9 2.9 2.3 1.7 2.2

All otherb 14.4 15.0 16.1 18.6 15.5 16.8 21.5 19.2 17.0 16.9 15.0 16.1

Suicide 5.9% 5.7% 6.3% 6.4% 6.7% 6.8% 6.3% 5.7% 5.9% 6.7% 5.5% 6.1%

Drug/alcohol intoxication 1.2% 1.3% 0.7% 0.7% 1.2% 1.7% 1.2% 1.7% 1.5% 1.2% 1.7% 1.0%

Accident 0.8% 1.0% 0.8% 1.1% 0.9% 1.0% 0.8% 0.8% 0.9% 1.0% 1.1% 1.5%

Homicidec 1.4% 1.6% 1.6% 1.6% 1.8% 1.7% 1.7% 1.2% 1.6% 2.2% 2.1% 2.5%

Other/unknown 0.0% 0.0% 0.8% 1.2% 0.5% 1.3% 0.5% 2.8% 0.5% 0.1% 0.3% 0.4%

Missing 1.3% 1.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 1.5% 0.0% 1.0% 0.1% 0.3% 0.4%

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Excludes executions; for execution data, see Capital Punishment, 2011 - Statistical Tables

(NCJ 242185, BJS web, July 2013).

aIn 2007, a high number of illness cases were missing cause-of-death information and were classified as all other illnesses. See Methodology.

bIncludes other specified illnesses, such as cerebrovascular disease, influenza, cirrhosis, and other nonleading natural causes of death, as well as unspecified illnesses. 

See Methodology for illness classifications.

cIncludes homicides committed by other inmates, incidental to the staff use of force, and resulting from assaults sustained prior to incarceration. See Methodology.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 20

Table 17

Mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, by cause of death, 2001–2012

Cause of death 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007a 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

All causes 242 245 257 252 253 249 256 260 257 245 260 264

Illness 216 218 231 224 225 218 225 228 228 217 231 233

Cancer 58 57 66 59 64 62 58 66 73 70 80 81

Heart disease 63 67 65 68 67 66 64 62 64 63 66 63

Liver disease 26 25 25 23 25 23 24 24 25 22 26 24

Respiratory disease 12 13 16 16 17 15 16 19 15 16 15 17

AIDS-related 23 20 17 12 12 10 9 7 7 6 4 6

All otherb 35 37 42 47 39 42 55 50 44 41 39 43

Suicide 14 14 16 16 17 17 16 15 15 16 14 16

Drug/alcohol intoxication 3 3 2 2 3 4 3 4 4 3 4 3

Accident 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4

Homicidec 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 5 5 7

Other/unknown 0 0 2 3 1 3 1 7 1 -- ! 1 ! 1

Missing 3 3 0 0 0 0 4 0 3 -- ! 1 ! 1

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Excludes executions; for execution data, see Capital Punishment, 2011 - Statistical Tables

(NCJ 242185, BJS web, July 2013). 

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

-- Less than 0.5.

aIn 2007, a high number of illness cases were missing cause-of-death information and were classified as all other illnesses. See Methodology.

bIncludes other specified illnesses, such as cerebrovascular disease, influenza, cirrhosis, and other nonleading natural causes of death, as well as unspecified illnesses. 

See Methodology for illness classifications.

cIncludes homicides committed by other inmates, incidental to the staff use of force, and resulting from assaults sustained prior to incarceration. See Methodology.

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012; and National Prisoner Statistics, 2001–2012.

Table 18

Number of state prisoner deaths, by selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012

Characteristic 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 2,869 2,934 3,152 3,123 3,168 3,233 3,389 3,450 3,414 3,232 3,353 3,351

Sex

Male 2,769 2,815 3,024 2,987 3,025 3,103 3,252 3,287 3,264 3,115 3,210 3,238

Female 100 119 126 136 143 130 137 163 150 117 143 113

Race/Hispanic origina

White 1,340 1,401 1,591 1,546 1,623 1,627 1,718 1,821 1,773 1,680 1,912 1,788

Black/African American 1,161 1,151 1,200 1,179 1,162 1,148 1,225 1,157 1,197 1,121 1,039 1,110

Hispanic/Latino 322 332 308 332 324 404 383 399 372 358 329 377

Otherb 46 44 44 65 54 50 54 73 58 61 61 70

Age

17 or younger 2 1 3 1 1 1 1 3 0 3 2 0

18–24 86 62 57 81 78 60 68 67 69 69 50 69

25–34 256 248 277 255 243 250 226 222 210 217 201 190

35–44 656 661 666 619 599 561 513 468 467 381 397 360

45–54 893 908 980 963 1,009 1,061 1,031 1,063 1,037 955 930 874

55 or older 971 1,054 1,164 1,202 1,238 1,300 1,550 1,627 1,630 1,607 1,770 1,858

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Detail may not sum to total due to missing data. Excludes executions; for execution data, see 

Capital Punishment, 2011 - Statistical Tables (NCJ 242185, BJS web, July 2013). 

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified. 

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 21

Table 19

Percent of state prisoner deaths, by selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012

Characteristic 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Sex

Male 96.5% 95.9% 96.0% 95.6% 95.5% 96.0% 96.0% 95.3% 95.6% 96.4% 95.7% 96.6%

Female 3.5 4.1 4.0 4.4 4.5 4.0 4.0 4.7 4.4 3.6 4.3 3.4

Race/Hispanic origina

White 46.7% 47.8% 50.6% 49.5% 51.3% 50.4% 50.8% 52.8% 52.1% 52.2% 57.2% 53.5%

Black/African American 40.5 39.3 38.2 37.8 36.7 35.6 36.2 33.5 35.2 34.8 31.1 33.2

Hispanic/Latino 11.2 11.3 9.8 10.6 10.2 12.5 11.3 11.6 10.9 11.1 9.8 11.3

Otherb 1.6 1.5 1.4 2.1 1.7 1.5 1.6 2.1 1.7 1.9 1.8 2.1

Age

17 or younger 0.1% -- 0.1% -- -- -- -- 0.1% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0%

18–24 3.0 2.1% 1.8 2.6% 2.5% 1.9% 2.0% 1.9 2.0 2.1 1.5 2.1

25–34 8.9 8.5 8.8 8.2 7.7 7.7 6.7 6.4 6.2 6.7 6.0 5.7

35–44 22.9 22.5 21.2 19.8 18.9 17.4 15.1 13.6 13.7 11.8 11.9 10.7

45–54 31.2 30.9 31.1 30.9 31.8 32.8 30.4 30.8 30.4 29.5 27.8 26.1

55 or older 33.9 35.9 37.0 38.5 39.1 40.2 45.7 47.2 47.8 49.7 52.8 55.5

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Detail may not sum to total due to missing data. Excludes executions; for executions data, see 

Capital Punishment, 2011 - Statistical Tables (NCJ 242185, BJS web, July 2013).

-- Less than 0.05%.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified. 

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012.

Table 20

Mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, by selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012

Characteristic 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 242 245 257 252 253 249 256 260 257 245 260 264

Sex

Male 249 251 265 259 260 257 265 267 265 254 267 274

Female 129 151 153 162 164 141 145 172 160 127 160 131

Race/Hispanic origina

White 315 323 347 341 351 343 358 375 367 350 431 407

Black/African American 219 219 229 227 225 219 231 216 225 212 211 230

Hispanic/Latino 201 200 181 184 177 213 195 213 195 184 120 141

Otherb 168 151 147 211 171 148 156 211 161 171 75 89

Age

17 or younger 70 ! 33 ! 122 ! 40 ! 40 ! 36 ! 38 ! 122 ! 0 127 ! 87 ! 0

18–24 39 29 26 37 35 26 29 35 36 36 26 37

25–34 63 62 68 62 58 58 51 51 48 51 47 46

35–44 181 182 183 168 161 146 131 120 119 112 121 113

45–54 583 554 555 539 559 572 543 458 447 373 383 363

55 or older 2,029 2,005 2,021 2,063 2,103 2,154 2,500 2,091 2,096 1,529 1,770 1,707

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Detail may not sum to total due to missing data. Excludes executions; for execution data, see 

Capital Punishment, 2011 - Statistical Tables (NCJ 242185, BJS web, July 2013). 

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology. 

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified. 

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012; National Prisoner Statistics, 2001–2012; and Survey of Inmates in State 

Correctional Facilities, 2004. 
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 22

Table 21

Number of state prisoner deaths, by cause of death and selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012

Illness

Characteristic All causes Cancer

Heart 

disease

Liver 

disease

Respiratory 

disease

AIDSrelated All othera SuicideDrug/alcohol 

intoxication Accident Homicideb

Total 38,668 10,122 9,874 3,709 2,364 1,681 6,531 2,386 489 377 672 

Sex

Male 36,912 9,759 9,537 3,589 2,239 1,596 6,167 2,263 469 363 668 

Female 1,568 363 337 120 125 85 364 122 20 14 4 

Race/Hispanic originc

White 19,745 5,538 5,196 2,023 1,321 358 2,973 1,393 289 212 303 

Black/African American 13,750 3,573 3,742 861 798 1,120 2,633 494 82 109 232 

Hispanic/Latino 4,235 829 796 726 214 188 808 389 98 44 117 

Otherd 674 159 127 91 27 14 103 100 20 11 18 

Age

17 or younger 18 1 1 1 1 -- 2 10 -- 1 1 

18–24 809 54 92 7 53 16 112 328 29 28 81 

25–34 2,775 246 471 68 155 215 415 766 137 72 189 

35–44 6,313 1,028 1,484 536 301 695 1,061 696 177 90 187 

45–54 11,654 3,078 2,741 1,824 557 571 2,046 426 111 88 137 

55 or older 16,897 5,712 5,081 1,272 1,296 184 2,892 160 35 98 76 

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Detail may not sum to total due to missing data. Mortality rates are based on the average daily 

population. See Methodology.

-- Less than 0.5.

aIncludes other specified illnesses, such as cerebrovascular disease, influenza, cirrhosis, and other nonleading natural causes of death, as well as unspecified illnesses. 

See Methodology for illness classifications.

bIncludes homicides committed by other inmates, incidental to the staff use of force, and resulting from assaults sustained prior to incarceration. See Methodology.

cExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

dIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012; National Inmate Survey, 2007–2012; and National Prisoner Statistics, 2001–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 23

Table 22

Average annual mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, by cause of death and selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012

Illness

Characteristic All causes Cancer

Heart 

disease

Liver 

disease

Respiratory 

disease

AIDSrelated All othera Suicide

Drug/alcohol 

intoxication Accident Homicideb

Total 253 66 65 24 15 11 43 16 3 2 4 

Sex

Male 260 69 67 25 16 11 43 16 3 3 5 

Female 149 34 32 11 12 8 35 12 2 1 0 

Race/Hispanic originc

White 358 100 94 37 24 6 54 25 5 4 5 

Black/African American 220 57 60 14 13 18 42 8 1 2 4 

Hispanic/Latino 179 35 34 31 9 8 34 16 4 2 5 

Otherd 140 33 26 19 6 3 21 21 4 2! 4 

Age

17 or younger 58 3! 3! 3! 3! -- 6! 32 -- 3! 3! 

18–24 32 2 4 --! 2 1 4 13 1 1 3 

25–34 55 5 9 1 3 4 8 15 3 1 4 

35–44 144 24 34 12 7 16 24 16 4 2 4 

45–54 479 127 113 75 23 23 84 18 5 4 6 

55 or older 1,948 659 586 147 149 21 333 18 4 11 9 

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Detail may not sum to total due to missing data. Mortality rates are based on the average daily 

population. See Methodology.

-- Less than 0.5.

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology for more information.

aIncludes other specified illnesses, such as cerebrovascular disease, influenza, cirrhosis, and other nonleading natural causes of death, as well as unspecified illnesses. 

See Methodology for illness classifications.

bIncludes homicides committed by other inmates, incidental to the staff use of force, and resulting from assaults sustained prior to incarceration. See Methodology.

cExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

dIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012; National Inmate Survey, 2007–2012; and National Prisoner Statistics, 2001–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 24

Table 23

Estimated number of state and federal prisoners in custody, by selected inmate characteristics, 2001–2012

Characteristic 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 1,187,800 1,199,900 1,225,700 1,239,700 1,252,400 1,297,200 1,321,700 1,327,000 1,326,500 1,320,600 1,290,200 1,267,000

Sex

Male 1,110,400 1,121,300 1,143,100 1,155,500 1,165,300 1,205,100 1,227,200 1,232,100 1,232,500 1,228,400 1,201,100 1,180,600

Female 77,400 78,700 82,600 84,200 87,100 92,200 94,500 94,900 94,000 92,200 89,100 86,400

Race/Hispanic origina

White 425,100 433,800 458,900 453,500 462,800 475,000 479,700 485,800 482,900 480,400 443,800 439,700

Black/African American 530,900 524,500 523,400 519,000 517,500 523,300 531,100 536,900 532,600 528,000 491,400 481,700

Hispanic/Latino 160,600 165,900 169,900 180,000 183,200 189,900 196,100 187,000 191,200 195,000 274,200 266,900

Otherb 27,400 29,000 30,000 30,900 31,600 33,700 34,600 34,600 36,100 35,600 80,800 78,800

Age

17 or younger 2,900 3,000 2,500 2,500 2,500 2,800 2,600 2,500 2,500 2,400 2,300 2,400

18–24 217,800 216,800 215,700 218,200 220,400 227,500 232,200 189,100 189,100 189,500 193,100 185,200

25–34 403,200 400,900 408,100 412,800 418,300 429,500 440,600 434,000 433,800 427,800 424,200 412,400

35–44 362,900 362,900 364,000 368,200 372,000 384,500 391,800 391,500 391,400 339,900 327,800 317,300

45–54 153,100 163,800 176,500 178,500 180,400 185,600 190,000 232,100 232,000 255,900 242,800 240,900

55 or older 47,900 52,600 57,600 58,300 58,900 60,400 62,000 77,800 77,800 105,100 100,000 108,900

Note: Data rounded to the nearest 100. Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Data are from the Prisoners at Midyear series for 2001 to 2010 

and from the Prisoners at Yearend series for 2011 to 2012. 

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified. 

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012; and National Prisoner Statistics, 2001–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 25

Table 24

Number of state and federal prisoner deaths, by location, 2001–2012

Location 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Federal 301 335 346 333 388 328 368 399 376 387 387 350

Statea 2,869 2,934 3,152 3,123 3,168 3,233 3,389 3,450 3,414 3,232 3,353 3,351

Alabama 87 85 92 65 66 61 54 75 80 66 104 86

Alaskab 8 14 4 8 4 6 10 14 7 13 12 11

Arizona 64 73 84 66 78 72 61 77 85 85 86 87

Arkansas 42 31 39 34 38 37 46 41 50 54 50 43

California 287 337 333 348 366 424 395 369 392 412 388 366

Colorado 42 51 47 39 54 31 42 38 49 48 37 48

Connecticutb 30 30 36 33 40 25 27 32 29 21 19 24

Delawareb 16 15 19 13 19 13 15 15 12 23 15 10

Florida 182 183 221 226 244 261 249 291 278 275 297 324

Georgia 93 102 126 90 122 103 143 128 125 112 123 103

Hawaiib 7 13 8 8 8 5 13 14 11 12 6 12

Idaho 17 9 12 12 13 18 14 18 13 13 13 9

Illinois 86 72 80 97 72 94 104 71 75 94 97 85

Indiana 46 49 56 56 45 70 54 70 91 69 74 59

Iowa 9 11 13 15 19 12 17 21 14 13 12 20

Kansas 21 22 32 30 19 16 20 24 20 22 25 17

Kentucky 36 41 45 42 43 46 46 68 57 42 60 55

Louisiana 71 78 70 94 89 72 82 117 108 100 108 115

Maine 6 7 2 4 0 6 1 2 4 3 5 2

Maryland 70 71 67 78 57 61 57 69 56 40 41 46

Massachusetts 29 20 30 25 37 39 39 29 29 39 33 42

Michigan 114 113 127 138 140 138 117 99 148 93 119 124

Minnesota 13 15 13 6 13 9 13 17 12 16 19 14

Mississippi 36 33 58 51 61 58 77 54 52 52 47 41

Missouri 57 65 65 77 68 66 78 87 81 88 74 68

Montana 6 5 12 12 12 5 5 9 3 2 6 11

Nebraska 7 8 7 7 8 8 12 6 11 12 17 11

Nevada 27 25 24 31 28 23 39 35 35 41 34 37

New Hampshire 2 9 6 6 8 6 6 5 9 4 10 5

New Jersey 69 60 47 57 60 70 60 66 58 56 66 48

New Mexico 11 15 11 16 18 13 22 29 21 16 16 14

New York 175 185 198 153 170 131 148 133 142 124 117 115

North Carolina 66 59 74 94 69 90 99 117 86 87 71 79

North Dakota 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 3

Ohio 115 113 91 126 121 106 123 101 120 116 111 126

Oklahoma 51 64 71 53 74 80 98 88 79 60 85 79

Oregon 24 33 25 34 37 40 36 31 34 39 40 26

Pennsylvania 122 126 147 161 149 124 150 145 165 141 157 157

Rhode Islandb 3 8 8 7 2 8 9 6 7 7 10 6

South Carolina 69 45 63 50 75 65 72 83 49 70 55 58

South Dakota 4 11 11 5 4 4 8 6 4 8 11 9

Tennessee 51 61 97 71 76 84 73 74 69 74 59 84

Texas 408 396 383 395 351 443 435 469 426 375 417 462

Utah 5 9 10 11 8 7 7 11 17 13 12 15

Vermontb 3 2 5 1 6 7 1 3 3 5 0 2

Virginia 71 69 93 86 84 78 103 86 87 93 99 86

Washington 29 30 31 36 45 36 39 35 44 35 21 33

West Virginia 17 8 15 13 10 13 19 19 18 20 23 24

Wisconsin 48 49 41 40 29 45 43 44 42 25 48 46

Wyoming 5 3 2 2 8 3 8 9 7 3 3 4

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Excludes executions; for execution data, see Capital Punishment, 2011 - Statistical Tables

(NCJ 242185, BJS web, July 2013). 

aIncludes 9 prisoner deaths reported by the District of Columbia in 2001. As of December 30, 2001, sentenced felons from the District of Columbia were the responsibility 

of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. 

bPrisons and jails form one integrated system. Data include total jail and prison population.

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012; National Prisoner Statistics, 2001–2012; and Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2001–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 26

Table 25

Mortality rate per 100,000 state and federal prisoners, by location, 2001–2012

Location 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Federal 221 232 227 208 244 201 222 241 220 224 220 198

Statea 243 243 257 251 251 249 258 260 259 246 260 264

Alabama 352 339 333 254 271 253 214 296 294 241 388 321

Alaskab 175 ! 322 89 ! 176 ! 83 ! 119 ! 194 ! 280 128 ! 242 193 174 !

Arizona 231 249 270 204 234 201 162 195 210 212 215 217

Arkansas 366 262 323 270 305 288 347 312 375 380 355 306

California 183 211 206 212 218 246 230 216 232 253 263 275

Colorado 243 274 242 198 256 141 185 164 216 211 169 236

Connecticutb 171 160 200 183 223 132 139 161 153 113 106 140

Delawareb 234 226 287 193 280 185 211 216 182 361 229 149 !

Florida 251 243 278 272 282 289 262 291 274 269 294 325

Georgia 202 215 267 176 250 195 264 243 233 212 233 187

Hawaiib 137 ! 256 145 ! 144 ! 139 ! 91 ! 238 257 227 ! 227 110 ! 227

Idaho 323 165 ! 216 208 208 270 198 256 181 180 174 117 !

Illinois 194 169 184 220 160 208 230 156 166 194 200 172

Indiana 234 241 262 255 198 281 215 265 340 253 270 210

Iowa 113 ! 131 ! 152 176 217 136 196 241 157 137 132 229

Kansas 245 245 349 334 209 181 229 281 231 243 268 179

Kentucky 336 354 386 315 289 295 299 446 380 290 429 423

Louisiana 361 390 359 483 459 346 401 561 543 526 573 618

Maine 358 ! 377 ! 101 ! 199 ! 0 288 ! 47 ! 98 ! 193 ! 154 ! 253 ! 101 !

Maryland 295 294 282 335 253 269 246 298 254 175 178 211

Massachusetts 284 202 305 254 358 362 352 260 260 349 288 377

Michigan 233 223 257 283 283 268 233 203 325 211 277 284

Minnesota 203 219 172 75 ! 149 102 ! 141 188 126 170 204 149

Mississippi 238 215 366 312 379 354 441 302 302 316 305 260

Missouri 199 218 218 251 224 219 262 289 265 288 239 218

Montana 215 ! 174 ! 393 444 425 170 ! 172 ! 309 ! 97 ! 64 ! 192 ! 355 !

Nebraska 179 ! 198 ! 172 ! 169 ! 182 ! 182 ! 273 134 ! 245 ! 260 365 233 !

Nevada 274 248 227 281 240 180 293 272 278 336 280 294

New Hampshire 83 ! 364 ! 247 ! 246 ! 330 ! 224 ! 217 ! 175 ! 309 ! 153 ! 413 ! 195 !

New Jersey 265 228 183 224 234 274 237 266 241 229 279 208

New Mexico 194 ! 250 177 ! 250 274 196 342 459 319 240 239 211

New York 259 276 303 239 270 206 236 221 243 220 212 213

North Carolina 205 179 218 264 188 239 259 293 214 215 179 211

North Dakota 276 ! 90 ! 91 ! 88 ! 76 ! 75 ! 0 0 0 71 ! 72 ! 212 !

Ohio 256 250 205 285 268 219 247 198 236 224 218 248

Oklahoma 235 291 313 234 323 350 412 372 328 248 358 324

Oregon 219 283 205 269 287 303 269 229 248 281 291 184

Pennsylvania 324 317 360 397 355 282 329 298 327 293 316 313

Rhode Islandb 89 ! 230 ! 224 ! 221 ! 59 ! 215 ! 240 ! 160 ! 205 ! 222 ! 330 ! 197 !

South Carolina 318 197 275 221 334 283 305 350 207 304 246 265

South Dakota 143 ! 374 ! 364 ! 164 ! 120 ! 121 ! 244 ! 179 ! 118 ! 236 ! 309 ! 250 !

Tennessee 292 333 507 367 394 435 379 382 346 369 298 424

Texas 275 260 250 252 223 279 274 295 269 234 261 298

Utah 121 ! 210 ! 216 ! 233 ! 158 ! 139 ! 136 ! 214 ! 324 239 227 283

Vermontb 214 ! 147 ! 335 ! 51 ! 289 ! 316 ! 47 ! 142 ! 135 ! 241 ! 0 98 !

Virginia 226 223 301 277 273 253 312 264 281 291 324 289

Washington 190 184 191 218 268 214 231 204 255 206 123 195

West Virginia 500 224 ! 396 326 248 ! 298 387 388 356 394 447 450

Wisconsin 231 226 185 181 132 199 188 197 189 113 214 205

Wyoming 336 ! 183 ! 123 ! 113 ! 382 ! 147 ! 415 ! 528 ! 402 ! 143 ! 139 ! 183 !

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Mortality rates are not directly comparable between states because rates are not adjusted. 

Excludes executions; for execution data, see Capital Punishment, 2011 - Statistical Tables (NCJ 242185, BJS web, July 2013). 

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology. 

aIncludes 9 prisoner deaths reported by the District of Columbia in 2001. As of December 31, 2001, sentenced felons from the District of Columbia were the responsibility 

of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. 

bPrisons and jails form one integrated system. Data include total jail and prison population.

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012; National Prisoner Statistics, 2001–2006; and Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2007–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 27

Table 26

Number of state and federal prisoner deaths, by cause of death and location, 2001–2012

Illness

Location All causesa Cancer

Heart 

disease

Liver 

disease

Respiratory 

disease

AIDSrelated All otherb SuicideDrug/alcohol 

intoxication Accident Homicidec

Federal 4,301 ... ... ... ... 156 3,772 184 ... 46 104

Stated 38,668 10,122 9,874 3,709 2,364 1,681 6,531 2,386 489 377 672

Alabama 921 236 220 94 49 34 187 16 1 11 12

Alaskae 111 16 22 15 2 0 16 20 7 8 2

Arizona 918 240 200 131 56 25 132 73 32 3 22

Arkansas 505 141 169 39 25 21 62 26 1 9 10

California 4,417 1,027 763 488 317 114 931 396 148 31 162

Colorado 526 98 105 98 39 0 95 42 20 12 17

Connecticute 346 45 85 56 19 8 72 50 2 5 4

Delawaree 185 39 42 17 11 19 25 21 2 0 2

Florida 3,031 908 620 226 199 262 617 84 9 26 52

Georgia 1,370 358 458 85 99 74 168 61 1 11 39

Hawaiie 117 32 20 15 3 3 19 17 2 1 4

Idaho 161 45 48 9 9 1 22 20 0 2 2

Illinois 1,027 304 295 58 51 60 136 89 8 12 9

Indiana 739 189 201 61 45 19 118 48 23 11 18

Iowa 176 65 34 9 15 4 21 23 1 0 1

Kansas 268 79 65 34 14 1 49 15 2 5 3

Kentucky 581 178 192 46 22 24 100 11 2 4 1

Louisiana 1,104 323 279 93 43 93 186 21 1 8 4

Maine 42 12 11 5 1 1 6 3 1 0 2

Maryland 713 143 155 60 28 98 82 56 48 5 31

Massachusetts 391 103 98 40 21 8 59 38 9 6 2

Michigan 1,470 482 469 126 70 36 149 82 13 20 11

Minnesota 160 46 28 29 5 1 27 21 2 1 0

Mississippi 620 160 240 29 35 18 83 28 3 8 7

Missouri 874 245 247 103 47 18 146 43 5 5 12

Montana 88 22 16 14 4 0 16 11 2 1 2

Nebraska 114 23 28 18 5 3 12 7 4 2 1

Nevada 379 72 93 24 9 9 100 23 2 2 7

New Hampshire 76 27 13 10 3 2 6 11 4 0 0

New Jersey 717 165 210 47 46 78 98 38 9 6 9

New Mexico 202 55 35 33 16 3 30 18 4 1 7

New York 1,791 488 441 166 80 206 181 152 18 21 18

North Carolina 991 316 258 88 68 53 146 30 2 17 11

North Dakota 13 2 4 2 0 0 3 1 1 0 0

Ohio 1,369 441 405 82 100 31 201 71 7 7 18

Oklahoma 882 214 222 99 51 23 128 50 17 20 39

Oregon 399 113 84 71 14 4 59 28 11 6 4

Pennsylvania 1,744 460 507 178 92 30 351 86 6 9 12

Rhode Islande 81 16 20 1 2 4 8 17 3 3 1

South Carolina 754 149 289 42 40 33 143 32 1 2 21

South Dakota 85 14 27 11 7 1 8 11 1 3 2

Tennessee 873 216 256 98 47 36 134 34 17 8 20

Texas 4,960 1,098 1,267 531 404 143 1,074 309 16 47 50

Utah 125 26 25 11 5 0 23 25 3 1 3

Vermonte 38 8 8 7 1 3 3 5 3 0 0

Virginia 1,035 346 273 102 54 51 138 35 1 4 9

Washington 414 115 102 50 28 9 67 23 3 7 7

West Virginia 199 56 78 18 9 5 26 4 1 0 2

Wisconsin 500 156 127 31 48 10 58 56 7 5 0

Wyoming 57 10 18 8 5 1 8 5 1 1 0

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Detail may not sum to total due to missing data. Excludes executions; for execution data, see 

Capital Punishment, 2011 - Statistical Tables (NCJ 242185, BJS web, July 2013).

... Not available. With the exception of AIDS-related deaths, the Federal Bureau of Prisons did not break out illness deaths by a specific cause of death. 

aIncludes other, unknown, and missing causes of death.

bIn 2007, a high number of illness cases were missing cause-of-death information and were classified as all other illnesses. Includes other specified illnesses, such as 

cerebrovascular disease, influenza, cirrhosis, and other nonleading natural causes of death, as well as unspecified illnesses. See Methodology for illness classifications.

cIncludes homicides committed by other inmates, incidental to the staff use of force, and resulting from assaults sustained prior to incarceration. See Methodology.

dIncludes 9 prisoner deaths reported by the District of Columbia in 2001. As of December 30, 2001, sentenced felons from the District of Columbia were the 

responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

ePrisons and jails form one integrated system. Data include total jail and prison population.

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012; National Prisoner Statistics, 2001–2006; and Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2007–2012.
Table 27

Average annual mortality rate per 100,000 state and federal prisoners, by cause of death and location, 2001–2012

Illness

Location All causes Cancer

Heart

disease

Liver

disease

Respiratory 

disease

AIDSrelated All othera Suicide

Drug/alcohol 

intoxication Accident Homicideb

Federal 221 ... ... ... ... 8 194 9 ... 2 5

Statec 254 66 65 24 16 11 43 16 3 2 4

Alabama 297 76 71 30 16 11 60 5 -- ! 4 ! 4

Alaskad 181 26 36 24 3 ! 0 26 33 11 ! 13 ! 3 !

Arizona 215 56 47 31 13 6 31 17 7 1 ! 5

Arkansas 325 91 109 25 16 14 40 17 1 ! 6 ! 6 !

California 228 53 39 25 16 6 48 20 8 2 8

Colorado 209 39 42 39 15 0 38 17 8 5 7

Connecticutd 157 20 38 25 9 4 ! 33 23 1 ! 2 ! 2 !

Delawared 229 48 52 21 14 ! 23 31 26 2 ! 0 2 !

Florida 279 84 57 21 18 24 57 8 1 ! 2 5

Georgia 223 58 75 14 16 12 27 10 -- ! 2 ! 6

Hawaiid 182 50 31 23 5 ! 5 ! 30 26 3 ! 2 ! 6 !

Idaho 205 57 61 11 ! 11 ! 1 ! 28 25 0 3 ! 3 !

Illinois 188 56 54 11 9 11 25 16 1 ! 2 2 !

Indiana 253 65 69 21 15 7 40 16 8 4 ! 6

Iowa 168 62 32 9 ! 14 4 ! 20 22 1 ! 0 1 !

Kansas 249 74 61 32 13 1 ! 46 14 2 ! 5 ! 3 !

Kentucky 352 108 116 28 13 15 61 7 ! 1 ! 2 ! 1 !

Louisiana 467 137 118 39 18 39 79 9 -- ! 3 ! 2 !

Maine 177 51 46 ! 21 ! 4 ! 4 ! 25 ! 13 ! 4 ! 0 8 !

Maryland 258 52 56 22 10 35 30 20 17 2 ! 11

Massachusetts 305 80 77 31 16 6 ! 46 30 7 ! 5 ! 2 !

Michigan 256 84 82 22 12 6 26 14 2 3 2 !

Minnesota 157 45 27 28 5 ! 1 ! 26 21 2 ! 1 ! 0

Mississippi 317 82 123 15 18 9 42 14 2 ! 4 ! 4 !

Missouri 241 68 68 28 13 5 40 12 1 ! 1 ! 3

Montana 248 62 45 39 11 ! 0 45 31 ! 6 ! 3 ! 6 !

Nebraska 218 44 54 34 10 ! 6 ! 23 13 ! 8 ! 4 ! 2 !

Nevada 267 51 66 17 6 ! 6 ! 71 16 1 ! 1 ! 5 !

New Hampshire 245 87 42 32 ! 10 ! 6 ! 19 ! 35 ! 13 ! 0 0

New Jersey 239 55 70 16 15 26 33 13 3 ! 2 ! 3 !

New Mexico 263 72 46 43 21 4 ! 39 23 5 ! 1 ! 9 !

New York 243 66 60 23 11 28 25 21 2 3 2

North Carolina 223 71 58 20 15 12 33 7 -- ! 4 2 !

North Dakota 84 13 ! 26 ! 13 ! 0 0 19 ! 6 ! 6 ! 0 0

Ohio 237 76 70 14 17 5 35 12 1 ! 1 ! 3

Oklahoma 317 77 80 36 18 8 46 18 6 7 14

Oregon 256 72 54 46 9 3 ! 38 18 7 ! 4 ! 3 !

Pennsylvania 325 86 94 33 17 6 65 16 1 ! 2 ! 2

Rhode Islandd 198 39 49 2 ! 5 ! 10 ! 20 ! 42 7 ! 7 ! 2 !

South Carolina 275 54 106 15 15 12 52 12 -- ! 1 ! 8

South Dakota 218 36 69 28 ! 18 ! 3 ! 20 ! 28 ! 3 ! 8 ! 5 !

Tennessee 378 93 111 42 20 16 58 15 7 3 ! 9

Texas 264 58 67 28 22 8 57 16 1 3 3

Utah 210 44 42 19 ! 8 ! 0 39 42 5 ! 2 ! 5 !

Vermontd 164 35 ! 35 ! 30 ! 4 ! 13 ! 13 ! 22 ! 13 ! 0 0

Virginia 276 92 73 27 14 14 37 9 -- ! 1 ! 2 !

Washington 207 57 51 25 14 4 ! 33 11 1 ! 3 ! 3 !

West Virginia 371 105 146 34 17 ! 9 ! 49 7 ! 2 ! 0 4 !

Wisconsin 188 59 48 12 18 4 ! 22 21 3 ! 2 ! 0

Wyoming 254 45 ! 80 36 ! 22 ! 4 ! 36 ! 22 ! 4 ! 4 ! 0

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Mortality rates presented are not adjusted. Excludes executions; for execution data, see Capital 

Punishment, 2011 - Statistical Tables (NCJ 242185, BJS web, July 2013). 

... Not available. With the exception of AIDS-related deaths, the Federal Bureau of Prisons did not break out illness deaths by a specific cause of death.

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

-- Less than 0.5.

aIn 2007, a high number of illness cases were missing cause-of-death information and were classified as all other illnesses. Includes other specified illnesses, such as 

cerebrovascular disease, influenza, cirrhosis, and other nonleading natural causes of death, as well as unspecified illnesses. See Methodology for illness classifications.

bIncludes homicides committed by other inmates, incidental to the staff use of force, and resulting from assaults sustained prior to incarceration. See Methodology.

cIncludes 9 prisoner deaths reported by the District of Columbia in 2001. As of December 30, 2001, sentenced felons from the District of Columbia were the responsibility 

of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

dPrisons and jails form one integrated system. Data include total jail and prison population.

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012; National Prisoner Statistics, 2001–2006; and Federal Bureau of Prisons, 

2007–2012. 
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 29

Methodology

Data collection coverage

The Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP) is an 

annual Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) data collection. 

The DCRP collects national, state, and incident-level data 

on persons who died while in the physical custody of the 

50 state departments of corrections or the approximately 

2,800 local adult jail jurisdictions nationwide. The DCRP 

began in 2000 under the Death in Custody Reporting Act 

of 2000 (P.L. 106-297), and it is the only national statistical 

collection to obtain comprehensive information about 

deaths in adult correctional facilities. BJS uses DCRP data to 

track national trends in the number and causes (or manners) 

of deaths occurring in state prison or local jail custody. 

Mortality data measured by the DCRP include decedent 

characteristics, such as age, sex, race or Hispanic origin, date 

of admission, conviction status, admission offense, and the 

location and type of facility (prison or jail) where the inmate 

died. The DCRP also collects data about circumstances 

surrounding the death, including the cause, time and 

location where the death occurred, and information on 

whether an autopsy was conducted and the availability of 

results to the respondent. Data on executions are excluded 

from this report but are accessible on the BJS website along 

with the DCRP mortality data. Statistics presented in this 

report are current as of March 1, 2014. For more information 

on mortality in correctional settings, see Mortality in Local 

Jails, 2000–2007 (NCJ 222988, BJS web, July 2010); Medical 

Causes of Death in State Prisons, 2001–2004 (NCJ 216340, 

BJS web, January 2007); and Suicide and Homicide in State 

Prisons and Local Jails (NCJ 210036, BJS web, August 2005).

The DCRP data collection instruments are administered 

annually to both state prisons and local jails. Respondents 

provide an aggregate count of the number of deaths that 

occurred during the referenced calendar year. The jail (CJ-9) 

and prison (NPS-4A) survey instruments used to obtain data 

on each prison and jail death are available on the BJS website 

at www.bjs.gov. 

In addition to the death count, BJS requests that jails that 

provide summary statistics about their population and 

admissions. All jails, including those with no deaths to 

report (which includes about 80% of jails in any given year) 

are asked to complete the annual summary survey form. 

BJS obtains a separate report describing the decedent’s 

characteristics and the circumstances surrounding the death 

for each death that occurred in a state prison or local jail. 

State prison and local jail respondents can submit individual 

records on decedents at any time during a collection cycle 

through a BJS web-based collection system.

BJS has modified the survey instruments slightly over time, 

including changes to clarify questions and ease the burden 

on respondents. Several questions were added to capture 

information on any medical treatment that the inmate 

received prior to death. Changes also allowed respondents 

to elaborate on cause of death by adding text boxes to the 

intoxication, suicide, and inmate-involved homicide death 

questions. Previously, these fields had only been available 

for deaths due to illness, accident, homicides not caused by 

other inmates, and other unspecified causes. In addition, 

BJS clarified respondent instructions on the prison forms 

and removed a question collecting the conviction status of 

an inmate after an analysis showed that more than 99% of 

prison inmates were convicted at the time of death. BJS also 

streamlined the survey layout to simplify the progression 

through questions related to autopsies. Rather than initially 

submitting an incomplete instrument that indicated 

pending autopsy results, respondents were only permitted 

to complete the entire survey after autopsy results were 

available. This change reduced follow-up contact and the 

burden on respondents.

Starting in 2001 and annually thereafter, BJS has collected 

DCRP data directly from state prison systems, maintaining a 

100% response rate.

Nonresponse

The jail universe includes all jails currently operating 

and jails that have been contacted for the DCRP but have 

closed, consolidated, or otherwise eliminated operations. 

This universe allows BJS to determine jail participation in 

the DCRP. The most recent jail universe, constructed in 

January 2014, identified 2,812 jurisdictions representing 

3,245 jail facilities. Of these, 2,805 (99.7%) participated in 

the DCRP—an increase from previous years. An additional 

59 jail jurisdictions reported to the DCRP by yearend 2012.

The congressionally mandated Death in Custody Act expired 

at yearend 2006. Starting in 2007, participation in DCRP 

became voluntary. As a result, three jail jurisdictions no 

longer report data to the program.

A jail jurisdiction is a legal entity that has responsibility 

for managing jail facilities. Jail jurisdictions typically 

operate at the county level, in which a sheriff ’s office or 

jail administrator manages the local facilities. The DCRP 

data identify the jail facility in which a jail inmate dies, 

but the data are arrayed at the jail jurisdiction level. BJS 

defines a jail as a locally operated correctional facility that 

confines persons before or after adjudication for more than 

72 hours, excluding temporary lockups. Typically, there is 

one facility per jail jurisdiction, but the 2006 Census of Jail 

Facilities found that 15% of jail jurisdictions had multiple 

facilities under a central authority. (See the BJS website for 

more information.)
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 30

Determining eligibility for reporting to the DCRP

In the DCRP, custody refers to the holding of an inmate 

in a facility or to the period during which a correctional 

authority maintains a chain of custody over an inmate. For 

instance, if a jail transports an ill inmate to a hospital for 

medical services and that inmate dies while in the chain of 

custody of the jail, then that death is counted as a death in 

custody. A death that occurs when an inmate is not in the 

custody of a correctional authority is considered beyond the 

scope of the DCRP. Out-of-scope deaths include inmates 

on escape status or under the supervision of community 

corrections on probation, parole, or home-electronic 

monitoring. BJS instructs both state prison and local jail 

officials to determine whether the inmate was in the physical 

custody of the jurisdiction at the time of death, regardless 

of the reason an inmate was being held. For state prisons 

responding to the survey, inmates in physical custody 

include those held in any private prison facility under 

contract to the responding state’s department of corrections 

or in any of their state-operated facilities, including halfway 

houses, prison camps or farms, training or treatment centers, 

and prison hospitals. 

BJS instructs state prison officials to exclude deaths of 

inmates who were transferred to local jails while still serving 

a prison term because the DCRP obtains information about 

such deaths through the jail reports. Jail inmate custody 

includes inmates who are temporarily out of the jail facility 

but are within the chain of custody of the jail. For example, a 

death in custody would include a jail inmate who died after 

being transferred to an offsite facility that cares for critically 

ill persons. From 2000 to 2012, the DCRP data have shown 

that about 84% of jail deaths occurring in medical facilities 

have occurred in an outside of the jail facility. 

Custody is further complicated by the dual law enforcement 

and jail administration functions of some sheriffs’ offices. 

As a result, some deaths reported as jail deaths actually 

occurred before the jail had custody of the decedent. BJS 

identifies and excludes from the DCRP these deaths that 

occurred in the process of arrest by using information about 

the circumstances surrounding the death. 

Identifying and excluding duplicate records 

Duplicate death records may occur in the DCRP due to 

overlapping correctional populations and overlapping duties 

within correctional facilities. For example, a jail jurisdiction 

may have more than one unit responsible for reporting data 

to BJS, a jail may be holding a state prison inmate, or state 

prison systems may report the death of an inmate who was 

transferred to a local jail but was serving a prison sentence at 

the time.

To identify duplicate death records, BJS reconciles the 

aggregate summary counts of deaths occurring during a 

calendar year with the number of individual death records 

obtained from a reporting jurisdiction. When discrepancies 

are identified, BJS contacts reporting jurisdictions to clarify 

matters. However, even if summary counts and individual 

reports are reconciled, duplicate death records may exist 

if multiple reporting units within a jurisdiction provide 

reconciled data.

Duplicate records occur primarily in reports from jail 

jurisdictions that have multiple reporting entities. To 

identify duplicate records, BJS performs record-matching 

based on inmate name and date of birth, date of death, 

and date of admission into a correctional facility. After the 

aggregate count review, BJS searches for deaths reported 

to both the jail and prison DCRP collections, which most 

commonly occur when a local jail is housing an inmate 

for the state department of corrections. The death is 

considered part of the count of the facility that had custody 

of the inmate at the time of death, and the duplicate record 

is deleted.

Duplicate and out-of-scope records are excluded from 

the analyses.

Cause-of-death information

The instructions for completing the DCRP tell respondents 

to report death information as determined by an autopsy or 

other official medical death investigation. For this collection, 

intoxication deaths, accidents, suicides, and homicides 

are considered discrete causes of death. Although there is 

a distinction between manner and cause of death from a 

medico-legal standpoint, no such distinction is made in 

the DCRP. When reporting a death due to illness, accident, 

suicide, intoxication, or homicide, BJS requests that 

respondents describe the events surrounding these deaths. 

Clinical data specialists convert illness-related death text 

entries into standard medical codes according to the World 

Health Organization’s International Statistical Classification 

of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision 

(ICD-10).

Homicides include all types of intentional homicide and 

involuntary manslaughter as ruled by a medical examiner 

or pathologist at autopsy. For example, an inmate may die 

of positional asphyxia (suffocation caused by the position 

of the inmate’s body) while the inmate is being removed 

from a cell. A legal-intervention homicide committed while 

the inmate is trying to escape would also be included. In 

addition, homicides include cases that are ruled a homicide 

at autopsy when events that led to the death occurred prior 

to incarceration. For example, an inmate who was shot 

in the community years prior to incarceration died from 

complications of the gunshot wound while incarcerated. 
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 31

Other BJS sources of correctional mortality data

BJS collects other data reported to the DCRP on correctional 

mortality. These other collections include—

 Capital Punishment, which provides data on legal 

executions. Further discussion on executions is available 

on the BJS website.

 The National Prisoner Statistics (NPS), which annually 

collected aggregate counts of deaths in state and federal 

prisons prior to the establishment of the DCRP. Prior to 

2007, the NPS also collected counts of deaths by cause of 

death, including deaths due to execution, illness, AIDS, 

suicide, accident, homicide, and other causes. After 

2006, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) continued to 

submit the counts of deaths by cause of death using the 

DCRP, but no longer provided counts of deaths using the 

NPS. Further discussion of the NPS is available on the 

BJS website.

 The Census of Jails, conducted every 5 to 6 years, provides 

counts of inmate deaths in local jails. Further discussion 

of the Census of Jails is available on the BJS website.

 The Survey of Jails in Indian Country (SJIC), which 

provides aggregate counts of the number of deaths 

occurring in all known Indian country correctional 

facilities operated by tribal authorities or the U.S. 

Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

Further discussion of the SJIC is available on the 

BJS website.

Reported statistics 

Mortality data are shown in statistical tables by type of 

correctional institution (state prisons and local jails) and 

include the number of deaths and mortality rates by year, 

cause of death, selected decedent characteristics, and state.

Mortality rates are calculated per 100,000 inmates, with the 

denominators providing estimates of the number of personyears of exposure in custody in institutional corrections. 

Until 2010, the mortality rate for state prisons was calculated 

as the number of deaths per year divided by the midyear 

state prison population in custody multiplied by 100,000. 

Starting in 2011, the rate was calculated using yearend 

custody counts because midyear populations were no longer 

available. Custody counts for state prisons provide estimates 

of person-years for prison populations. BJS uses data from 

the NPS to provide midyear and yearend custody counts 

of prisoners. For more information on the NPS, see the 

BJS website.

The mortality rate in local jails is calculated as the number 

of deaths per year divided by the jail inmate average daily 

population (ADP) multiplied by 100,000. The ADP for local 

jails is defined as the average daily number of jail inmates 

held in a jail jurisdiction during a calendar year, from 

January 1 through December 31. 

The ADP is used as the denominator for jail mortality rates 

to accommodate the high turnover and daily fluctuation 

in local jail populations. Also, the ADP better reflects the 

number of inmate days per year than a 1-day count. Jail 

populations have a higher turnover than prison populations; 

mean length of stay in local jails is about 21 days, compared 

to 2 years in state prisons. 

The jail ADP also reflects the annual number of admissions 

and mean length of stay, and can be expressed as the product 

of these two values. When mean length of stay is expressed in 

years, the ADP is equivalent to the number of person-years 

spent by jail inmates during a given year. BJS obtains the jail 

ADP data directly from jails through the DCRP using the 

summary form CJ-9A. Starting in 2002, BJS collected the 

ADP directly from respondents. Prior to 2002, BJS calculated 

the jail ADP by taking the average of the January 1 count from 

the prior year and the December 31 count from the reference 

year, which is an appropriate proxy measure for the ADP.

Both denominators provide for annualizing mortality rates, 

which are calculated separately by group or by characteristic. 

The annualized mortality rates in state prisons and local jails 

are comparable to annual crude mortality rates reported by 

the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). 

The NCHS calculates crude mortality rates as the number of 

events for a period (e.g., a year) divided by the population 

estimate at the midpoint of the period. For general 

population mortality statistics, the NCHS employs the 

midyear population as an approximation to the average 

population exposed to risk of death during any given year.1

The crude mortality rates reported in the DCRP annual 

statistical tables are not directly comparable to the crude 

mortality rates within the (nonincarcerated) general 

population, and the crude mortality rates in state prisons 

are not directly comparable to those of local jails. The 

composition of the general population (i.e., age, sex, and 

race or Hispanic origin) differs from the population in state 

prisons and local jails. Because mortality is correlated with 

age, sex, and race or Hispanic origin, the crude mortality 

rates in state prisons, local jails, and the general population 

should not be compared. 

Individual inmate death records collected annually in 

the death file are included in the national death count. 

Independent jail-specific summary death counts are 

collected in the annual summary form (CJ-9A) and serve as 

control death totals. If the death count in the summary form 

file is greater than the count in the individual inmate death 

file, the summary file count is used as the total in calculating 

1See Siegal, J. & Swanson, D. (2004). The Methods and Materials of 

Demography, Second Edition. San Diego, CA: Elsevier Academic Press, 269.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 32

a jail mortality rate. For 2012, individual records for jail 

inmate deaths were adjusted to match independent counts 

of deaths occurring in each jail, and the mortality rates were 

adjusted accordingly.

Estimating inmate population characteristics to 

calculate mortality rates by demographic subgroups

BJS does not obtain annual data for all demographic 

characteristics of prison and jail inmates in all jurisdictions. 

BJS uses data from sources other than the DCRP to 

estimate the nationwide composition of state prison and 

local jail inmate populations by age, sex, and race or 

Hispanic origin. These data sources consist primarily of 

periodic surveys of inmates in custody in prisons and jails. 

The inmate characteristic distributions obtained from 

these surveys are applied to denominators (i.e., counts of 

inmates or ADP) to estimate the number of inmates in each 

demographic subgroup.

BJS estimated the demographic distribution of the state 

prison population data from the NPS and National 

Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP) collections. 

For a discussion on the methodology for obtaining state 

prisoner distribution estimates by age, sex, and race or 

Hispanic origin, see Prisoners in 2011 (NCJ 239808, BJS web, 

December 2012).

Prior to using the NPS and NCRP to estimate demographic 

distributions, reports of mortality rates for state prison 

inmates used demographic distributions derived from BJS’s 

2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional 

Facilities (SISCF). As a result, the state prison mortality rates 

shown in these tables may differ from previously published 

rates. A rate comparison between the two sources showed 

very little difference in the resultant mortality rates. In most 

instances, the rates either matched or nearly matched. The 

rates differed in only three instances: Hispanics in 2001, 

and females and inmates age 55 or older in 2002. In each 

instance, the rates calculated using population data from 

the NCRP and NPS were slightly higher (less than a 1% 

increase) than rates calculated using population data from 

the SISCF.

To estimate inmate demographic characteristic distributions 

of the ADP, BJS used data from several surveys to generate 

distributions of age, sex, and race or Hispanic origin and 

applied these distributions to the ADP. BJS’s Annual Survey 

of Jails (ASJ) provided estimates of the sex distribution of 

inmates for each year of the DCRP collection and applied 

these to each year’s ADP from the DCRP to estimate the 

ADP of male and female jail inmates. Jail Inmates at Midyear 

2010 - Statistical Tables (NCJ 233431, BJS web, April 2011) 

documents that the distributions of inmate characteristics 

have changed slowly over time. For the most recent 

information on the ASJ, see the BJS website.

To estimate the distribution of race and Hispanic origin of 

adult jail inmates, BJS used data from the Survey of Inmates 

in Local Jails (SILJ) and the National Inmate Survey (NIS) 

to estimate the relative distribution of adults by race and 

Hispanic origin for different periods. Because the SILJ 

(2002) and the NIS (2007 to 2009) are not fielded annually, 

the population estimates were smoothed before being 

applied to DCRP data. BJS used the SILJ estimates to cover 

the period from 2000 to 2004 and the NIS estimates to cover 

the period from 2005 to 2011. In both cases, the percentages 

associated with the distribution of race and Hispanic origin 

were applied to the adult jail ADP. For more information 

about jail inmates in 2002, see Profile of Jail Inmates, 2002

(NCJ 201932, BJS web, July 2004).

To estimate the age distribution of the jail inmate 

population, BJS first obtained an estimate of the number 

of jail inmates age 17 or younger from the ASJ. According 

to table 2 in Jail Inmates at Midyear 2012 - Statistical Tables

(NCJ 241264, BJS web, May 2013), the annual number 

of jail inmates age 17 or younger ranged from 5,400 to 

7,600 inmates from 2000 to 2012. By applying the annual 

percentage of jail inmates age 17 or younger to the annual 

ADP, BJS obtained an estimate of the ADP of jail inmates age 

17 or younger. 

To estimate the age distribution of adult jail inmates, BJS 

used data from the SILJ for 2000 to 2006 and the NIS for 

2007 to 2012 to estimate the relative distribution of adults 

by age category for different periods. The age estimates were 

smoothed to account for gaps in reference years when age 

estimates were available, specifically for 2003, 2006, 2010, 

and 2011.

Moving averages 

Moving averages were used to smooth short-term 

irregularities and to estimate long term trends. For instance, 

moving averages were computed to examine data trends for 

certain causes of death in jails and prisons while smoothing 

out short-term fluctuations. The data were cut into several 

3-year overlapping periods spanning 12 years of prison data 

and 13 years of jail data.

The moving averages in this report describe some changes 

in cause-specific mortality rates over time (e.g., whether the 

overall decline in the AIDS-related mortality rate was steady, 

or whether the increase of suicides in jails was recent). 

Moving averages were not computed for all causes of death 

in custody because the resultant rates would have been 

unstable and therefore statistically meaningless due to small 

cell sizes.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 33

Random error and suppression 

The DCRP data on deaths in state prisons and local jails are 

not subject to sampling error. However, mortality data from 

a complete or near-complete enumeration may be subject to 

random error. Following the methodology of Brillinger and 

NCHS, “the number of deaths that actually occurred may 

be considered as one of a large series of possible results that 

could have arisen under the same set of circumstances” (Xu, 

J. et al., 2010).2,3 The random variation can be large when the 

number of deaths is small. Therefore, caution is warranted 

when interpreting statistics based on small numbers of 

deaths. According to NCHS standards, mortality rates based 

on fewer than 100 deaths per year should be interpreted 

with caution.

Continuing to use the NCHS and Brillinger methods, 

BJS quantified random variation by assuming that the 

appropriate underlying probability distribution for the 

number of deaths is a Poisson distribution. This provides 

a computationally simple and reasonable approach for 

estimating variances in mortality statistics when the 

probability of dying is low. BJS calculated variances based on 

the assumption of a Poisson process. From these variances, 

BJS calculated relative random error estimates, which are 

comparable to relative standard error in that the relative 

random error is the ratio of random error derived from the 

Poisson variance to the number of deaths. Following NCHS, 

when the relative random error exceeded 30%, BJS flagged 

estimated mortality rates due to the instability of the rate 

with a “!” symbol (Interpret with caution; too few sample 

cases to provide a reliable rate).

2See Brillinger, D.R. (1986). The Natural Variability of Vital Rates and 

Associated Statistics. Biometrics, 42, 693–734.

3See Xu, J. et al. (2010). Deaths: Final Data for 2007. National Vital Statistics 

Report, 58(19). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr58/

nvsr58_19.pdf

Survey performance issues

Survey administration and modifications to the survey form 

generated data from 2007 to 2009 that may not be wholly 

compatible with prior DCRP data. In 2012, BJS identified 

a previously undetected data error that mischaracterized 

over 600 illness-related deaths as illness-related deaths 

missing detailed cause-of-death information. The data error 

lead to an inflated frequency of prison deaths in reference 

year 2007 being characterized as all other illnesses while 

simultaneously depressing frequencies of known illnesses 

(e.g., heart disease, cancer, and liver disease). The error 

was identified and resolved, correcting the distributions. 

In 2008, local jail officials were unable to provide causes 

of death for 21.4% of jail inmate deaths. During 2009, BJS 

made modifications to the collection instruments to improve 

reporting and reduce burden. 

 Item nonresponse in 2008 jail data and unknown cause of 

death: An abnormally large number of cases were missing 

a response for cause of death in the 2008 jail file (n=203; 

21.4% of all jail deaths in 2008). This coincided with 

the final year the U.S. Census Bureau acted as the data 

collection agent for the DCRP. In prior years of the DCRP 

jail data collection, an average of 6% of all causes of death 

were classified as other or unknown. For this report, BJS 

categorized all 203 jail deaths from 2008 as missing data 

about cause of death.

 2009 data collection: Prior to fielding the 2009 DCRP 

collection, BJS reviewed the data collection instrument 

and data submission procedures and assessed the 

communications with DCRP respondents to reduce the 

burden on respondents. The survey was modified to 

facilitate navigation and to encourage online response. 

The modifications led to delays in implementing data 

collection. As a result, death reports were not collected 

in the year the deaths occurred, but were instead 

collected retrospectively during 2010 for the first time. 

Data collection for subsequent years resumed on a 

normal schedule.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 34

Appendix table 1

Estimated number of local jail inmates in custody on an average day, by selected inmate characteristics, 2000–2012

Characteristic Total 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 9,339,000 598,000 640,000 668,000 688,000 716,000 742,000 772,000 783,000 780,000 749,000 734,000 723,000 746,000 

Sex

Male 8,274,000 530,000 566,000 591,000 608,000 628,000 648,000 673,000 682,000 681,000 658,000 642,000 632,000 646,000 

Female 1,065,000 68,000 74,000 78,000 82,000 88,000 94,000 100,000 101,000 99,000 91,000 92,000 91,000 100,000 

Race/Hispanic origina

White 3,358,000 215,000 230,000 240,000 247,000 257,000 266,000 276,000 279,000 277,000 265,000 255,000 248,000 252,000 

Black/African American 3,743,000 240,000 256,000 268,000 271,000 277,000 283,000 289,000 288,000 285,000 272,000 259,000 249,000 251,000 

Hispanic/Latino 1,727,000 111,000 118,000 124,000 127,000 132,000 137,000 142,000 144,000 152,000 154,000 155,000 157,000 167,000 

Otherb 511,000 33,000 35,000 37,000 43,000 50,000 57,000 65,000 71,000 66,000 59,000 63,000 68,000 77,000 

Age

17 or younger 102,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 6,000 6,000 6,000 

18–24 2,647,000 170,000 181,000 189,000 193,000 198,000 204,000 209,000 210,000 211,000 204,000 196,000 189,000 191,000 

25–34 2,998,000 192,000 205,000 215,000 220,000 228,000 236,000 244,000 247,000 250,000 244,000 244,000 245,000 258,000 

35–44 2,443,000 157,000 167,000 175,000 177,000 181,000 184,000 188,000 187,000 179,000 166,000 159,000 153,000 155,000 

45–54 941,000 60,000 64,000 67,000 74,000 83,000 91,000 100,000 108,000 106,000 101,000 101,000 101,000 106,000 

55 or older 206,000 13,000 14,000 15,000 17,000 19,000 21,000 23,000 25,000 27,000 27,000 28,000 29,000 31,000 

Legal statusc

Convictedc 4,109,000 263,000 266,000 267,000 271,000 284,000 282,000 293,000 297,000 289,000 283,000 285,000 285,000 294,000 

Unconvictedd 5,230,000 335,000 374,000 400,000 417,000 432,000 460,000 480,000 485,000 490,000 466,000 448,000 438,000 452,000 

Jail sizee

49 or fewer inmates 305,000 28,000 27,000 25,000 25,000 24,000 23,000 23,000 22,000 22,000 21,000 21,000 21,000 22,000 

50–99 514,000 40,000 40,000 42,000 42,000 43,000 40,000 40,000 38,000 39,000 38,000 37,000 36,000 37,000 

100–249 1,238,000 83,000 90,000 92,000 95,000 96,000 98,000 100,000 97,000 97,000 96,000 99,000 98,000 98,000 

250–499 1,312,000 76,000 88,000 93,000 100,000 102,000 103,000 100,000 110,000 107,000 108,000 102,000 106,000 116,000 

500–999 1,587,000 100,000 107,000 107,000 110,000 113,000 127,000 135,000 128,000 132,000 125,000 136,000 133,000 134,000 

1,000 or more 4,383,000 270,000 288,000 308,000 317,000 338,000 351,000 375,000 388,000 382,000 361,000 339,000 328,000 339,000 

Note: Data may have been revised from previously published statistics. Subpopulation estimates, such as sex, race or Hispanic origin, and age, were based on the 

reported proportion of the subpopulation in comparison to the total average daily population (ADP). Subpopulations for legal status were estimated using data from the 

Annual Survey of Jails. Subpopulations for sex and jail size were based on total counts as reported to the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program. Prior to 2003, age and 

race or Hispanic origin were estimated using data from the Survey of Local Jail Inmates. After 2007, race and Hispanic origin were estimated using data from the National 

Inmate Survey. Bridge data years, 2003 and 2006, were estimated by smoothing the 2002 and 2007 estimates. See Methodology.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

cIncludes inmates who returned on a probation or parole violation. See Methodology.

dIncludes inmates whose status was marked as other or was unspecified.

eJail size based on ADP.

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Annual Survey of Jails, 2000–2012; Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012; National Inmate Survey, 2007–2012; and 

Survey of Inmates in Local Jails, 2002.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 35

Appendix table 2

Illness mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates, by selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2012

Characteristic 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 81 76 75 74 71 73 78 69 63 66 61 65

Sex

Male 82 76 75 73 70 72 77 66 60 65 61 64

Female 74 74 77 80 77 78 83 74 68 69 66 71

Race/Hispanic origina

White 91 86 86 85 85 87 89 79 78 87 87 95

Black/African American 89 85 85 85 80 87 98 83 69 74 72 74

Hispanic/Latino 57 53 50 49 42 40 45 38 35 34 26 27

Otherb 22 ! 11 ! 9 ! 16 ! 19 ! 18 ! 18 18 17 ! 14 ! 9 ! 10 !

Age

17 or younger 15 ! 14 ! 7 ! 7 ! 7 ! 7 ! 0 7 ! 14 ! 15 ! 8 ! 79 !

18–24 8 8 10 9 9 10 7 6 10 8 6 60

25–34 31 29 29 26 23 26 24 20 20 22 24 161

35–44 99 94 85 78 80 86 67 54 55 51 51 567

45–54 268 259 258 232 227 226 184 157 164 153 170 1232

55 or older 661 671 661 651 677 662 559 528 547 509 550 3025

Legal status

Convictedc 60 57 58 56 51 49 51 45 44 52 46 49

Unconvictedd 95 88 86 85 83 87 94 80 70 73 72 75

Note: Based on 2-year rolling averages centered on the most recent year.

! Interpret with caution; too few sample cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

cIncludes inmates who returned on a probation or parole violation. See Methodology.

dIncludes inmates whose status was marked as other or was unspecified.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 36

Appendix table 3

Heart disease mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates, by selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2012

Characteristic 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 33 33 34 33 29 30 31 27 25 30 32 34

Sex

Male 34 34 35 34 30 31 32 27 25 30 33 34

Female 25 32 29 25 22 23 22 25 26 26 29 33

Race/Hispanic origina

White 44 44 42 39 39 41 38 32 34 43 48 52

Black/African American 35 35 38 38 30 32 37 34 28 31 37 40

Hispanic/Latino 13 16 17 20 17 11 13 12 12 15 10 8

Otherb 13 ! 6 ! 4 ! 7 ! 6 ! 9 ! 10 ! 7 ! 5 ! 5 ! 5 ! 7 !

Age

17 or younger 15 ! 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

18–24 4 ! 2 ! 2 ! 3 ! 3 ! 3 ! 3 ! 2 ! 2 ! 4 ! 3 ! 3 !

25–34 9 11 12 12 10 9 8 7 7 8 9 10

35–44 38 37 36 34 28 30 35 28 22 27 28 28

45–54 115 120 116 110 90 80 78 67 66 76 83 85

55 or older 343 329 342 301 271 289 276 242 235 263 277 297

Legal status

Convictedc 53 53 55 57 53 55 58 51 47 52 57 60

Unconvictedd 18 19 19 17 14 14 14 11 12 16 16 17

Note: Based on 2-year rolling averages centered on the most recent year.

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

cIncludes inmates who returned on a probation or parole violation. See Methodology.

dIncludes inmates whose status was marked as other or was unspecified.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 37

Appendix table 4

Suicide mortality rate per 100,000 local jail inmates, by selected decedent characteristics, 2000–2012

Characteristic 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 49 48 45 42 40 37 36 33 36 42 42 42

Sex

Male 51 50 46 44 42 40 39 35 36 42 44 44

Female 30 33 36 31 25 20 19 20 25 34 31 25

Race/Hispanic origina

White 95 98 92 80 73 70 69 64 71 86 89 89

Black/African American 18 14 13 17 17 16 17 13 12 14 14 16

Hispanic/Latino 30 29 28 30 31 25 21 19 18 20 24 22

Otherb 27 ! 24 ! 18 ! 22 ! 21 ! 16 ! 17 ! 18 20 20 14 ! 11 !

Age

17 or younger 96 ! 84 ! 62 ! 62 ! 56 ! 42 ! 43 ! 36 ! 22 ! 23 ! 25 ! 26 !

18–24 36 37 33 32 30 25 24 23 24 24 25 29

25–34 49 41 43 43 38 36 32 26 31 41 42 38

35–44 52 60 54 48 49 46 47 43 45 51 51 54

45–54 57 58 54 47 44 42 47 44 45 56 58 49

55 or older 88 73 ! 51 ! 54 ! 63 57 48 ! 58 55 54 60 64

Legal status

Convictedc 24 21 20 18 15 15 15 13 17 20 19 19

Unconvictedd 66 66 61 58 56 50 49 44 45 54 57 56

Note: Based on 2-year rolling averages centered on the most recent year.

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

cIncludes inmates who returned on a probation or parole violation. See Methodology.

dIncludes inmates whose status was marked as other or was unspecified.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 38

Appendix table 5

Mortality rate for all other unnatural deaths per 100,000 local jail inmates, 2000–2012

Characteristic 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 16 17 18 19 18 19 18 12 13 14 15 15

Sex

Male 15 17 16 18 18 19 17 13 13 14 14 14

Female 18 18 28 29 18 20 18 10 ! 10 ! 15 19 18

Race/Hispanic origina

White 26 30 30 31 29 28 24 20 20 24 26 26

Black/African American 9 10 12 14 13 15 15 9 8 10 10 9

Hispanic/Latino 11 8 ! 9 ! 12 13 15 15 9 8 8 9 10

Otherb 6 ! 7 ! 6 ! 4 ! 2 ! 4 ! 3 ! 0 5 ! 7 ! 8 ! 6 !

Age

17 or younger 0 0 7 ! 14 ! 14 ! 7 ! 7 ! 7 ! 7 ! 8 ! 0 0

18–24 8 8 9 9 10 12 11 7 4 ! 6 7 7

25–34 12 15 15 18 17 18 18 12 10 10 13 14

35–44 19 21 20 21 21 22 20 15 16 18 19 18

45–54 35 37 38 36 28 29 25 16 20 24 21 21

55 or older 33 ! 17 ! 26 ! 45 ! 38 ! 30 ! 27 ! 25 ! 41 ! 49 42 39 !

Legal status

Convictedc 10 11 9 8 8 11 11 6 6 9 13 12

Unconvictedd 19 20 23 26 24 23 22 16 16 17 16 17

Note: All other unnatural deaths includes deaths caused by accident, homicide, and drug or alcohol intoxication. Based on 2-year rolling averages centered on the most 

recent year.

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

cIncludes inmates who returned on a probation or parole violation. See Methodology.

dIncludes inmates whose status was marked as other or was unspecified.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2000–2012.

Appendix table 6

Illness mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, by selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012

Characteristic 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 217 224 228 225 221 222 227 228 223 224 232

Sex

Male 224 231 234 231 228 229 234 234 230 231 240

Female 124 135 139 145 135 124 142 149 126 125 128

Race/Hispanic origina

White 282 295 303 305 302 304 320 323 315 344 370

Black/African American 201 208 213 210 206 205 201 201 202 195 202

Hispanic/Latino 173 165 153 149 158 169 175 173 158 123 109

Otherb 119 110 136 147 118 119 148 147 127 76 63

Age

17 or younger 0 18 ! 20 ! 0 19 ! 18 ! 20 ! 20 ! 42 ! 64 ! 21 !

18–24 14 11 13 14 11 11 14 16 16 14 13

25–34 38 39 39 36 34 30 27 26 26 25 24

35–44 155 156 150 135 121 109 99 92 90 87 84

45–54 540 525 515 514 526 509 450 413 372 344 339

55 or older 1969 1964 1990 2039 2072 2238 2176 2013 1714 1599 1679

Note: Based on 2-year rolling averages centered on the most recent year. 

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 39

Appendix table 7

Cancer mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, by selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012

Characteristic 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 57 62 63 62 63 60 62 70 72 75 80

Sex

Male 60 64 65 64 65 62 65 72 74 77 83

Female 22 32 35 33 33 32 29 36 41 50 45

Race/Hispanic origina

White 82 90 90 88 91 90 97 107 108 120 133

Black/African American 49 52 56 56 56 54 53 58 62 64 70

Hispanic/Latino 40 36 34 36 37 32 30 39 43 35 31

Otherb 35 ! 32 ! 33 ! 42 44 34 ! 41 47 45 27 19

Age

17 or younger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 ! 21 !

18–24 1 ! 1 ! 2 ! 2 ! 1 ! 1 ! 2 ! 1 ! 4 ! 5 ! 3 !

25–34 5 5 5 5 6 4 4 4 4 5 6

35–44 28 31 30 26 25 20 18 20 20 20 21

45–54 141 141 131 132 147 138 118 123 120 111 112

55 or older 676 671 696 696 700 707 686 694 612 587 628

Note: Based on 2-year rolling averages centered on the most recent year.

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012.

Appendix table 8

Heart disease mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, by selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012

Characteristic 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 65 66 67 67 66 65 63 63 63 65 65

Sex

Male 67 68 69 70 69 67 65 65 66 68 67

Female 35 35 33 33 31 30 35 37 25 25 34

Race/Hispanic origina

White 94 93 94 97 96 92 88 91 90 98 103

Black/African American 57 61 62 62 62 60 58 57 61 61 62

Hispanic/Latino 38 37 33 32 36 41 44 42 36 29 21

Otherb 21 ! 22 ! 41 42 23 ! 31 ! 43 33 ! 27 ! 16 ! 16

Age

17 or younger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 ! 21 ! 0

18–24 3 ! 2 ! 3 ! 5 5 ! 3 ! 3 ! 5 ! 4 ! 3 ! 3 !

25–34 11 11 12 13 11 9 7 8 8 8 7

35–44 40 40 42 40 35 30 27 28 30 32 29

45–54 140 138 136 133 135 133 112 98 91 87 83

55 or older 710 672 635 662 682 711 645 587 502 467 478

Note: Based on 2-year rolling averages centered on the most recent year.

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 40

Appendix table 9

Liver disease mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, by selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012

Characteristic 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 65 66 67 67 66 65 63 63 63 65 65

Sex

Male 67 68 69 70 69 67 65 65 66 68 67

Female 35 35 33 33 31 30 35 37 25 25 34

Race/Hispanic origina

White 94 93 94 97 96 92 88 91 90 98 103

Black/African American 57 61 62 62 62 60 58 57 61 61 62

Hispanic/Latino 38 37 33 32 36 41 44 42 36 29 21

Otherb 21 ! 22 ! 41 42 23 ! 31 ! 43 33 ! 27 ! 16 ! 16

Age

17 or younger 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 ! 21 ! 0

18–24 3 ! 2 ! 3 ! 5 5 ! 3 ! 3 ! 5 ! 4 ! 3 ! 3 !

25–34 11 11 12 13 11 9 7 8 8 8 7

35–44 40 40 42 40 35 30 27 28 30 32 29

45–54 140 138 136 133 135 133 112 98 91 87 83

55 or older 710 672 635 662 682 711 645 587 502 467 478

Note: Based on 2-year rolling averages centered on the most recent year.

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

-- Less than 0.5.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012.

Appendix table 10

Respiratory disease mortality rate per 100,000 state prisoners, by selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012

Characteristic 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 12 14 16 16 16 15 17 17 15 15 16

Sex

Male 13 15 16 17 16 15 17 17 16 16 17

Female 8 ! 9 ! 13 ! 15 17 15 15 15 10 ! 9 ! 8 !

Race/Hispanic origina

White 17 22 23 23 23 24 28 25 23 27 30

Black/African American 11 12 14 16 15 13 14 14 13 11 11

Hispanic/Latino 8 9 8 8 9 9 11 13 12 7 7

Otherb 14 ! 8 ! 7 ! 6 ! 5 ! 1 ! 4 ! 4 ! 1 ! 3 ! 5 !

Age

17 or younger 0 0 0 0 19 ! 18 ! 0 0 0 0 0

18–24 3 ! 2 ! 2 ! 2 ! 2 ! 2 ! 3 ! 3 ! 1 ! 2 ! 2 !

25–34 3 4 4 4 3 3 4 3 2 ! 3 ! 3 !

35–44 7 8 8 9 8 7 7 7 6 4 4

45–54 21 25 28 26 28 27 24 23 19 19 19

55 or older 134 153 165 178 169 167 187 162 131 123 128

Note: Based on 2-year rolling averages centered on the most recent year.

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

aExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

bIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012.
Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000–2012 - Statistical Tables | October 2014 41

Appendix table 11

Mortality rate for all other illnesses per 100,000 state prisoners, by selected decedent characteristics, 2001–2012

Characteristic 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007a 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 57 58 59 55 52 58 61 54 49 45 46

Sex

Male 58 58 60 56 53 60 61 54 50 46 47

Female 44 46 46 47 41 39 52 51 40 33 32

Race/Hispanic originb

White 53 57 62 60 57 67 71 61 58 59 61

Black/African American 71 69 67 62 59 64 65 59 53 46 46

Hispanic/Latino 47 45 46 43 43 51 54 47 39 30 30

Otherc 18 ! 24 ! 33 ! 29 ! 23 ! 26 ! 36 44 35 20 ! 14 !

Age

17 or younger 0 18 ! 20 ! 0 0 0 20 ! 20 ! 0 0 0

18–24 6 6 6 4 ! 3 ! 4 ! 5 ! 6 ! 6 ! 4 ! 5 !

25–34 18 16 17 13 13 13 11 10 9 8 8

35–44 59 58 53 48 42 41 37 29 25 22 22

45–54 137 134 135 130 122 129 121 97 82 75 71

55 or older 330 329 359 364 364 480 491 416 333 278 287

Note: Detail may not sum to total due to missing data. Data may have been revised from previously published statistics to reflect updated information. Based on 2-year 

rolling averages centered on the most recent year. Includes other specified illnesses, such as cerebrovascular disease, influenza, cirrhosis, and other nonleading natural 

causes of death, as well as unspecified illnesses. See Methodology for illness classifications.

! Interpret with caution; too few cases to provide a reliable rate. See Methodology.

aIn 2007, a high number of cases were missing cause of death information. These cases were classified as all other illnesses. See Methodology. 

bExcludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, unless specified.

cIncludes American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, or other Pacific Islanders, and persons identifying two or more races.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, 2001–2012.
Office of Justice Programs

Innovation • Partnerships • Safer Neighborhoods

www.ojp.usdoj.gov

The Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice is the 

principal federal agency responsible for measuring crime, criminal 

victimization, criminal offenders, victims of crime, correlates of crime, 

and the operation of criminal and civil justice systems at the federal, state, 

tribal, and local levels. BJS collects, analyzes, and disseminates reliable and 

valid statistics on crime and justice systems in the United States, supports 

improvements to state and local criminal justice information systems, and 

participates with national and international organizations to develop and 

recommend national standards for justice statistics. William J. Sabol is 

acting director.

Margaret E. Noonan and Scott Ginder, RTI International analyzed the 

data; the report was prepared by Margaret E. Noonan. E. Ann Carson and 

Todd D. Minton verified the report.

Morgan Young and Jill Thomas edited the report. Barbara Quinn and Tina 

Dorsey produced the report.

October 2014, NCJ 247448