Prison Deaths

Prison deaths remain one of the most poorly researched and documented areas in the social sciences. In no small part this is due to the “total institution” nature of prison facilities and their staffs and the concomitant secrecy that surrounds any death in that environment. Also, there has long been a tendency to use a narrow range of medical categories to define prison deaths; this narrow range of categories serves to obscure the actual causes in many cases. But prison deaths should include all cases wherein an inmate dies, regardless of the location or cause of death. In addition, terminally ill prisoners who are released as a gesture of mercy (or economy) should be included, as well as escapee prisoners who have died. In general, prison deaths include those due to homicide, suicide, and natural causes.

The difficulty of acquiring useful data on prison deaths is considerable under the best of circumstances, and once outside the economically and politically developed countries the problem becomes almost insurmountable. Considerable efforts have been made in recent years, especially by the United Nations, to fill in the blanks, but many gaps remain.

General Considerations

As a general rule, nations that are high-income or at least have significant elements of functional democracy are open in the reporting of prison deaths. Such nations have experienced a decrease in the number of deaths related to suicide and homicide but report an overall increase in prison deaths as a result of an aging prison population. This latter finding reflects the demographic trend of aging found in the larger population.

A common finding is that mortality rates in prison (all cases) are generally lower than those found in the general population. In the United States between 2001 and 2004, for example, the annual prison mortality rate of 250 per 100,000 was 19#x0025; lower than the mortality rate in the American population. The vast majority of prison deaths in the United States are due to suicide, homicide, and consequences of an aging population. In the period 2001 to 2004, inmates age 45 and older made up only 14#x0025; of the American prison population but accounted for 67#x0025; of all prison deaths. Chronic diseases such as heart disease (27#x0025;), cancer (23#x0025;), and liver disease (10#x0025;) accounted for most of the mortality among this older group of inmates. Many prison systems have begun to adapt to an aging inmate population by providing hospice for inmates who are terminally ill. The substantial drop in rates of suicide and homicide in the United States between 1980 and 2003 is noteworthy: The rate of prison suicides fell by 64#x0025;, and the rate of prison homicides fell by 93#x0025;.

In Canada, while the general tendency has been a decrease in suicide and homicide and an increase in mortality due to aging, there was one notable exception. In the late 1990s, the prison mortality rate for provincial institutions was 211 per 100,000 people, well below that of the general population. In the federal institutions, however, suicide was elevated and helped produce a mortality rate of 421 per 100,000, which was well above that of the general population of Canada. Much of the rise was due to the practice in Canada for inmates with longer sentences to be sent to the federal rather than the provincial institutions, a practice that led to elevated levels of suicide. In England and Wales, suicide and homicide prison deaths have also gradually declined. Between 2004 and 2005, for example, suicide deaths fell by 14#x0025;. In Australia, prison deaths have generally declined or remained stable, with one notable exception. Between 1980 and 1997, Australian prisons experienced an increase in suicide, which by 1997 came to account for 42#x0025; of all prison deaths. Efforts since that time have served to reverse this trend.

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