Dying in Jail - The Search for Contemporary Images of an 'American Tragedy'

• NCJ Number: 101585
• Author(s): L T Winfree
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 121 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

An analysis of National Jail Census data for 1978 and 1983 compares national death rate trends in and out of jail, describes characteristics that distinguish jails in which deaths are reported from those in which no deaths occur, and explores statewide trends in jail inmate deaths.

Abstract

Using an adjusted general population death rate, this analysis shows that the death rates for natural causes and homicides are actually lower in jails. Depending on which general population rates are compared with which jail rates, inmates committed suicide at a rate that was between 5 and 15 times higher than the rate for free citizens. Jail inmate death rates generally declined between 1978 and 1983, although the decreases were lower for suicides than for homicides and death by natural causes. A comparison of processing, staffing, and medical resource characteristics of death and nondeath jails revealed contradictory findings. Death jails were bigger, busier, better staffed, and better equipped than jails in which no deaths occurred. Reasons for this anomaly are suggested. Tables, footnotes, and approximately 100 references. (Author abstract modified)