Suicide in U.S. jails spikes
Inmate deaths in state prisons and local jails have increased for the third year in a row, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report examining the 4,446 inmate deaths that occurred in 2013.
According to the report, released Tuesday, the number of deaths in local jails from illnesses such as heart disease and cancer has declined, while deaths from suicide, drug and alcohol intoxication, accidents and homicides increased. Suicide continues to be the leading cause of death in local jails, accounting for 34 percent of all deaths. Suicide has been the leading cause of death in jails every year since 2000, and the rate has increased 12 percent in the past five years.
The average inmate who died in jail in 2013 was a white male, 35 years of age or older, who was in custody for less than seven days. Eighty percent of jails reported no deaths in 2013, and Texas and California accounted for 23 percent of all inmate deaths.
In state prisons, the number of deaths increased by 122, year-over-year, from 3,357 to 3,479. About 90 percent of deaths in 2013 were related to an illness. Cancer was the leading cause in deaths related to illness, accounting for about 31 percent of all deaths. Just six percent of these deaths in state prisons were suicides. In state prisons, over half of the prisoners who died were older than 55. Almost all were male and more than half were white. Every state department of corrections reported at least one prisoner death in 2013.