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Mortality in State and Federal Prisons and Local Jails

February 21, 2020

News Type:  Weekly Spark, Weekly Spark Announcement

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has released mortality data from state and federal prisons and local jails. The data show that from 2001 to 2016, suicides represented an average of 6 percent of deaths in state prisons. From 2006 to 2016, suicide was the leading single cause of death in local jails each year.