Page 2 - Behind Bars Data News Today

In a nation with one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, imprisonment speeds the aging process, research shows. Some experts complain the federal government isn’t collecting or releasing data that could identify disease patterns and prevent deaths.

As U.S. life expectancy falls, experts say incarceration has serious health impacts. The U.S. has one of the highest rates of people in prison or jail in the developed world.

After spending 38 years in the Alabama prison system, one of the most violent and crowded in the nation, Larry Jordan felt lucky to live long enough to regain his freedom.

At least 6,182 people died in state and federal prisons in 2020, a 46% jump from the previous year, according to the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project.

U.S. prison deaths spiked nearly 50 percent in 2020, jumping to 6,182 deaths from 4,240 in 2019.

Data acquired by the the UCLA School of Law’s Behind Bars Data Project indicates that 6,182 imprisoned people died behind bars in 2020 compared to 4,240 in 2019, a 62 percent increase despite a 10 percent decline in the US prison population. 

‌The first comprehensive data on prison fatalities in the Covid era sheds new light on where and why prisoners were especially vulnerable.

The Behind Bars Data Project’s database improves on discontinued efforts by the federal government to report this information.

Prisons used just a fraction of the antiviral drugs they were allocated to keep incarcerated people from getting ill or dying of Covid.

Michael Ollove/Stateline.org The Texas Department of Criminal Justice maintains a public dashboard showing the status of Covid-19 in its prisons, including a tally of those who have died. Earlier this week, that number stood at 173 confirmed Covid-19 deaths. The dashboard links to a list of names th