One of the most fundamental responsibilities of government is to protect the lives and rights of citizens, so we read with dismay that Colorado’s current system for tracking deaths among those in jail is so spotty as to be almost useless.
Jails play a key role in the front lines of protecting citizens. They are to keep bad actors locked up, but they also are to protect those held awaiting trial: those for whom the presumption of innocence should be front and center. Making sure those in custody aren’t being subjected to needless danger and abuse is critical to maintaining a just society.
After a string of jail deaths along the Front Range last year, The Denver Postap Noelle Phillips and Yesenia Robles did the hard work of asking, through the state’s open records laws, all 64 counties for information about .
The reporters took the major step of handling that many records requests after discovering that federal statistics are maddeningly opaque. Turns out, there is no state requirement for reporting the deaths, and if you turn to federal data to look for clues about the nature of in-custody deaths, you get data that is at least two years old, and summary in nature. Rather than county-by-county reports, data is reported as a single statewide figure. Detailed information about whether deaths were brought on by an accident, a guard’s use of force, violence from others in the jail, suicide or medical problems isn’t provided. Nor are details about an inmate’s age, gender and race.
Furthermore, once The Postap reporters had collected information from the counties themselves, the findings didn’t always mesh with those kept by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Thatap surprising. The lack of good collection of jail-death data ought to be remedied with haste.
Criminal justice experts interviewed for The Postap story explain that spotty reporting can be a significant problem. Inconsistent data collection and reporting prevents well-meaning jail officials, families and outside researchers from recognizing trends or challenges that could be addressed before circumstances lead to death in a jail cell. This at a time when jails are struggling to deal with increased numbers of mentally ill inmates and rising opioid addiction rates.
As Eric Heipt, a Seattle attorney who has sued jails around the country over inmate deaths, asked Post reporters: “How can the public ask for change for injustices if they’re kept in the dark about these things?”
To that point, The Postap report found that 117 people died in jail between January 2010 and June 22, 2016. Among the deaths, 58 were due to medical or health issues. Another 48 died from suicide. In other cases the cause of death was either homicide or it was unclear.
Another worrisome fact that illustrates the importance of clear data collection: Though inmate population declined from 2011 to 2015, the number of deaths in the latter year doubled the prior.
Some good news: For the most part, Colorado’s sheriffs worked happily with Post reporters to answer the records requests. Such willingness to report signals that reforming this collection system need not be a heavy lift.
We urge state officials to come up with a useful and transparent reporting system for deaths in county jails.
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