NCJ Number
89623
Date Published
Unknown
Length
6 pages
Annotation
The data on inmate deaths do not support the purported relationship between prison overcrowding and death rates. This is an update on selected data from Sylvester's work, 'Prison Homicide.'
Abstract
Sylvester compared Federal and State prison crude death rates (CDR) for 1962-70. He also compared observed and expected deaths by cause (natural, accident, suicide, and homicide) in the Federal system, basing expected deaths upon U.S. population death rates for the same age, sex, and race categories in the Federal Prison System. From 1972 through 1975, Federal CDR's were lower than the overall CDR's for State systems; in 1976 and 1977, the Federal CDR's were higher. For each year from 1972-78, the actual Federal Prison CDR was less than the CDR of a U.S. population with the same age, sex, and race characteristics. From 1972-78, the average number of deaths in the Federal Prison system was 72 per year, and the average number of observed natural and accidental deaths was less than the number expected. The opposite was true of suicides and homicides. The difference between observed and expected accidental deaths was statistically significant. There were no statistically significant correlations between the Federal inmate population density and death rates for each cause of death. Two footnotes and tabular data are provided. (Author summary modified)