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Department of Justice fails to fully count prison deaths, Senate report finds
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zinn
Sep 21, 2022, 4:51:34 AM9/21/22
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The Department of Justice failed to count nearly 1,000 deaths in U.S.
prisons during the 2021 fiscal year, according to a new report released by
the Senate subcommittee on investigations.
States that accept certain federal funding are required under the Death in
Custody Reporting Act of 2013 (DCRA) to report to the DOJ who is dying in
prisons and jails.
The law is intended to collect data on the scope of prison deaths in an
effort to curb them.
But the Senate committee report, released Tuesday, alleges that the DOJ
failed to properly implement reporting requirements -- leading to
ineffective and unfulfilled collection of the death data.
The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from
ABC News; bureau personnel were scheduled to testify before Congress later
Tuesday afternoon.
The subcommittee said in its report that the DOJ will be eight years late
on providing Congress with a report on how deaths in custody can be
reduced. The report was supposed to be sent in 2016, but it's not expected
to be finished until 2024.
The DOJ failed to identify at least 990 prison and arrest-related deaths
in the 2021 fiscal year alone, the report found. It also found that 70% of
the data the DOJ collected was incomplete and that the DOJ has no plans to
publicly publish any of the data from recent years.
"DOJ's failure to implement DCRA has deprived Congress and the American
public of information about who is dying in custody and why," the report
states.
It continued, "This information is critical to improve transparency in
prisons and jails, identifying trends in custodial deaths that may warrant
corrective actionósuch as failure to provide adequate medical care, mental
health services, or safeguard prisoners from violenceóand identifying
specific facilities with outlying death rates."
The report stated that the DOJ's data on prisons can be collected but that
department officials chose not to. The Senate subcommittee called the
failure to implement DCRA "a missed opportunity to prevent avoidable
deaths."
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/department-justice-fails-fully-count-
prison-deaths-senate/story?id=90199150
prisons during the 2021 fiscal year, according to a new report released by
the Senate subcommittee on investigations.
States that accept certain federal funding are required under the Death in
Custody Reporting Act of 2013 (DCRA) to report to the DOJ who is dying in
prisons and jails.
The law is intended to collect data on the scope of prison deaths in an
effort to curb them.
But the Senate committee report, released Tuesday, alleges that the DOJ
failed to properly implement reporting requirements -- leading to
ineffective and unfulfilled collection of the death data.
The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from
ABC News; bureau personnel were scheduled to testify before Congress later
Tuesday afternoon.
The subcommittee said in its report that the DOJ will be eight years late
on providing Congress with a report on how deaths in custody can be
reduced. The report was supposed to be sent in 2016, but it's not expected
to be finished until 2024.
The DOJ failed to identify at least 990 prison and arrest-related deaths
in the 2021 fiscal year alone, the report found. It also found that 70% of
the data the DOJ collected was incomplete and that the DOJ has no plans to
publicly publish any of the data from recent years.
"DOJ's failure to implement DCRA has deprived Congress and the American
public of information about who is dying in custody and why," the report
states.
It continued, "This information is critical to improve transparency in
prisons and jails, identifying trends in custodial deaths that may warrant
corrective actionósuch as failure to provide adequate medical care, mental
health services, or safeguard prisoners from violenceóand identifying
specific facilities with outlying death rates."
The report stated that the DOJ's data on prisons can be collected but that
department officials chose not to. The Senate subcommittee called the
failure to implement DCRA "a missed opportunity to prevent avoidable
deaths."
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/department-justice-fails-fully-count-
prison-deaths-senate/story?id=90199150
plateshutoverlock
Oct 4, 2022, 3:12:06 AM10/4/22
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