BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Deaths in Custody Reporting Program
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The Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP) collects data on deaths that occur in state prison or local jail custody, and during the process of arrest. Data are collected directly from state and local law enforcement agencies. The DCRP provides individual-level data on the number of deaths by year, cause of death, and decedent age, race/ethnicity, and sex. Mortality rates are also presented. The collection of individual-level data allows BJS to perform detailed analyses of comparative death rates across demographic categories and offense types, as well as facility and agency characteristics.

The DCRP began in 2000 under the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-297), which required the collection of individual death records for prison and jail fatalities. While this legislation expired in 2006, BJS has continued to collect these data, as they represent a unique national resource for understanding mortality in the criminal justice system. Prior to the passage of the law, BJS annually collected aggregate counts of deaths from state prisons and less frequently collected aggregate counts from local jails. Annual collection of individual death records from local jail facilities began in 2000, followed by a separate collection from state prison facilities in 2001. Collection of arrest-related death records began in 2003.

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Federal prisons Prison facilities run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Prisoners housed in these facilities are under the legal authority of the federal government. This definition excludes the private facilities that are under exclusive contract with BOP.
 
Prison Compared to jail facilities, prisons are longer-term facilities owned by a state or by the Federal Government. Prisons typically hold felons and persons with sentences of more than a year; however, the sentence length may vary by state. Six states (Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware, Alaska, and Hawaii) have an integrated correctional system that combines jails and prisons. There are a small number of private prisons, facilities that are run by private prison corporations whose services and beds are contracted out by state or federal governments.
 
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