Mortality in Correctional Institutions: Local Jails, 2000-2017 (ICPSR 37878)

Version Date: Apr 27, 2021

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Principal Investigator(s):
United States. Bureau of Justice Statistics

Series:

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37878.v1

Version V1

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Alternate Title

MCI Local Jails, 2000-2017

Summary

The Mortality in Correctional Institutions series (MCI), formerly Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP), is an annual data collection conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). The MCI began in 2000 under the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-297). It is the only national statistical collection that obtains detailed information about deaths in adult correctional facilities.

The local jail portion began in 2000 after the passage of the Deaths in Custody Reporting Act of 2000 in October of 2000. The jails component of MCI collects data on inmate deaths occurring in local jail facilities while inmates are in the physical custody of jail facility officials.

Citation

United States. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Mortality in Correctional Institutions: Local Jails, 2000-2017. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2021-04-27. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37878.v1

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

City

Restrictions

Access to these BJS-sponsored data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a NACJD Restricted Data Use Agreement available from the ResearchDataGov website, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

Restricted Data Use Agreements available on the NACJD website are provided for reference only. Please visit the ResearchDataGov website to download the appropriate Restricted Data Use Agreement and submit your request. Once approved, data access will be provided via ICPSR's Physical Data Enclave (PDE) in Ann Arbor, MI.

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2000 -- 2017

Date of Collection

2000 -- 2017
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Study Purpose

The MCI is the only national statistical collection that obtains comprehensive information about deaths among prisoners and jail inmates in the custody of adult correctional facilities. Starting in 2000, BJS has annually collected data directly from the approximately 2,800 jail jurisdictions in the U.S. and maintained an average annual response rate of 98%. BJS uses these data to track national trends in the number and causes or manners of deaths occurring in local jails. In 2017, BJS changed the name from the DCRP to MCI to more accurately describe the data collection.

Study Design

Data collections covering these populations were developed in annual phases: Annual collection of individual death records from local jail facilities began in 2000, followed by a separate collection for state prison facilities in 2001. Collection of state juvenile correctional agencies began in 2002 but was discontinued in 2006, and collection of arrest-related death records began in 2003. Due to concerns regarding data quality and coverage issues, BJS temporarily suspended the arrest-related death (ARD) portion of the DCRP in 2014. Datasets are produced in an annual format.

Sample

Individual-level death data are collected from local jail facilities in the United States.

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Universe

Deaths of individuals incarcerated in local jail facilities.

Unit(s) of Observation

Individuals

Data Source

Local jail facilities

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

Mortality data measured by the MCI include the location and type of facility where the inmate died, decedent characteristics (sex, race or ethnicity, and age), admission date, conviction status, and admission offense. MCI also collects data on the circumstances surrounding the death (the cause, time, and location of death), whether an autopsy was conducted, and the availability of autopsy results to the respondent.

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Original Release Date

2021-04-27

Version History

2021-04-27 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Created variable labels and/or value labels.
  • Standardized missing values.
  • Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.
  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

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Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

  • One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.