How States Track and Dont Track Deaths of Jail Inmates With Mental Illness

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How states track (and don't track) deaths of jail inmates with
mental illness
By Gary Harki and Will Houp
The Virginian-Pilot
Aug 23, 2018 Updated Aug 27, 2018
Bill Tiernan | The Virginian-Pilot Buy Now

A Jail cell at Hampton Roads Regional Jail.
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As a part of The Virginian-Pilot’s effort to track deaths of jail inmates with mental
illness, students from Marquette University contacted officials in all 50 states and the
District of Columbia to find out what information they keep.
These requests, which often involved

calls to multiple agencies, yielded just
eight states that were able to provide
any data at all. Some of those states do
not separate out deaths in jails, which
house people charged but not yet
convicted of crimes, from those in
prisons.
Only Texas could provide names and

specific mental health diagnoses. Its
information was incorporated into The
Pilot’s database of such deaths. Texas'
data contained 55 deaths since 2010.
The Virginian-Pilot found an additional
30 deaths that met the database
criteria.
Click on a highlighted state to see its

data.
Indiana
The Indiana Division of Trauma and Injury Prevention found six deaths in 2015 in its violent
death registration system – cases in which a person with a diagnosed mental health problem
committed suicide. The inmates included people with a diagnosis of depression/bipolar
disorder or depression/anxiety disorder, said Jeni O’Malley, director of the Office of Public
Affairs for the state Department of Health.
"Please note, this data only includes violent deaths that occurred in Marion, Lake, Allen,
Vanderburgh, St. Joseph, and Madison counties," she wrote in an email. "The INVDRS
database is new and contains data only for 2015, when a pilot project was conducted in those
six counties. Statewide data for 2016 will not be available until the fall of 2018."
Massachusetts
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health keeps track of violent deaths in custody,
which includes police custody as well as in jails and prisons. The data includes mental health
diagnoses but does not separate out jails. From 2003 through 2015 the department counted 97
violent deaths while in custody of people with a diagnosed mental health illness, roughly 24
percent of all deaths in custody during that time period.
Example of data provided
See the entire report
Montana
Montana’s Department of Public Health counted 37 deaths of people with mental illness in
jails between 2010 and 2017.
Year Number

2010 4
2011 3 
Year Number

2012 7
2013 6
2014 5
2015 7
2016 3
2017 2

Rhode Island
Between 2012 and 2016 there were six deaths in Rhode Island prisons or jails, and four of the
inmates had mental health problems, said Samara Viner-Brown, chief of the state’s Center for
Health Data and Analysis. All were suicides.
"Additionally, three of these four with mental health issues had substance abuse problems,
including alcohol," she said.
Texas
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards tracks deaths in custody in a database that includes
a field for known medical conditions. The Virginian-Pilot was able to track deaths of people
with mental illness in jail from that data. The names and circumstances of the deaths were
added to the database.
Below is the initial spreadsheet from the commission obtained by The Virginian-Pilot
responding to a Freedom of Information Act request.
County Jail Inmate Name Age Date Of Death Known Medical Conditions?

Bell Marcus Nelson 45 23-May-16 Anxiety, Depression, PTSD
Bexar Skylab Gonzalez 36 03-Oct-17 Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia
Bowie Morgan Angerbauer 20 01-Jul-16 Insulin dependent diabetic, bipolar,

drug addiction, heart problems
Brazoria Emmanuel Marshell 22 18-Feb-17 Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety,

Depression
Brazoria Joshua Britt 25 19-Aug-17 Drug use, mental health issues
Cameron Earl Ricky McCraney 36 07-Mar-12 Diabetes, ADHD, Anxiety, Panic

Attacks, Hypertension 
County Jail Inmate Name Age Date Of Death Known Medical Conditions? 

Utah
At least 20 people who died in Utah jails, prisons or detention facilities had a mental health
problem, according to data from Elizabeth Brutsch, a drug overdose and violent death
epidemiologist with the state’s Department of Health.
The department counts a total of 67 deaths in such facilities between 2010 and 2015. The
number of people with mental illness is likely undercounted in the Utah data because that
information may not always be included in jail and prison reports, Brutsch said.
Total Deaths Occurring Within A Jail, Victims With Mental Percent Of Victims With

Year Prison, Or Detention Facility Health Problems Mental Health Problems
2010 5 ** **
2011 8 ** **
2012 7 ** **
2013 15 5 33.3%
2014 21 7 33.3%
2015 11 ** **

Vermont
Vermont’s Department of Corrections counts seven mental health-related deaths in jails
between 2013 and 2017, the only years for which data is available.
Year Deaths (MH)


2013 1
2014 1
2015 3
2016 1
2017 1

Virginia
The Virginia Department of Health counts 39 deaths of people with mental health problems in
local or regional jails from 2010 to 2015, the most recent year for which data is available, in
its count of deaths drawn from the National Violent Death Reporting System. That’s 47
percent of the 83 deaths counted during that time.
From 2003 through 2015, the department counts a total of 76 deaths of people with mental
illness in state jails. Of those, 66 percent suffered from depression, 16 percent from anxiety,
28 percent from bipolar disorder and 12 percent from schizophrenia.
Example of data provided
See the entire report
As part of this project, the Pilot contacted the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of
Justice Statistics and requested the most detailed data the federal government keeps
on jail deaths. Since 2009, two questions on the form that jails are asked to fill out and
return to the bureau have given some indication of whether an inmate who died had
a mental illness.
The first question asks: “Since admission, did the inmate ever stay overnight in a
mental health observation unit or an outside mental health facility?”
Roughly 11 percent of the 4,645 responses from 2009 to 2013 -- the most recent data
available -- were yes.
Overnight stay in mental hospital facility 2009-2013

Year Yes No Don't Know Total
2009 92 655 194 941
2010 101 688 107 896
2011 116 655 112 883
2012 102 713 140 955
2013 111 699 160 970
Total 522 3,410 713 4,645
MORE INFORMATION
These are the people with mental illness who have died in America's jails
Horrific deaths, brutal treatment: Mental illness in America’s jails
We should stop using jails as dumping grounds for people suffering from mental illness
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Will Houp
Interactive graphics editor
Will Houp was previously an interactive graphics editor for The Virginian-Pilot.
will.houp@pilotonline.com
Gary A. Harki
Special projects reporter
Gary Harki is an investigative reporter at The Virginian-Pilot. He was named the Virginia Press
Association's Outstanding Journalist of the Year in 2017. He is currently a fellow at Marquette
University's O'Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism.
gary.harki@pilotonline.com
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How states track (and don't track) deaths of jail inmates with mental illness | Jailed in Cris...

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Bill Tiernan | The Virginian-Pilot Buy Now

These requests, which often involved

Only Texas could provide names and

Click on a highlighted state to see its

Example of data provided

See the entire report

Bexar Skylab Gonzalez 36 03-Oct-17 Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia

Bowie Morgan Angerbauer 20 01-Jul-16 Insulin dependent diabetic, bipolar,

Brazoria Emmanuel Marshell 22 18-Feb-17 Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety,

Brazoria Joshua Britt 25 19-Aug-17 Drug use, mental health issues

Cameron Earl Ricky McCraney 36 07-Mar-12 Diabetes, ADHD, Anxiety, Panic

Year Deaths (MH)

Example of data provided

See the entire report

Overnight stay in mental hospital facility 2009-2013

2009 92 655 194 941

2010 101 688 107 896

2011 116 655 112 883

2012 102 713 140 955

2013 111 699 160 970

Total 522 3,410 713 4,645

Horrific deaths, brutal treatment: Mental illness in America’s jails

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