By Nicholas Shapiro, Terence Keel

The rising number of jail deaths in the United States has left impacted community members, state actors, media, and scholars questioning if these rates are a reflection of the overall declining health of the nation or are due to factors specific to the carceral environment. This fact sheet contributes to this national dialogue through the analysis of autopsies for 58 deaths that occurred in Los Angeles County Jails over a 9-year period. Our study shows that young Black and Latinx men are not dying merely from "natural causes" but from the actions of jail deputies and carceral staff. Our findings support the efforts of community members and lawmakers attempting to reform the cash bail system in Los Angeles County as three quarters of the deaths in our study were individuals held in pre-trial detention. Moreover, our study supports the urgent need to reduce the jail population to expedite the closing of Men’s Central Jail and the potential life saving benefits of jail diversion programs for the people of Los Angeles County. We focus on autopsies because they are fundamental to establishing the causes and manner of death in carceral facilities that have limited public accountability. 

Los Angeles, UCLA Carceral Ecologies Lab, BioCritical Studies Lab, 2022. 9p.