At least 990 deaths in state prisons and local jails went uncounted by the Justice Department in fiscal year 2021, a new bipartisan Senate report says.
The Justice Department is failing to adequately and efficiently collect data about the deaths, the report noted, according to NBC News. The findings were expected to highlight a Tuesday hearing of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
The report's conclusions are the result of a 10-month probe into how Justice Department officials oversee the federal Death in Custody Reporting Act [DCRA] .
It also claims the Justice Department missed death counts, which are readily available on arrest databases and public websites.
State and local officials are required by law to report deaths in local jails and state prisons to the attorney general. In turn, the justice department must study how the data can help decrease deaths and report its recommendations to Congress.
The information was due in 2016, but the report states it now will not be finished until 2024.
"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 says. "This information is critical to improve transparency in prisons and jails, identifying trends in custodial deaths that may warrant corrective action — such as failure to provide adequate medical care, mental health services, or safeguard prisoners from violence — and identifying specific facilities with outlying death rates."
And subcommittee's chairman, Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., maintains that there were "shocking long-term gaps in federal oversight" of the law.
Meanwhile, in November of 2021, an investigation by The Associated Press detailed serious misconduct involving correctional officers in the federal Bureau of Prisons.
At the time, the AP said the agency experienced a multitude of crises from the spread of coronavirus inside prisons and a failed response to the pandemic to dozens of escapes, deaths, and critically low staffing levels that have hampered responses to emergencies.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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