The number of Americans dying while incarcerated has surged while the US prison population has increased by 500% over the last 40 yearsWhy are so many people dying in US prisons and jails? It also highlights the fact that these circumstances have led to an epidemic of deaths in America’s prisons and jails. A 2017 report published by the Rand Corporation on identifying the needs to reduce prison mortality rates suggested several high-priority needs to reduce prison mortality rates. About 15 suicides have occurred in Alabama prisons since December 2017, and the state prisons have a homicide rate 10 times higher than the national average. Only one-third of the state’s correctional officers are authorized to adequately operate the prisons, while the state’s prisons are overcrowded by nearly twice their designed capacity.

Source: The Guardian May 26, 2019 06:00 UTC