What to know about the 'astronomical' death rate in Maricopa County jails
An investigation by The Arizona Republic found the Maricopa County jail system has one of the highest death rates in the country.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office operates five jails, as well as an intake, transfer and release facility.
The Republic requested the total numbers, identities and causes of death for everyone who died in the custody of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office from 2019 to 2023. The information was cross-referenced with public lists the Sheriff's Office maintained on its website and with reports from the county Medical Examiner's Office.
The Republic reviewed more than 50 medical examiner reports of people who died while in Maricopa County jail custody and talked to several of the families of the deceased. In that review process, The Republic found five people who died in the county jails that the Sheriff's Office did not disclose.
Read the investigation: 'Dying in the dark': Investigation finds 'astronomical' death rate in Maricopa County jails
How many people are dying in Maricopa County's jails?
The number of deaths in the Maricopa County jails increased dramatically over the past five years while the average daily population has declined. That has led to a rate of death more than four times higher than the national average.
The average daily population was 6,829 in 2019. Like most jail systems, Maricopa County's jails saw their population decrease during the pandemic to an average daily population of 5,433 in 2020. The numbers have steadily risen since then but have still not reached pre-pandemic levels. The average daily population in 2023 was 6,569.
In 2019, there were 11 deaths in the jails. In 2022, 43 people are known to have died in the Maricopa County jail system. More than one-quarter of those deaths were suicides. Forty-three more people died in the jails in 2023.
Scholars who study in-custody deaths in U.S. jails and prisons said those numbers are incredibly high when compared with similarly sized jail systems and even jails with much larger populations. “Astronomical,” in the words of one researcher.
In 2019, the most recent year the federal government calculated jail mortality, there was an average of 167 deaths per 100,000 inmates in county jails in America.
The death rate in Maricopa County jails in 2019 was 161 per 100,000, slightly lower than the national average. But that rate quadrupled in just three years to 678 in 2022.
With 43 deaths in 2023 and a population of around 6,569, the most recent death rate for the Maricopa County jails was 654 deaths per 100,000 inmates.
Why are so many people dying in Maricopa County's jails?
Drug overdoses, drug withdrawals and suicides were among the leading causes of death in the past five years in Maricopa County jails.
The Sheriff's Office said it was working to bring the death rate down, and a representative for the county's Board of Supervisors suggested the opioid epidemic was a contributing factor, pointing to an overall increase in drug-related deaths in the county. In the past five years, one-third of the deaths "are natural as the detainee population has become older and sicker," according to a county spokesperson.
Maricopa County's jails remain understaffed, according to the current and former Sheriff's Office administrations, which has hindered operations and challenged efforts to maintain safe conditions.
Who keeps track of in-custody deaths in Maricopa County and nationwide?
Federal law directs state and local agencies to report in-custody deaths to a commission that collects the data for the federal government. Arizona law enforcement agencies and state prisons report their in-custody death data to the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission.
The in-custody death numbers the Sheriff's Office initially provided to The Republic were much higher than those it had reported to the federal government via the commission. After inquiries from The Republic, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office revised the number of deaths it had reported for the past five years.
After The Republic called the commission's attention to the dramatic rise in deaths, the commission took down its public website and reached out to the Sheriff's Office for clarification on its reporting of jail deaths.
Commission spokesperson Molly Edwards acknowledged the Sheriff's Office's underreported in-custody deaths. After the commission communicated with the Sheriff's Office, Edwards said, the Sheriff's Office revised its reporting and provided new in-custody death figures that were more closely in line with the information the Sheriff's Office provided The Republic.
In addition to the Sheriff's Office underreporting deaths to the commission, the Sheriff's Office provided The Republic with an incomplete list of people who died in Maricopa County jails in 2023. Through medical examiner records, The Republic identified five additional people who died in the county's jails that year. The Sheriff's Office updated its records after The Republic provided notice of the missing people, said Sheriff's Office spokesperson Calbert Gillett.
Have a news tip about the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office? Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 812-243-5582. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @JimmyJenkins.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: What to know about The Republic's investigation into jail deaths
