The UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project: Announcing the Launch of Our New Interactive Website Tracking Deaths in Custody Nationwide
Today, the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project is pleased to announce the launch of our new website, which reflects our shift away from an exclusive focus on COVID to our current focus on all-cause carceral mortality. Thanks to a substantial commitment from Arnold Ventures, we are now able to expand the scope of our work to increase transparency and accountability for all-cause mortality within US carceral systems. Our mission is to deepen public knowledge and understanding of all forms of death in custody by providing free, accessible data, support for researchers, and our own analyses.
In 2019, the federal entities charged with producing carceral mortality data stopped performing this function. As a consequence, our database is now the country’s most comprehensive public resource tracking prison deaths nationwide. On our new website, users will be able to explore carceral mortality data nationally and by state for both federal and state prisons across several years.
In addition to building and maintaining our dataset, our team undertakes analyses of various drivers of carceral mortality based largely on the data we compile. Our current research priorities include the effect of prison on life expectancy, the relationship between incarceration duration and overdose deaths, and the role of racial disparities, restrictive housing, and environmental-related factors in driving mortality in prisons and jails.
To enhance our research, we have an Advisory Board composed of members with diverse experiences with the carceral system. We are indebted to each of them and to our funders Arnold Ventures, Vital Projects Fund, and the UCLA Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Creative Activities. We will continue to share our plans for this next stage in our work and, as ever, we welcome your ideas and any opportunities to collaborate. We look forward to remaining in conversation with all of you.