Longer Life? Consider Prison

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reports that from 2001 through 2004, the annual death rate among inmates in U.S. state prisons was 250 deaths per 100,000 inmates – a number 19 percent lower than the adult death rate in the general U.S. population.

According to BJS, medical conditions – primarily heart disease, cancer and liver disease – were tagged as the cause of 89 percent of all prisoner deaths. Suicide and homicide accounted for 8 percent of the deaths, with the remainder due to alcohol/drug intoxication or accidental injury. Two-thirds of the inmates who died from medical conditions were already ailing when they went to jail.

Complete data can be found in the BJS report Medical Causes of Death in State Prisons, 2001-2004 by BJS policy analyst Christopher J. Mumola.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice, a regulatory, Cabinet-level agency.

Also See:
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California to Ship Prisoners to Other States
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