Inmate deaths in D.C. outpace nation

The rate of inmate deaths at the D.C. Jail was more than double the national average between 2000 and 2007, according to data reported by the Washington Examiner.

In the District, 315 people per 100,000 died while in custody; the national rate was 145 per 100,000.

Margaret Noonan, author of the Bureau of Justice Statistics study, told the newspaper the D.C. deaths were mostly the result of natural causes.

The city’s higher-than-average rates of heart disease, AIDS and cancer could explain the numbers, Deborah Golden, an attorney with the D.C. Prisoners Project, told the Examiner.

Suicides among D.C. inmates were far below the national average, the report said. In the District, 19 inmates per 100,000 took their own lives during the time period. Nationally the rate was 42 per 100,000.

Read the Washington Examiner report.
Related: The Bureau of Justice Statistics study