Capstones
Graduation Date
Fall 12-13-2023
Grading Professor
Tom Robbins
Subject Concentration
Investigative
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Abstract
Last year, 12 inmates died in custody at the Pima County Jail in Tucson, Arizona. With a 10-year average jail population of 1,827, that is a per capita rate of 656.8 deaths per 100,000 inmates.
According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the 2019 national local jail mortality rate was 167 deaths for every 100,000 inmates, making the Pima County Jail’s 2022 per capita death rate nearly four times as high as the national average in 2019.
In a December 2022 memo to the Pima County Board of Supervisors, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos wrote that the operational capacity of the jail had degraded from “that of a critical state to a full-blown crisis.” Nanos cited overcrowding, understaffing, low morale, and a 40-year-old facility that had fallen into a state of disrepair.
A worsening fentanyl problem contributes to an inmate population that is in increasingly poor health and prone to addiction and overdose, which combined with a lack of supervision from a meager staff of corrections officers contributes to a death rate above the national average.
Recommended Citation
Robbins, Natalie, "The Pima County Jail in a “state of full-blown crisis”: Inmate deaths four times the national average" (2023). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gj_etds/707
Frances Ochoa holds a photo of her son, Cruz Patiño Jr., next to a memorial outside the Pima County Jail in Tucson, Arizona. Patiño was one of 10 inmates who died in-custody at the jail in 2021.
Screen Shot 2023-12-28 at 4.53.22 PM.png (420 kB)
Data visualization
Included in
Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons, Other Public Health Commons, Social Justice Commons