Any Suspicious Deaths

[JonathanDough]

There is a news article about some jail guards arrested for murdering a prisoner. http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_28769734/police-shooting-protests-help-highlight-plight-mentally-ill

Along with the article is a list of all the deaths recorded in jails in that area, around San Jose California, from 1980 to 2014, including over 200 suicides, quite a few "natural deaths", some drug overdoses etc.

Recently there was another story about the interrogations of prisoners at a jail in another area following an escape. http://www.democracynow.org/2015/8/20/after_ny_prison_escape_other_inmates

Probably from time to time a prisoner dies in custody and the guards don't want to face problems so they cover it up.

Question is, of the 500+ deaths of inmates in jails in one part of California from 1980 to 2014, how many do you think might have been murdered by guards? http://www.mercurynews.com/data/ci_28760065/data-center-deaths-county-jails-from-1980-2014%22

[Harry Hood]

Question is, of the 500+ deaths of inmates in jails in one part of California from 1980 to 2014, how many do you think might have been murdered by guards? http://www.mercurynews.com/data/ci_28760065/data-center-deaths-county-jails-from-1980-2014%22

There's another question you have to ask first: Is 500 deaths over 35 years an outrageous number, one that is significantly greater than the average across the country?

I don't know what the average number of in-prison deaths is for the United States. But I can do some math and 500 deaths over 35 years equals 14.28 deaths a year. Is that a crazy number? Doesn't seem like it - 14 is a small number. But this is a small area in the country and it equates to at least 1 death a month for 35 years.

When thought through this way it seems like an awfully erie trend...

[JonathanDough]

There's another question you have to ask first: Is 500 deaths over 35 years an outrageous number, one that is significantly greater than the average across the country?

I don't know what the average number of in-prison deaths is for the United States. But I can do some math and 500 deaths over 35 years equals 14.28 deaths a year. Is that a crazy number? Doesn't seem like it - 14 is a small number. But this is a small area in the country and it equates to at least 1 death a month for 35 years.

When thought through this way it seems like an awfully erie trend...

Certainly the overall number is not super high.

A story from Florida last year http://www.vocativ.com/underworld/crime/prison-death

There is no "authority" in the United States that has had real credibility investigating that sort of thing. The FBI will investigate local police sometimes, if there is publicity, but they don't investigate themselves very well, http://kennethtrentadue.com/ comes to mind.

In most European countries there is not even a suspicion that prisoners are occasionally killed and the deaths covered up as suicide or 'natural'. But in some countries, like the United States, it is an issue that probably should get more attention.

[Harry Hood]

Do you know why there's no authority to investigate these sort of numbers?

Because a lot of these prisons are private companies. It's a strange world. At the end of the day though, these are criminals we're talking about - do they deserve the greatest care after they've shown they don't respect the laws or their neighbors?

(P.S. I realize a small percentage are wrongfully incriminated or in for non-violent crimes, first offenders, etc.)

[JonathanDough]

.... At the end of the day though, these are criminals we're talking about - do they deserve the greatest care after they've shown they don't respect the laws or their neighbors?

(P.S. I realize a small percentage are wrongfully incriminated or in for non-violent crimes, first offenders, etc.)

From http://www.innocenceproject.org/faqs
" How many innocent people are there in prison?
    We will never know for sure, but the few studies that have been done estimate that between 2.3% and 5% of all prisoners in the U.S. are innocent (for context, if just 1% of all prisoners are innocent, that would mean that more than 20,000 innocent people are in prison). "

Also

http://www.innocenceproject.org/causes-wrongful-conviction/government-misconduct

http://www.innocenceproject.org/news-events-exonerations/the-innocent-and-the-death-penalty

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Prisons_and_Drugs

[popcorn1]

JESUS AND JFK