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Marshall Project investigation explores why the government doesn't know how many people die in custody

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published August 7, 2025 at 9:37 AM MDT

Guards watch over a single cell area in an acute unit of the mental heath unit at the Harris County jail in Houston. (Eric Gay/AP)

Thousands of people die in custody each year, usually during an arrest or while incarcerated. Exactly how many is impossible to say, because the data collection is so haphazard. That’s in spite of a federal law requiring states to report every death, and how and why the person died.

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd speaks with data reporters Ilica Mahajan and Anna Flagg of The Marshall Project about the lack of transparency and accountability when it comes to dying in U.S. custody.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.