WASHINGTON — State prison deaths in U.S. state prisons rose 47% from 2019 to 2024 as violence increased, according to a Justice Department-backed review of 12 prison systems. The researchers said chronic staffing shortages and high turnover are stretching daily operations and driving overtime costs, Feb. 4, 2026.
According to Safe Inside’s key findings, the mortality rate in the states with comparable data climbed from 2.8 deaths per 1,000 incarcerated people in 2019 to 4.1 in 2024. The findings were reported by Reuters, which said the authors relied on public records because many states do not publish consistent death and assault statistics year to year, limiting comparisons and leaving the team unable to prove what is driving state prison deaths.
State prison deaths climbed 47% as staffing gaps widened
In the same period, assaults on incarcerated people rose 54% and assaults on staff climbed 77%, the review found. Understaffing also drove more than $2 billion in overtime spending in 2024 — about 80% higher than five years earlier — and some employees reported working multiple 18-hour shifts.
“We have less staff and they’re asked to do more,” said John Wetzel, a former Pennsylvania corrections secretary who chairs Safe Inside. He said thin staffing can mean fewer officers available to prevent fights, respond quickly to emergencies or escort people to medical care.
The increase in state prison deaths was not uniform. Alabama recorded 337 deaths in 2024, up from 99 in 2019. California’s deaths were largely unchanged even as the state reduced its prison population by nearly a quarter, the review said.
Public reporting remains a hurdle for tracking state prison deaths nationally. The Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics lists its Mortality in Correctional Institutions collection as inactive, with the latest data available for 2019, according to the program’s data collection description.
Warnings about staffing and state prison deaths date back years
The staffing squeeze has been building for years. A 2021 investigation by The Associated Press and The Marshall Project found prisons losing officers as the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the labor market and increased reliance on overtime, the investigation reported. In 2023, UCLA Law researchers documented 6,182 deaths in U.S. prisons in 2020 — up from 4,240 in 2019 — and said the nationwide mortality rate rose 61%, UCLA’s Behind Bars Data Project said. By 2024, The Marshall Project reported the number of people working in state correctional systems fell 10% from 2019 to 2022, citing U.S. Census Bureau data.
What the DOJ-backed review points to next
Safe Inside said its work was supported by a grant from the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, though it noted the findings do not necessarily represent federal policy. The report says hiring alone is unlikely to curb state prison deaths unless states also improve transparency, strengthen retention and reduce the demands placed on existing staff; it also notes corrections officers still earn about $21,000 less per year than police officers on average. Without those changes, the authors warned, overtime-driven burnout can feed a cycle that pushes state prison deaths higher.
