Death before Sentencing : Ending Rampant Suicide, Overdoses, Brutality, and Malpractice in America's Jails

Death before Sentencing provides a comprehensive description of America’s 3,000 plus county and local jails being ignored by the media, politicians, and even criminal justice reformers. Jails have largely escaped scrutiny for deaths in their facilities for several reasons. First, the nation’s jails are local affairs. Even repeat jail deaths warrant no more than limited local coverage at most. Jails are mostly run by sheriffs, often the most powerful and largely untouchable political figure in a local community. Third, the families of deceased jail inmates do not usually have the resources to sue or socioeconomic clout to be heard demanding jail accountability for loved ones’ deaths. And lastly, many understood jail deaths as occurring from “natural causes,” the verdict medical examiners and coroners erroneously employ to allow those responsible for the deaths to escape any accountability.

This book constitutes the most complete investigation of the deadly side of jails, describing the daily deaths of detainees, including those from suicides, drug and alcohol withdrawal, forced restraint and brutality, as well as medical malpractice. Andrew R. Klein with Jessica L. Klein show how the failure of jail oversight by state correctional officials, state and county prosecutors, state police as well as sheriffs, medical examiners, and coroners allows for the secrecy surrounding and the cover up of jail deaths. Through a growing number of wrongful death lawsuits and the increasing role of the media in uncovering the truth about deadly jails, communities, led by the grieving families, are working to hold jailers and their medical providers accountable.

This book concludes with hopeful signs of reforms being initiated by the U.S. Justice Department under President Biden, state legislatures, successful lawsuits, and reformers as well as suggests the major institutional reforms required to stop the daily deaths in America’s jails.