BJS discusses release of unredacted Mortality in Correctional Institutions (MCI) data
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has provided to a third party an unredacted version of certain data submitted under the Mortality in Correctional Institutions (MCI) data collection in response to a court order issued in the course of litigation that remains ongoing. This dataset includes data submitted pursuant to that collection, by state departments of corrections and local jails for deaths in their facilities between October 1, 2015 and December 31, 2019. Data elements include individual names, dates of birth, name of the state, name and location of facility, admission date, death date, cause of death, race, sex, and commitment offense of the individual.
As a federal statistical agency, BJS has statutory responsibilities to maintain the confidentiality of all information identifiable to a private person. The BJS Data Protection Guidelines summarize the federal statutes, regulations, and other authorities that govern BJS. The guidelines require BJS to adhere to strict confidentiality requirements regarding data collected at BJS’s direction, to ensure that the collected data be used only for statistical purposes, to commit to wide dissemination of BJS data for public benefit, and to strive to maximize the utility, objectivity, and integrity of the information BJS disseminates and archives for public use.
This data release is occurring because the judge determined that the data were collected under the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013 (which became effective on October 1, 2015) and not under BJS’s statutory authorities. Data collected under BJS’s statutory authorities continue to receive robust protection against disclosure of data that might identify an individual.
Although release of this particular dataset is required by the court order, BJS will continue to follow its data protection guidelines and protect data it collects to the fullest extent possible under the law.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice is the principal federal agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating reliable statistics on crime and criminal justice in the United States.
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