🔍 ‘Astronomical’ death rate in Maricopa County jails

September 6, 2024
by RJ Hamster

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Your Week with AZCentral

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Fri Sep 6 2024

Raphael Romero Ruiz | Border Issues & Border Life Reporter

@raphaeldelag

Hey readers,

Last month, The Republic published an investigation that found that the Maricopa County Jail system has one of the highest death rates in the country.

This week, I spoke to Criminal Justice Reporter Jimmy Jenkins , who authored the investigation. He talked to me about the scale of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office incarcerated population, what tipped him off about the shocking amount of deaths and how MCSO has reacted after we published the report.

📈 Death rate in Maricopa County jails deemed ‘astronomical’

With that, here’s what Jimmy had to say.

Why we investigated jail deaths

You cover the criminal justice system for The Arizona Republic, including the carceral system, where you’ve reported on various jail deaths. At the end of last year, you wrote about a man who died in a Pima County jail cell in 2022 after corrections officers repeatedly tased him while he was restrained. Your latest investigation focuses on Maricopa County and the deaths that have occurred in the jail system. What led you to investigate Maricopa County jails?

Jimmy: The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is part of my beat as a Criminal Justice reporter at The Arizona Republic. It is one of the largest sheriff’s offices in the nation, with upward of 3,000 employees, including deputies, jail guards and civilians.

The office patrols unincorporated areas of the county and municipalities without a designated police force. It also serves Superior Court orders and warrants, collects delinquent taxes, coordinates search and rescue missions and oversees the county’s five jails.

The jails house around 6,000 people each day. Such a powerful agency that is responsible for the lives of so many people and commands a budget of more than $500 million annually deserves our scrutiny. I think it’s important to report on the conditions of incarceration in our nation’s jails and prisons, because they are very expensive facilities that our tax dollars are paying for.

‘We were able to confirm deaths had been underreported’

How did you find out about the deaths? Who were your sources and how did you find them?

Jimmy: Over the past few years, I noticed an increase in the number of deaths in the Maricopa County jails. The officially reported numbers were bad. But after talking to the families of the deceased, as well as attorneys who work on jail litigation, and current and former employees in the jails, I got the sense that things might be even worse.

Families told me their loved ones had died in the jail, but the Sheriff’s Office had not made any public announcement of the death. Attorneys would tell me they were representing clients whose family member had died in the jail, but their names were not on the lists of in-custody jail deaths provided by the Sheriff’s Office.

We were able to confirm deaths had been underreported after comparing information from the Sheriff’s Office with public records from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Feedback from the community

Has there been a reaction from the county following your reporting?

Jimmy: After we found that Sheriff’s Office had been underreporting jail deaths, the agency revised the number of in-custody deaths it had submitted to the federal government for the past several years. The state agency in-charge of recording in-custody death statistics updated their records and website with the new information from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.

The County acknowledged the increase in deaths in recent years, and the sheriff committed to continue efforts to address the rising number of in-custody deaths.

We have received many comments and a lot of feedback from community members who are outraged by the number of deaths in the jails, as well as calls from political leaders for the jails to do more to prevent in custody deaths, which we will be publishing in a forthcoming story.

This newsletter is written by Raphael Romero Ruiz. Reach him at rromeroruiz@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @raphaeldelag.

Death rate in Maricopa County jails deemed ‘astronomical’

An Arizona Republic investigation found the death rate in the Maricopa County jails is among the highest of major jail systems in the country.

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🔍 ‘Astronomical’ death rate in Maricopa County jails

🔍 ‘Astronomical’ death rate in Maricopa County jails

Your Week with AZCentral

Raphael Romero Ruiz | Border Issues & Border Life Reporter

Why we investigated jail deaths

‘We were able to confirm deaths had been underreported’

Feedback from the community

Death rate in Maricopa County jails deemed ‘astronomical’

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🔍 ‘Astronomical’ death rate in Maricopa County jails

🔍 ‘Astronomical’ death rate in Maricopa County jails

Your Week with AZCentral

Raphael Romero Ruiz | Border Issues & Border Life Reporter

Why we investigated jail deaths

‘We were able to confirm deaths had been underreported’

Feedback from the community

Death rate in Maricopa County jails deemed ‘astronomical’

Man sentenced to 292 years for burglaries given clemency

What does it mean to be a McCain now?

Vance says McCain would never have backed Harris

Arizona’s top employers ranked: Where the jobs are

Demolition may be in the future for a Phoenix landmark

Sign up for the news you want

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