*3 Years Later, the Federal Govt. Still Hasn't Counted Sandra Bland's Death*

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Huff Post, *3 Years Later, The Federal Government Still Hasn’t Counted Sandra Bland’s Death," July 13, 2018.

WASHINGTON ― Three years after the death of 28-year-old Sandra Bland highlighted jail deaths in the United States, the federal government still hasn’t formally counted her death nor the hundreds of other fatalities that occurred in American jails in 2015. The Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics has been counting jail deaths since 2000 and had been releasing jail death data on a yearly basis since 2011. But the office hasn’t done so since December 2016 ― just before President Donald Trump took office ― when the bureau published the final jail death numbers from 2014.

Now, halfway through 2018, a BJS official tells HuffPost that the government doesn’t plan to release new final 2015 data until December 2018.

The last report found that more people ― 372 ― committed suicide in jail in 2014 than in any year since 2000 and that American jails in 2014 had the highest suicide rate on record. It also found that more inmates ― 1,053 ― died in jail in 2014 than in any year since 2007 and that American jails had their highest mortality rate since 2007.
Preliminary 2015 data released at the same time indicated the jail death numbers in the year Bland died may be equally disturbing. BJS’ incomplete data for 2015 ― based on reports from 97 percent of jails ― listed 1,069 jail deaths, including 364 suicides. That would make 2015 one of the deadliest years on record, with the highest number of jail deaths since at least 2007 and (besides 2014) the highest number of suicides on record.

HuffPost’s jail deaths project, published two years ago, aimed at counting deaths that occurred in American jails in the year following Bland’s July 13, 2015 death. As part of the project, HuffPost identified 15 facilities with a death rate of more than double the national average. Some experts say if a jail has an unusually high death rate, it can be an indication of lax oversight and the need for reform. Several of the facilities identified as part of HuffPost’s analysis came under public scrutiny, and others brought in corrections experts for advice on anti-suicide measures...More..

Read More, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/3-years-later-the-federal-government-still-hasn%e2%80%99t-counted-sandra-bland%e2%80%99s-death/ar-AAA0VU8

[rogue emissary]

1. K & R!

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2. How Sandra Bland was targeted and treated by LE and her death in jail

in Texas in 2015 is a disgrace and injustice. This recent delay in reporting jail/prison deaths and conditions is another problematic issue in the vast, dysfunctional US criminal justice system and largest incarceration rate in the world.

*THE SANDRA BLAND ACT* - Houston Public Media, "Five Months After Sandra Bland Act Went Into Effect, What Has Changed?" A Texas legislative committee came to Houston to find out, by Florian Martin, February 6, 2018.

The Sandra Bland Act requires jails to divert people with mental health issues so they receive treatment and to have an independent law enforcement agency investigating the deaths of its inmates. It also mandates de-escalation training for Texas police officers and a mental health course for jailers.

“As of Jan. 1, all jailers beginning the licensing process have to get that eight-hour course as it’s being held right now in order to get licensed,” said Gretchen Grigsby, director of government relations at the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. She was one of five agency representatives who testified at the House Committee on County Affairs hearing held at the University of Houston-Downtown Tuesday. Jailers who were on the job before that date have until Aug. 31, 2021, to take that course.
Of about 23,000 jailers in Texas, 1,000 have received mental health training, according to Brandon Wood, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. “As of Jan. 1, each county has an assigned investigative agency other than themselves to conduct any custody investigations,” Wood added...More, https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2018/02/06/266065/five-months-after-sandra-bland-act-went-into-effect-what-has-changed/