New Report: New York State’s New Death Penalty: The Death Toll of Mass Incarceration in a Post Execution Era
Date:  10-13-2021

Every three days someone dies inside a NYS prison, compared to every 12 days in 1976
From Columbia University Center for Justice:

Key Findings of the report:

  • More people have died in NY State custody in the last decade than the total of number of people executed in the 364 years New York State had the death penalty. 1,278 people died in NY State custody in the last decade compared to 1,130 who were executed in NY State between 1608 and 1972.

  • Today, more than 1 in 2 people who die in NY State custody are older adults, compared to roughly 1 in 10 at the beginning of the era of mass incarceration.

  • Every three days someone dies inside a NYS prison, compared to every 12 days in 1976.

  • In 2018, Black people accounted for 45% of all deaths in DOCCS custody, despite only making up 14% of all deaths of New York State residents.

  • People who have already served 15 years in custody account for 9 times more of the total deaths behind bars today than they did in the 1980s, the first full decade of available data.
  • 40% of all deaths behind bars since 1976 of people 55 and older happened in the last ten years.

  • In the most recent decade, roughly 1 in 3 people who died behind bars had served at least 15 years, compared to 1 in 29 in the 1980s.

    Read the full report here.