Missouri Journalists: Tips on how to Entry the State Jail System’s Complete Loss of life Knowledge

Learn this primary

In response to questions from The Marshall Mission – St. Louis in October about how Missouri jail deaths are tracked and recorded, the analysis group on the Missouri Division of Corrections generated a brand new report: a spreadsheet with each jail demise recorded from January 2018 to October 2025.

This report differs from earlier demise information, which have been cobbled collectively from a number of sources, and have been typically lacking individuals. In accordance with the division, this report is essentially the most “present and complete knowledge” about Missouri jail deaths.

You may entry the information under. However first, right here’s some info that can assist you higher perceive the information and its limitations.

Knowledge dictionary

The Marshall Mission – St. Louis requested the Missouri DOC to outline the fields, or classes, that seem within the knowledge. Here’s a key, primarily based on their responses:

• First Title: The primary identify of the one who died.
• Final Title: The final identify of the one who died.
• Date of Loss of life: The date the particular person died (or is presumed to have died, if precise time of demise is unknown).
• DOC ID: The particular person’s “offender ID quantity,” or the quantity assigned to them by the jail system. When an individual continues to be alive, their ID quantity can be utilized to look them up within the Missouri jail database.
• CYC: The particular person’s “cycle quantity,” which corresponds roughly to the date the particular person was arrested. It’s within the format YYYY/MM/DD.
• Establishment: The jail the place the particular person was assigned on the time of their demise, abbreviated. The acronyms for every facility correspond to their full names, which may be discovered right here. Notice that the DOC has closed or consolidated prisons during the last decade, so some amenities might solely have demise information as much as a sure date. Notice additionally that an individual might have been transferred to a hospital or different facility shortly earlier than their demise, so the situation on this column just isn’t essentially the place the particular person died. Relatively, it’s the facility that had custody of them on the time of demise.
• Standing: An inside code used to explain, usually phrases, the place somebody died. Every standing code corresponds to an outline (see desk under).
• Description: An abbreviated discipline which incorporates the style of demise, plus whether or not the demise was on the jail or one other location, corresponding to a hospital (see desk under).

Verifying or updating the information

Whereas the Missouri DOC’s analysis group supplied this knowledge solely to The Marshall Mission – St. Louis, this knowledge is technically a part of the general public report, and subsequently, anybody ought to be capable of request it sooner or later.

The information supplied under is barely present by means of October 2025. To confirm and request more moderen knowledge from the Missouri DOC, you’re welcome to adapt this Freedom of Data/Sunshine request electronic mail template:

To: OD.SunshineRequest@doc.mo.gov

Topic: Request for complete report of jail deaths

Hello,

I’m writing to request the division’s complete report of deaths from 2018 by means of [insert calendar date here].

Your workplace beforehand supplied an earlier model of those information to The Marshall Mission (see attachment under)

and I’m writing to substantiate these information are nonetheless correct, and to request these identical information present by means of [insert calendar date here].

As a reminder, you’re required by the state’s Sunshine open information legislation to answer this request inside three enterprise days.

When you’ve got any questions on the above, please do not hesitate to succeed in out. All the perfect,

[Your name]

Limitations and different sources of knowledge

Lastly, it’s vital to acknowledge that every one knowledge has limitations. Whereas this knowledge represents essentially the most complete view presently out there of Missouri jail deaths during the last eight years, it’s removed from excellent. A Division of Corrections spokesperson mentioned the division has moved away from a guide entry system to an automatic one, however there’s all the time the potential for error: a misspelled identify, incorrect date, and even one other lacking particular person.

As a result of post-mortem reviews take a number of weeks to finish, the DOC typically lists the style of more moderen deaths as “unknown” till the post-mortem turns into out there. Because of this, significantly should you’re taking a look at deaths from the final 12 months, the information is probably going incomplete. Deaths presently marked as unknown is perhaps changed with suicide or accident in just a few weeks or months. The information additionally doesn’t embody demographic info — race/ethnicity, age, or gender/intercourse — or an in depth description of how the particular person died.

To evaluate jail deaths in larger element, we suggest in search of extra info, such because the post-mortem report and demise certificates from the county coroner or health worker’s workplace. The Marshall Mission compiled a listing of each county with a number of prisons, and the contact info for many coroners and health workers may be discovered on the Missouri Coroners and Medical Examiners Affiliation web site right here.

Take into account the record-keeping system for coroners in Missouri just isn’t particularly standardized, so you could get completely different responses from completely different counties: some coroners are fairly useful and forthcoming; others, not a lot.

In case you’re within the deaths of particular individuals, you can even attempt requesting the inner investigative report of their demise from the DOC: The doc known as a “Loss of life Investigation Report” and is below the DOC’s Workplace of Skilled Requirements. These inside reviews are sometimes closely redacted or withheld from the general public, however generally can include helpful info. Additionally, if an individual didn’t obtain an post-mortem, it’s unlikely the jail performed an inside investigation.

For any extra information, The Marshall Mission put collectively a pair of guides with step-by-step directions about which information you may request and easy methods to receive them — one for the family members of somebody who dies in jail and one other for journalists investigating deaths behind bars.

Get the information

To entry the information, click on right here. It is a read-only model in Google Sheets, so you may be prompted to make a duplicate of the spreadsheet as a way to use the information. The Marshall Mission has not up to date or modified the information since receiving it from the Missouri Division of Corrections.

When you’ve got extra questions in regards to the knowledge, please electronic mail us at investigatethis@themarshallproject.org or request a session with a Marshall Mission employees member right here.

Fashion and requirements

For years, the Missouri DOC supplied “annual” demise totals to media and different organizations that have been cobbled collectively from a number of sources, passing these numbers off as an correct depend for the 12 months. When you’ve got reported totals primarily based on DOC info, we recommend double-checking your earlier posts with this new dataset.

In such instances the place you discover a discrepancy, ensure to right or replace the knowledge within the copy and any knowledge visualizations. You must also embody a dated notice on the high of the story, indicating that an replace or correction was made, and clarify why the change was made (i.e. new details about the information changing into out there) — with out repeating the earlier incorrect or incomplete info.