A death in custody is a death of a person in the custody of the

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

, other authorities or in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

. In the 21st century, death in custody remains a controversial subject, with the authorities often being accused of abuse, neglect, racism and cover-ups of the causes of these deaths.

By country

Algeria

See

Human rights in Algeria In 2011, Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who had been in power from 1999 to 2019, lifted a state of emergency that had been in place since the end of the Algerian Civil War in 2002, as a result of the Arab Spring protests that had occurr ...

The killing of civilians is mentioned under Article 8(2)(a)(i) of the Rome Statute. And the act of killing civilians would be considered a war crime under ICC Statute.

Argentina

See

Human rights in Argentina The history of human rights in Argentina is affected by the Dirty War and its aftermath. The Dirty War, a civic-military dictatorship comprising state-sponsored violence against Argentine citizenry from roughly 1976 to 1983, carried out primaril ...

Australia

In Australia, deaths in custody automatically trigger an inquest.

Bangladesh

At least 32 people have died in "

Operation Clean Heart Operation Clean Heart was an anti crime operation carried out by Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Rifles, Bangladesh Police and Bangladesh Ansar members in Bangladesh. The operation was carried by the government of Bangladesh headed by ...

" by the government of Bangladesh. See Human rights in Bangladesh

Burma

See

Insein Prison Insein Prison ( my, အင်းစိန်ထောင်) is located in Yangon Division, near Yangon (Rangoon), the old capital of Myanmar (formerly Burma). From 1988 to 2011 it was run by the military junta of Myanmar, named the State Law an ...

Human rights in Burma Human rights in Myanmar under its military regime have long been regarded as among the worst in the world. International human rights organisations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the American Association for the Advance ...

Chad

See Human rights in Chad

China

See Human Rights in China.

Congo

See Human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Cuba

See

Human rights in Cuba Human rights in Cuba are under the scrutiny of Western human rights organizations, which accuse the Cuban government of committing systematic human rights abuses against the Cuban people, including arbitrary imprisonment and unfair trials. Intern ...

Egypt

See

Human rights in Egypt Human rights in Egypt are guaranteed by the Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt under the various articles of Chapter 3. The country is also a party to numerous international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on ...

Germany

* Oury Jalloh * Rosa Luxemburg

India

In the

financial year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

2021–22, the National Human Rights Commission reported 2152 deaths in judicial custody and 155 deaths in

police custody An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...

Indonesia

See

Cipinang Penitentiary Institution Cipinang Penitentiary Institution ( id, Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Cipinang) is a top-security prison in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is exactly located in Cipinang Muara, Jatinegara, East Jakarta. History The prison was built by the Dutch colonial adminis ...

Iran

See

1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners The 1988 executions of prisoners were a series of mass executions of political prisoners across Iran. The order for the executions was given by Ayatollah Khomeini and it was carried out by Iranian officials; starting on 19 July 1988 and contin ...

and Deaths in custody in Iran

Ireland

See Terence Wheelock

Jamaica

"At least 650 people have been killed by police officers in Jamaica since 1999. Many of these have been blatantly unlawful killings, yet not one officer has been convicted since then." Piers Bannister, Amnesty International's Jamaica researcher.

Japan

See Human rights in Japan

Laos

See Human rights in Laos

Libya

See Abu Salim prison

Malaysia

Kugan Ananthan Kugan Ananthan (died 20 January 2009) was a person Royal Malaysian Police detainee who died in the police lock-up while under arrest for suspicion of alleged car robbery. Kugan's family had to forcefully break into the morgue where Kugn's body was ...

* Teoh Beng Hock * Gunasegaran Rajasundram

Mexico

See

Human rights in Mexico Human Rights in Mexico refers to moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, December 13, 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rightsp, Retrieved August 14, 2014 that describe c ...

Morocco

See Human rights in Morocco

The Netherlands

See Milan Babić#Death, Death of Slobodan Milošević. On the 27th of June 2015, Mitch Henriquez was arrested at the Malieveld in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

after he claimed to have a weapon. During the arrest he suffocated due to the chokehold of two police officers. They were put on trial and served sentences for manslaughter. After his death, there were several weeks of riots throughout the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

North Korea

See

Human rights in North Korea The human rights record of North Korea is often considered to be the worst in the world and has been globally condemned, with the United Nations, the European Union and groups such as Human Rights Watch all critical of the country's record. Most ...

Norway

About 40 people have died in police custody over a period of 20 years following 1990. Additionally there's been 45 suicides in custody over a 10-year period from 2008.

Pakistan

See

Human rights in Pakistan The situation of Human Rights in Pakistan ( ur, ) is complex as a result of the country's diversity, large population, its status as a developing country and a sovereign Islamic democracy with a mixture of both Islamic and secular law. The Const ...

Russia

See

Sergei Magnitsky Sergei Leonidovich Magnitsky (russian: Сергeй Леонидович Магнитский, ; 8 April 1972 – 16 November 2009) was a Ukrainian-born Russian tax advisor responsible for exposing corruption and misconduct by Russian gover ...

;

Salman Raduyev Salman Betyrovich Raduyev (or Raduev; russian: Салма́н Бетырович Раду́ев; February 13, 1967 – December 14, 2002) was a Chechen separatist field commander, from 1994 to 1999, who masterminded and was responsible for t ...

;

Maxim Martsinkevich Maxim Sergeyevich Martsinkevich (russian: Макси́м Серге́евич Марцинке́вич, 8 May 1984 – 16 September 2020), better known as Tesak (Russian for ''Cleaver'', ''Hatchet'', ''Hand Axe'', ''Machete''), was a Russian ne ...

Saudi Arabia

See

Human rights in Saudi Arabia Human rights in Saudi Arabia are a topic of concern and controversy. The Saudi government, which mandates both Muslim and non-Muslim observance of Islamic law under the absolute rule of the House of Saud, has been accused of and denounced by var ...

Somalia

See Human rights in Somalia

South Africa

South Africa has an unusually high level of deaths in custody. For example, in April to June 1997, there were 56 deaths in custody. *

Neil Aggett Neil Aggett (6 October 1953 – 5 February 1982) was a doctor and trade union organiser who was killed, while in detention, by the Security Branch of the Apartheid South African Police Service after being held for 70 days without trial. Life a ...

* Richard Turner * Steve Biko

Sudan

See

Human rights in Sudan Sudan's human rights record has been widely condemned. Some human rights organizations have documented a variety of abuses and atrocities carried out by the Sudanese government over the past several years under the rule of Omar al-Bashir. The 2 ...

Syria

See Tadmor Prison massacre

Turkey

See

Prisons in Turkey There are three types of prison in Turkey: closed, semi-open, and open. A further distinction is made between ordinary closed prisons and high-security prisons. Many prisons have separate blocks (or wings) for women and some also for children (j ...

UAE

See Human rights in the United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States

Definition of custody

The term "in custody" has been debated in both ''California v. Beheler'' (in regards to what constitutes custody in the requirement to read

Miranda rights In the United States, the ''Miranda'' warning is a type of notification customarily given by police to criminal suspects in police custody (or in a custodial interrogation) advising them of their right to silence and, in effect, protection ...

) but also in other federal court cases related to Miranda law and definition of custody. Although Miranda law has roughly defined custody as the "formal arrest or restraint on freedom of movement," colloquial language may be less restrictive in the use of custody and is thus sometimes difficult to distinguish from the process of arrest. In addition to collecting data on those who have died in custody, the Bureau of Justice Statistics also tracks all deaths related to arrest. This aids in collecting data from the fringes of custody or attempts to arrest an individual.

Causes of death

The causes for death in police custody may range from suspected homicide by members of the police, killings by other inmates, death due to psychological or

physical abuse Physical abuse is any intentional act causing injury or trauma to another person or animal by way of bodily contact. In most cases, children are the victims of physical abuse, but adults can also be victims, as in cases of domestic violence or wo ...

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, to suicide, accidental death, or natural causes. The United States Bureau of Justice Statistics collects data regarding both the cause of death, as well as medical and criminal records of those that die in police custody (restricted to those in federal prison and local jails).

Estimates

The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that 17,358 individuals in custody died during the period from 2007 to 2010. Other publications focus on the rate per 100,000. US jails report deaths that total a

mortality rate Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of d ...

of 128, and prisons at 264 per 100,000. There are differences in methodology used to obtain these statistics, as some jurisdictions include deaths during attempted arrests, while others do not. Other research has focused on specific states, such as

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and the rate of death by identity (gender, race, age). Based on some findings, African-American males appear to be over-represented as victims of sudden custody deaths. Further research with larger sample sizes is necessary.

Watchdog organizations

The Marshall Project collects and produces reports on police killings as well as maintaining a curated list of links to articles and publications related to death in police custody in the United States.

Selected persons who have died in custody

Sandra Bland Sandra Annette Bland was a 28-year-old African-American woman who was found hanged in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas, on , 2015, three days after being arrested during a traffic stop. Her death was ruled a suicide. It was followed by protes ...

(woman found hanging in her

Waller County, Texas Waller County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 56,794. Its county seat is Hempstead. The county was named for Edwin Waller, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and first mayor of A ...

jail cell due to apparent suicide) * Henry "Peg" Gilbert, shot in police custody in 1947 in

Harris County, Georgia Harris County is a county located in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia; its western border with the state of Alabama is formed by the Chattahoochee River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 34,668. The county seat is ...

; the sheriff claimed self-defense, but Gilbert, a prosperous farmer, was found to have been severely beaten before being shot *

Freddie Gray On April 12, 2015, Freddie Carlos Gray Jr., a 25-year-old African American, was arrested by the Baltimore Police Department over his legal possession of a knife. While being transported in a police van, Gray sustained injuries and was taken to ...

(suffered injuries while being transported by police in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, that led to a coma and his death) * Michael Tyree (a mentally ill inmate held in a California county jail was beaten to death by three guards, who were convicted in June 2017 of his death)CBS/Associated Press (AP), "3 Calif. jail guards found guilty in death of mentally ill inmate"
CBS News, 01 June 2017; accessed 20 October 2018 * Elliott Williams (died in his Tulsa County, Oklahoma jail cell due to complications from multiple injuries) * Ricardo Alfonso Cerna (committed suicide in police interview room) * Missouri State Penitentiary riot (death of four inmates) * New Mexico State Penitentiary riot (33 inmate deaths and over 200 injuries) *

Darren Rainey Darren Rainey (January 12, 1962 – June 23, 2012) died at the Dade Correctional Institution (Dade CI) in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, on June 23, 2012. The prison is in proximity to Florida City, and is south of Homestead. In 20 ...

(scalded to death in shower at Dade Correctional Institution in 2012) *

Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American sex offender and financier. Epstein, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, began his professional life by teaching at the Dalton School in Manhattan, des ...

died August 10, 2019, at the

Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York The Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York (MCC New York) is a United States federal administrative detention facility in the Civic Center of Lower Manhattan, New York City, located on Park Row behind the Thurgood Marshall United State ...

due to alleged suicide, although this has been subject to

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

Foreign custody by American agents (police, military, etc.)

= International custody law

= There are numerous laws and international treaties regarding treatment of foreigners, especially during wartime, of which the

Geneva Convention upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conve ...

is the most widely recognized and internationally ratified. It contains provisions that classify and define both prisoners of war (as well as civilians and the wounded or infirm) and the manner in which they are to be treated. These include but are not limited to: murder, mutilation, hostage taking, and outrages upon personal dignity. These ratified documents are the base of US international custody law and can be seen to be misapplied in some of the proceeding cases.

= Examples of persons who have died in custody

= * Jamal Naseer (Afghan soldier allegedly beaten to death by US forces) * Nagem Hatab (Iraqi killed by elements and possible heart attack) *

Manadel al-Jamadi Manadel al-Jamadi ( ar, مناضل الجمادي) was an Iraqi national who was killed in United States custody during a CIA interrogation at Abu Ghraib prison on 4 November 2003. His name became known in 2004 when the Abu Ghraib scandal made he ...

(suspected terrorist tortured and killed)

Vietnam

See Human rights in Vietnam

Yemen

See Human rights in Yemen

Zimbabwe

See Human rights in Zimbabwe

References

{{Reflist Custody Imprisonment and detention Deaths in custody