04488     2200253   4500001000700000090001100007100004100018101000800059102000700067200010800074210006600182215002700248330368500275606001903960606001703979606002103996606001904017606001704036675001404053700003104067701002804098852001004126995009804136407661  a407661  a20230315d        mmmy0pory50      ba  aeng  aUS  aCovid and correctionse a profile of covid deaths in custody in texasfWilliam Bucknall, Destiny Moreno  a[S.l.]cThe Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs d2020  a25 p. cil.d30 cm PDF  aCOVID-19 has had a uniquely devastating impact on prisons and jails across the country. At one point, prisons and jails represented 44 of the top 50 COVID clusters in the United States.1 Criminal justice advocates, policymakers, and public health specialists alike are seeking information about the toll of the crisis and possible solutions to address it. To try to meet the demand for this kind of data, a handful of organizations are tracking the spread of COVID-19 in correctional facilities and related policy responses (see, for example, the data collection efforts of The Marshall Project, the Prison Policy Initiative, the Texas Justice Initiative, and the UCLA COVID Behind Bars Project). The information collected by these organizations sparked questions for our team of LBJ School researchers2 about Texas’ response to the virus in its correctional facilities and the more than 231 lives the virus has taken as of early October 2020. A forthcoming report will explore these questions in detail. In the interim, this brief offers a preliminary examination of some of the Texas-specific data about COVID deaths in prisons and jails.3 Provided here are figures to help establish a shared understanding of the problem’s scope and a starting place for discussion about potential policy responses. The brief begins with some key datapoints for easy reference. Then, we provide an overview of the death toll of incarcerated people and people who staff Texas prisons and jails. We compare Texas’ prison deaths as a proportion of the prison population and infection rates with those for the state as a whole, the nation overall, and some peer prison systems in other jurisdictions. Next is an analysis of the demographics of people who died in terms of their age and race. We then briefly examine the legal status of those who died in custody, including their conviction status, sentences, parole eligibility, and conviction offense. By presenting this information, we hope to create a more detailed picture of the toll of COVID in Texas prisons and jails. The context and implications of the data will be examined in a future report.
This brief covers only state-operated prisons 
and county-operated jails. Our counts of COVID infections and deaths in Texas do not include federal prison facilities or Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities.
Throughout this brief, the term “staff deaths” includes only those employees who worked in a state or local correctional facility at the time of their death from COVID, such as correctional officers, prison clergy, or medical staff. We did not include the deaths of any law enforcement officials, such as sheriff’s deputies working a patrol function, who were not working in a prison or jail at the time of their death. “Prison deaths” refers to deaths of people incarcerated in prisons. For Texas prison deaths, this includes individuals incarcerated in facilities operated or contracted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), whose custodial death report listed COVID as the cause of death, as well as deaths announced in statements released on TDCJ’s website as resulting from COVID. The term “jail deaths” refers to those people who died from COVID while detained in county-run jails, as determined by the jail agencies in their custodial death reports or reports to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS).
All data used in this brief were collected beginning early March 2020 through our last update on October 4, 2020. For full calculation and sourcing details, see the Methodological Appendix.  aMEDICINA91408  aSAÚDE9788  9102302aPANDEMIA  aPRISÃO95106  aRECLUSO9550  911934a61  9421264aBUCKNALLbWilliam   9421266aMORENObDestiny  j61BUC  10461BUC52023-03-15688309478913aDGRSPcDGRSPfDGRSP8830k61BUCn2023-03-15o0rMOxOferta