A death in custody is a death of a person in the custody of the police, other authorities or in prison. 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 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

Australia

In Australia, deaths in custody automatically trigger an

inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coro ...

Bangladesh

At least 32 people have died in " Operation Clean Heart" by the government of Bangladesh. See

Human rights in Bangladesh Human rights in Bangladesh are enshrined as fundamental rights in Part III of the Constitution of Bangladesh. However, constitutional and legal experts believe many of the country's laws require reform to enforce fundamental rights and reflect de ...

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 and ...

, Human rights in Burma

Chad

See

Human rights in Chad Human rights in Chad have been described as "poor"; for example, Freedom House has designated the country as "Not Free."

China

See

Human Rights in China Human rights in mainland China are periodically reviewed by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC), on which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and various foreign governments and h ...

Congo

See

Human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo In all areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the human rights record remained considerably poor, and numerous serious abuses were committed. Unlawful killings, disappearances, torture, rape, and arbitrary arrest and detention by securit ...

Cuba

See Human rights in Cuba

Egypt

See Human rights in Egypt

Germany

Oury Jalloh Oury Jalloh (1969 in Conakry, Guinea – 7 January 2005, in Dessau, Germany) was an asylum seeker who died in a fire in a police cell in Dessau, Germany. The hands and feet of Jalloh, who was alone in the cell, were tied to a mattress. A fire a ...

Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg (; ; pl, Róża Luksemburg or ; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary socialist, Marxist philosopher and anti-war activist. Successively, she was a member of the Proletariat party, ...

India

In the financial year 2021–22, the

National Human Rights Commission A human rights commission, also known as a human relations commission, is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights. The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as nationa ...

reported 2152 deaths in

judicial custody The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

and 155 deaths in police custody.

Indonesia

See Cipinang Penitentiary Institution

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 continu ...

and

Deaths in custody in Iran From the Imperial Pahlavi dynasty (1925 to 1979), through the Islamic Revolution (1979), to the era of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979 to current), government treatment of Iranian citizens' rights has been criticized by Iranians, by internat ...

Ireland

See

Terence Wheelock Terence Wheelock, a 20-year old man from Summerhill in the North Inner City of Dublin, died on 16 September 2005, by alleged suicide. He was arrested with three others on suspicion of stealing a car but was later cleared of having any involvement ...

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 Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

's Jamaica researcher.

Japan

See

Human rights in Japan Japan is a constitutional monarchy. According to Ministry of Justice (MOJ) figures, the Japanese Legal Affairs Bureau offices and civil liberties volunteers dealt with 359,971 human rights related complaints and 18,786 reports of suspected human ...

Laos

See

Human rights in Laos The situation of human rights in Laos has often been, and remains, a recognized cause for serious concern. Laos is one of a handful of Marxist-Leninist governments and is ruled by a one-party communist government backed by the Lao People's Army ...

Libya

See

Abu Salim prison Abu Salim prison ( ar, سجن أبو سليم) is a maximum security prison in Tripoli, Libya. The prison was notorious during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi for alleged mistreatment and human rights abuses, including a massacre in 1996 in which H ...

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 Teoh Beng Hock (20 April 1979 – 16 July 2009) was a Chinese Malaysian journalist and political aide to Ean Yong Hian Wah, a member of the Selangor state legislative assembly and state executive council. On 15 July 2009, the Malaysian Anti-Cor ...

Gunasegaran Rajasundram Gunasegaran Rajasundram (1977 – 16 July 2008) was a Royal Malaysian Police detainee who died in the police lock-up while under arrest for suspicion of drug possession. Coincidentally, his death was on the same day as Teoh Beng Hock's body was fou ...

Mexico

See Human rights in Mexico

Morocco

See

Human rights in Morocco Morocco became a highly repressive country under the absolute monarchy of King Hassan II, and continues to be considered repressive under the reign of King Mohammed VI, though the latter has instituted some reforms. Dozens of journalists, artists, ...

The Netherlands

See Milan Babić#Death,

Death of Slobodan Milošević On 11 March 2006, former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević died in his prison cell of a heart attackMitch Henriquez Mitch Henriquez was killed by National Police Corps (Netherlands), Dutch police at a music festival in The Hague on 27 June 2015. During an altercation, he was restrained by five police officers and was choked to death. The official narrative tha ...

was arrested at the

Malieveld Malieveld (Dutch pronunciation: , literally "pall-mall field") is a large Urban open space, grass field in the city center of The Hague, Netherlands, located opposite the Den Haag Centraal, central train station. The field is widely known in the ...

in The Hague 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.

North Korea

See Human rights in North Korea

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

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; Maxim Martsinkevich.

Saudi Arabia

See Human rights in Saudi Arabia

Somalia

See

Human rights in Somalia Human rights in Somalia throughout the late 20th-century and early 21st-century were considered dire, but have gradually improved over the following years. Human rights are guaranteed in the Federal Constitution, which was adopted in August 2012. ...

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 * Richard Turner *

Steve Biko Bantu Stephen Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known ...

Sudan

See Human rights in Sudan

Syria

See Tadmor Prison massacre

Turkey

See Prisons in Turkey

UAE

See

Human rights in the United Arab Emirates According to human rights organisations, the government of the UAE violates a number of fundamental human rights. The UAE does not have democratically elected institutions and citizens do not have the right to change their government or to form p ...

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) 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 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 ...

. In addition to collecting data on those who have died in custody, the

Bureau of Justice Statistics The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) of the U.S. Department of Justice is the principal federal agency responsible for measuring crime, criminal victimization, criminal offenders, victims of crime, correlates of crime, and the operation of crim ...

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 Homicide occurs when a person kills another person. A homicide requires only a volitional act or omission that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from accidental, reckless, or negligent acts even if there is no inten ...

by members of the police, killings by other inmates, death due to

psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between t ...

or physical abuse, capital punishment, to

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

, accidental death, or

natural causes In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinct ...

. The

United States Bureau of Justice Statistics The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) of the U.S. Department of Justice is the principal federal agency responsible for measuring crime, criminal victimization, criminal offenders, victims of crime, correlates of crime, and the operation of cri ...

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

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 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 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 The Marshall Project is a nonprofit, online journalism organization focusing on issues related to criminal justice in the United States. It was founded by former hedge fund manager Neil Barsky with former ''New York Times'' executive editor Bi ...

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 protest ...

(woman found hanging in her Waller County, Texas jail cell due to apparent suicide) * Henry "Peg" Gilbert, shot in police custody in 1947 in

Harris County, Georgia Harris County is a County (United States), county located in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia; its western border with the state of Alabama is formed by the Chattahoochee River. As of the 2020 United St ...

; 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 most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

, 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 Tulsa County is located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 669,279, making it the second-most populous county in Oklahoma, behind only Oklahoma County. Its county seat and largest city is Tulsa, the second- ...

jail cell due to complications from multiple injuries) *

Ricardo Alfonso Cerna Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portugue ...

(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 (scalded to death in shower at Dade Correctional Institution in 2012) * Jeffrey Epstein died August 10, 2019, at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York due to alleged suicide, although this has been subject to conspiracy theories.

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 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 Jamal Nasser (c. 1985 – March 16, 2003) was an Afghan soldier who died in United States' custody at a firebase in Gardez on March 16, 2003. In 2004, eighteen months after his death, when Nasser's death in custody was brought to the attention o ...

(Afghan soldier allegedly beaten to death by US forces) *

Nagem Hatab Nagem Hatab was an Iraqi who died on June 3, 2003 while in US custody. Hatab is said to have been a Ba'ath party member. Arrest Hatab was arrested in a raja bazaar where he was trying to sell a U.S. Army issue M16 rifle. The serial number of this ...

(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 Human rights in Yemen are seen as problematic. The security forces have been responsible for torture, inhumane treatment and even extrajudicial executions. In recent years there has been some improvement, with the government signing several intern ...

Zimbabwe

See

Human rights in Zimbabwe There were widespread reports of systematic and escalating violations of human rights in Zimbabwe under the regime of Robert Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF, between 1980 and 2017. According to human rights organisations such as Amnesty Internati ...

References

{{Reflist Custody Imprisonment and detention Deaths in custody