LOS ANGELES  –  The risk of dying in ICE custody is now higher than at any other time in the past 15 years, except during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data from UCLA School of Law’s Behind Bars Data Project. Over the past year, death rates in immigration detention facilities have reached twice the historical average.

The findings are presented in a new public dashboard that tracks national mortality rates in immigration detention dating back to January 2009. The dashboard builds on the project’s ICE Deaths in Custody database, launched in March, by combining records of individual deaths with estimates of the population held in ICE detention over time.

By accounting for changes in the number of people detained and the time they spend in custody, the data allows researchers, journalists and the public to compare mortality rates across periods when ICE held substantially different populations.

Mortality rates are calculated using “person-years,” a measure of the total time people spend in custody. One person detained for a year contributes the same amount of person-time as 12 people detained for one month each. This approach accounts for the frequent admissions, releases, and transfers that make ICE’s detained population difficult to measure.

“When more people are detained, we might expect more deaths even if the mortality rate stays the same,” said Professor Sharon Dolovich, director of the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project. “But this data shows that deaths are too high to be explained by population growth alone. ICE custody has become deadlier. That finding demands closer scrutiny of conditions in ICE custody.”

"This data shows that deaths are too high to be explained by population growth alone. ICE custody has become deadlier."

--Sharon Dolovich

The analysis draws on individually verified death records originally compiled by lawyer and journalist Andrew Free, along with detention population estimates compiled by the Vera Institute of Justice using ICE records made available by the Deportation Data Project.

The public access dataset is available at https://uclaprisondata.org/ice-deaths-in-custody, with data available for download on GitHub: https://github.com/uclalawbehindbars/ICE_custody_mortality. The Behind Bars Data Project team encourages independent analysis and welcomes collaboration with journalists, researchers, policymakers, advocates, and others.

About the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project

The UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project works to increase transparency and accountability within the US carceral system through data compilation and research. Its aim is to deepen public knowledge and understanding of all forms of deaths in custody by providing free, accessible data, support for researchers, and its own analyses.

UCLA Law Media Contacts: media@law.ucla.edu

Carl Marziali, Linda Vista Communications: carl@lindavistapr.com

Geoffrey Baum, Linda Vista Communications: geoff@lindavistapr.com