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America's jails have a long history of killing inmates, most of whom die in jails before they are even convicted of a crime. Deaths behind bars are a direct result of abysmal, correctional facilities' policies, mostly for-profit medical providers, largely absent administrators, and unchecked brutality by jail deputies.
List of contents
Chapter 1: Jails vs Prisons
Booking vs Non-Booking Jails
Police Lockups
Municipal Jails
Tribal Jails
Private Prisons
Chapter 2: A Step Back: How America Invented Prisons
Chapter 3: Jails and Prisons Today
The Numbers
COVID-19 Jail Exodus
Chapter 4: How Did America Become the World's Biggest Jailer?
Cash Bail and Bail Bondspersons
Deinstitutionalization
Racism and the War on Drugs
Probation and Parole, Recycling Inmates
Chapter 5: Death in Jails
Medical Examiners, Coroners and "Natural Deaths"
Suicides
Racism and Brutality, They Can't Breathe in Jails, Too
Weapons of Detainee Destruction: Tasers, WRAP, Pepper Spray, and Restraint Chairs
Jails' Toxic Environments
Drug and Alcohol Toxicity and Withdrawal
Security and Medical Providers Team Up to Deprive Care
Jail Medical Providers (Making Money, Limiting Care)
Chapter 6: Getting Away with Murder, The Failure to Hold Jails Accountable
Sheriffs Investigate Themselves
County Prosecutors Cover for Deadly Jails
State Review of Jails Tepid and Ignored
U.S. Justice Department Ends Custody Death Investigations
Fighting Accountability
Chapter 7: Grieving Families Left to Attempt to Hold Jails Accountable
Jail Withdrawal Wrongful Death Lawsuits Awards/Settlements Growing
Chapter 8: Signs of Hope
Holding Corrections Officer Accountable
Increasing Media Coverage
Increasing Prosecutorial Scrutiny
Electing Reform Sheriffs
Rebirth of U.S. Justice Department Oversight
Evicting For Profit Medical Providers
Even Medical Examiners?
Lawsuits Bear Fruit
Chapter 9: Ending America's Deadly Jails
Ending Correctional Medicine through Medicaid Expansion
Increasing Jail Oversight
About the author
By Andrew R. Klein - With Jessica L. Klein
Summary
Death before Sentencing goes beyond the current headlines to reveal the long simmering national scandal that is American jails.
