Death before Sentencing: Ending Rampant Suicide, Overdoses, Brutality, and Malpractice in America's Jails

(Hardback)

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How have jails become the deadliest waiting rooms in America
Death before Sentencing provides a sweeping expos of thousands of avoidable deaths that have occurred in the U.S. county and local jail systems within the past few decades. These deaths have been overlooked, under-investigated, and even covered-up as jail systems avoid responsibility and refuse to take action.
This is the most complete investigation of the deadly side of jails, describing the daily deaths of detainees, including those from suicides, untreated drug and alcohol withdrawal, forced restraint and brutality, and general medical malpractice provided by for-profit correctional medical providers. The lack of attention and responsibility paid by state and local officials, law enforcement, and medical examiners has facilitated these ongoing and increasing avoidable deaths.
Looking forward to reforms being initiated by the U.S. Justice Department Civil Rights Division and within state legislatures and celebrating successful lawsuits, Andrew R. Klein lays out institutional reforms required to curtail the epidemic of the daily deaths in Americas jails.

Reviews

In this expos of deaths in US jails, Klein, a long-time correctional worker and reformist, digs deeply into a largely ignored space. Though federal and state prisons are more consistently researched, Klein studies more than 3,000 county and local jails to examine how they continue to escape accountability for the deaths that occur inside them. Klein pens nine chapters showing how history can shed light on the brutality of contemporary jails. Evidence of suicides, untreated drug and substance withdrawals, forced restraint, medical malpractice, disingenuous autopsies, and lack of political oversight make clear that the American prison system has abetted avoidable deaths and needs serious reform. Klein is persuasive, measured, and deliberative yet allows his detailed research to speak for itself. The result is eye-opening and should be read by all those interested in criminology, law, sociology, and prison reform. Researchers can quickly see that there simply is not another book quite like this, making Kleins work groundbreaking. Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; practitioners; general readers. * Choice Reviews *

Author Bio

Andrew R. Klein, Ph.D., has worked in corrections since his appointment as a probation officer in the 1970s. For the last decade, he has worked with prisons and jails across the country to advance substance use disorder programs, becoming intimately acquainted with the nations jails and their challenges, struggles, successes, and failures, as well as the men and women who run and staff them. Klein is a recognized national leader for correctional reform.

Jessica L. Klein is a freelance journalist, published widely in such outlets as the New York Times, the Atlantic, and the BBC.