Deaths in custody are a crisis, but data on them is a black hole, a new report says

An inmate lies in a single cell at the Harris County jail in 2014, in Houston. A new report highlights how badly the federal government is tracking reports of deaths in law enforcement in the U.S. (Eric Gay/AP)

The U.S. government doesn't know how many people die in law enforcement custody or while imprisoned each year, according to a new report by The Leadership Conference Education Fund and the Project on Government Oversight.

Citing data from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the report says the federal government likely undercounted deaths in custody in 2021 alone by nearly 1,000 compared with other public data sources.