For years, the Missouri Department of Corrections cobbled together death records from multiple sources. New data reveals annual totals for the first time, revealing hundreds of people died in state prisons between 2018 to 2024.

For years, the public had no way to know just how many people died in Missouri's prisons, a Marshall Project investigation found, because the state Department of Corrections wasn't counting.

Instead of annual totals, the department historically responded to public records requests with partial counts, cobbled together from multiple sources. News outlets and researchers unknowingly reported the incorrect numbers to the public: Did 125 incarcerated people die in 2023? Or 134 ? Maybe 137 ?

"Deaths are reported as they occur," DOC Communications Director

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