State Corrections Accountability Database
STATE CORRECTIONS ACCOUNTABILITY DATABASE
Making correctional systems visible—one state at a time.
The State Corrections Accountability Database is a public research project of the Prisonism Research Institute, the research division of the End Prisonism Organization.
This project examines how state correctional agencies perform in areas including institutional safety, deaths in custody, staffing, healthcare, transparency, oversight, conditions of confinement, and public accountability.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Correctional agencies exercise enormous authority over incarcerated people, employees, public resources, and institutional information. That authority must be accompanied by meaningful transparency and accountability.
The Prisonism Research Institute is developing a standardized research framework for evaluating every state department of corrections. Each state profile will bring publicly available records, mortality information, staffing data, audits, investigations, policies, and other accountability indicators into one accessible location.
The database distinguishes among verified facts, agency-reported information, reasonable research interpretations, unresolved questions, and claims requiring additional evidence.
PILOT STATE
TENNESSEE
Tennessee Department of Correction
The Tennessee Department of Correction is the first agency examined through the State Corrections Accountability Database. This pilot will help the Prisonism Research Institute test and refine its research standards before expanding the project nationwide.
Research areas include deaths in custody, questionable or insufficiently explained deaths, staffing conditions, institutional safety, healthcare, transparency, oversight, contracts, litigation, and the availability of public records.
Status: Preliminary Research in Progress
[VIEW TENNESSEE DATABASE]
[READ THE TDOC RESEARCH REPORT]
DEATHS IN CUSTODY
Examines reported deaths, causes and manners of death, age patterns, facility patterns, mortality rates, investigations, and cases requiring additional explanation or documentation.
TRANSPARENCY AND DATA ACCESS
Evaluates whether information is published, complete, understandable, timely, and available without unnecessary barriers. Missing, withheld, incomplete, or inconsistent information affects the transparency assessment.
STAFFING AND WORKFORCE CONDITIONS
Reviews vacancies, turnover, mandatory overtime, compensation, training, assaults on staff, working conditions, and the effects of staffing shortages on institutional safety.
HEALTHCARE AND MENTAL HEALTH
Reviews access to treatment, emergency care, suicide prevention, disability accommodations, healthcare findings, and documented failures or delays in care.
OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Examines audits, inspections, grievances, investigations, litigation, corrective actions, private contractors, legislative oversight, and whether documented problems are addressed.
HOW STATES WILL BE GRADED
Each state correctional agency will be assessed using a documented and consistently applied methodology. Grades will reflect both institutional outcomes and the agency’s willingness to provide the public with sufficient information to evaluate those outcomes.
Unavailable information will not automatically be treated as proof of misconduct. However, when an agency fails to publish important records, provides incomplete data, withholds responsive information, or makes meaningful evaluation unnecessarily difficult, that lack of transparency will count against its grade.
Deaths in custody will be evaluated using more than the agency’s assigned cause-of-death label. The Institute will examine available information such as age, medical circumstances, location, timing, manner of death, investigative findings, and supporting documentation. A death may be identified as requiring further review when the available explanation is incomplete, inconsistent, unusually vague, or unsupported by sufficient public evidence.
All findings will distinguish confirmed facts from unresolved questions. Grades may be revised when new records, corrections, or credible evidence become available.
[READ THE GRADING METHODOLOGY]
STATE PROFILES
Tennessee
Pilot research underway
[EXPLORE TENNESSEE]
Additional States
Research forthcoming
The database will expand as records are collected, reviewed, verified, and prepared for public release.
HELP MAKE CORRECTIONAL SYSTEMS VISIBLE
Public accountability depends on access to reliable information. Researchers, correctional professionals, formerly incarcerated people, families, journalists, attorneys, and members of the public may submit records or identify information that should be examined.
Submitting information does not guarantee that a claim will be published. Materials will be reviewed, sourced, and classified according to the Institute’s research standards.
[SUBMIT INFORMATION]
[SUPPORT THE RESEARCH]