title: Death in prison: changing mortality patterns among male prisoners in Maryland, 1979-87.
abstract: The leading causes of death (rate per 100,000 prisoner-years) in Maryland state prisons for the period 1979-87 were circulatory system disease (59), suicide (40), and homicide and legal intervention (30). Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) became the leading cause of death in 1987. Homicides declined after 1980; drug overdose deaths peaked in 1981 and later disappeared. Male inmates have 39 percent lower all-cause death rates than the general population of Maryland after adjustment for age and race.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Salive
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: T F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Brewer
mesh_terms: D002423:Cause of Death; D003644:Death Certificates; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008396:Maryland; D009026:Mortality; D011330:Prisons