The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services released its second‑annual deaths‑in‑custody report, showing that 111 people died in state correctional facilities in 2025. That figure marks an increase from 97 deaths recorded in 2024.
Overall, the agency counted 216 deaths in custody across the Commonwealth during 2025. Of those, 111 occurred in state prisons, 58 in local or regional jails, and 47 while individuals were in law‑enforcement custody. No deaths were reported in juvenile correctional facilities.
Older inmates driving the trend
The median age of those who died in Virginia prisons last year was 63, underscoring the aging nature of the inmate population. Most deaths with a known cause were attributed to natural causes.
Wanda Bertram, communications strategist for the Prison Policy Initiative, said the rise is linked to tough‑on‑crime sentencing policies from the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. “What’s happening now is that people who were given those sentences in previous decades are getting older,” she explained.
Bertram noted that as of 2020, roughly 30% of people serving life sentences were at least 55 years old. Nationwide, more than 61,000 incarcerated individuals aged 55 and older are likely to spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
Cost implications
Older inmates typically require more medical treatment and long‑term care than younger prisoners, raising concerns about the financial impact on the state’s correctional budget. A study published by the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that older prisoners cost about three times as much to incarcerate as younger inmates because of heightened healthcare needs.
“People at this age are going to need a lot of care and expensive medical treatment—no matter whether they’re incarcerated or not,” Bertram said. “Putting them in prison only adds to the resources that are expended.”
Bertram argued that incarceration is often one of the most expensive ways to care for elderly individuals with significant medical needs, especially as prisons across the country grapple with staffing shortages and limited resources.
Broader fiscal context
A February report from the Prison Policy Initiative estimated that the U.S. mass‑incarceration system costs the federal government and families of system‑involved people at least $445 billion each year.
The Virginia report recommends several steps to reduce deaths in state prisons, though the agency did not provide a comment when contacted for this story.
As Virginia’s prison population continues to age, policymakers and correctional officials will need to balance public‑safety objectives with the rising costs of providing adequate medical care to an increasingly elderly inmate demographic.
Original reporting: Alexandria, VA News – WTOP News — read the source article.
