As AI safety debates rage in Delhi over transparency and accountability, a different kind of information crisis is unfolding in Britain's prisons. Deaths in custody where investigators are still "awaiting further info" have surged 350% in 2024, jumping from just 10 cases last year to 45 this year.

This isn't about technology algorithms failing. It's about basic human accountability — and the numbers suggest the system for investigating prison deaths is breaking down at the most fundamental level.

When someone dies in state custody, every detail should be documented, investigated, and explained. Families deserve answers. The public deserves transparency. Yet nearly one in every prison death in 2024 sits in a bureaucratic limbo, with investigators unable to provide even basic information about what happened.

The contrast is stark. In 2023, just 10 deaths fell into this "awaiting further info" category — suggesting investigations moved efficiently, with clear documentation and timely analysis. Fast-forward 12 months, and that number has exploded to 45 cases where the most basic question — what information do we have? — cannot be answered.

This surge represents more than administrative inefficiency. Each of these 45 cases is a person who died while under the state's care, and whose death remains unexplained not because the investigation is complex, but because crucial information is simply missing.

The timing matters. Prison populations have been rising, staff shortages have worsened, and the entire system is under unprecedented strain. When resources are stretched thin, corners get cut — and the corner being cut here is the most basic requirement of any justice system: knowing what happened when someone dies in your custody.

Consider what "awaiting further info" actually means in practice. It could be missing medical records, absent witness statements, incomplete incident reports, or gaps in surveillance footage. Whatever the specifics, it represents a 350% increase in cases where the system has failed to gather the basic facts about someone's death.

For families of the deceased, this data point translates to months or years of uncertainty. For prison staff, it suggests investigations are either under-resourced or poorly managed. For the public, it raises questions about whether the state can be trusted to investigate its own failures.

The broader prison system recorded varying death totals across different categories in 2024, but this particular metric — cases awaiting further information — stands out for its dramatic increase. While other death investigation categories have remained relatively stable, this one signal suggests something has fundamentally changed in how death investigations are conducted or resourced. (Source: Ministry of Justice, Safety in Custody -- Deaths_in_prison_custody_1978_to_2024_accessible -- Table_1_2)