Prisons, Jails & Probation - Overview

Basic Data

(Rate of Adults Under Correctional Supervision, 2011) “At yearend 2011, the rate of adults in the U.S. who were under supervision in the community on probation or parole (2,015 per 100,000 adults) was more than twice as high as the rate of adults incarcerated in state and federal prisons or local jails (937 per 100,000 adults). (See appendix table 1 for the incarceration rate, which is different from the imprisonment rate published in Prisoners in 2011, BJS website, NCJ 239808, December 2012. See Probation and Parole in the United States, 2011, BJS website, NCJ 239686, November 2012, for the community supervision rate.) About 1 in every 50 adults in the U.S. was under community supervision and 1 in every 107 adults was incarcerated in 2011.
"At yearend 2011, about 7 in 10 offenders supervised by the adult correctional systems were on probation or parole, while about 3 in 10 were held in the custody of state and federal prisons or local jails. These findings have remained relatively constant since 2000."

(Adults in US Under Correctional Supervision, 2011) "About 2.9% of adults in the U.S. (or 1 in every 34 adults) were under some form of correctional supervision at yearend 2011 (table 1). The correctional supervision rate observed in 2011 marked the lowest rate of adults in the U.S. under correctional supervision since 2000. The 2011 rate was comparable to the correctional supervision rate observed in 1998 (1 in every 34 adults) when about one million fewer offenders were under correctional supervision (5.9 million in 1998)."

(Total Number of Prisoners and Imprisonment Rate 2011) "During 2011, the number of prisoners under the jurisdiction of state and federal correctional authorities declined by 0.9%, from 1,613,803 to 1,598,780 (figure 1). This decline represented the second consecutive year the prison population in the United States decreased. At yearend 2011, 492 sentenced prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents were incarcerated, a decrease of 1.7% from the rate in 2010 (500 per 100,000). Both admissions into and releases from prison declined during 2011. Admissions of prisoners sentenced to more than one year in state or federal prison declined by 5.0% from 2010 to 2011, or nearly twice the rate of the decrease (down 2.9%) in releases of sentenced prisoners."

(US Imprisonment Rates by Race, Age, and Gender, 2011) "In 2011, imprisonment rates among age and racial groups tended to increase through age 34 before declining (table 8). The imprisonment rates indicate that about 0.5% of all white males, more than 3.0% of all black males, and 1.2% of all Hispanic males were imprisoned in 2011. Between 6.6% and 7.5% of all black males ages 25 to 39 were imprisoned in 2011, which were the highest imprisonment rates among the measured sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age groups. Slightly fewer than 3% of Hispanic males were imprisoned in each of the age cohorts between ages 25 and 39.
"In 2011, blacks and Hispanics were imprisoned at higher rates than whites in all age groups for both male and female inmates. Among prisoners ages 18 to 19, black males were imprisoned at more than 9 times the rate of white males. In 2011, Hispanic and black male prisoners age 65 or older were imprisoned at rates between 3 and 5 times those of white males. Excluding the youngest and oldest age groups, black males were imprisoned at rates that ranged between 5 and 7 times the rates of white males. Among persons ages 20 to 24, black males were imprisoned at about 7 times that of white males. Among persons ages 60 to 64, the black male imprisonment rate was 5 times that of the white male imprisonment rate. In comparison, Hispanic males were imprisoned at 2 to 3 times the rate of white males in 2011. Black females were imprisoned at between 2 and 3 times the rate of white females, while Hispanic females were imprisoned at between 1 and 3 times the rate of white females."

(Incarceration Rates 2008-2010) According to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, the adult incarceration rate in the US in 2008 was 926 per 100,000 US adult residents; in 2009 it was 981; and in 2010, it was 962.

(Note: Adult Incarceration Rate is defined as "The total number in custody as of December 31 per 100,000 U.S. adult residents" and includes jail inmates as well as prison inmates.)

(Decline in State & Federal Prisoners 2010-2011) "For the second year in a row, the number of prisoners under the jurisdiction of state and federal correctional authorities at yearend declined, as the U.S. prison population decreased by 0.9% in 2011 (table 1). The rate of decline during 2011 was larger than in 2010, when the prison population declined by 0.1%. From its peak in 2009 of 1,615,487 prisoners, the U.S. prison population declined by 16,707 prisoners to reach 1,598,780 at yearend 2011.
"The number of state prisoners decreased by 21,614 (down 1.5%), while the federal prison population increased by 6,591 (up 3.1%). This marked the second straight year in which the state prison population declined while the federal prison population increased. During 2011, the divergence in growth between state and federal prison populations was larger than in 2010, when the state prison population declined by 0.2% and the federal prison population increased by 0.8%."

(Jail Population in 2000 and 2009-2012) According to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, US jails held 621,149 offenders in 2000; 767,434 offenders in 2009; 748,728 offenders in 2010; 735,601 offenders in 2011; and 735,983 offenders in 2012.

^{(Note: According to BJS: "Counts for inmates held in local jails are for June 30 of each year. Counts were estimated from the Annual Survey of Jails.")}

(US Population Under Community Supervision Declining) "The number of U.S. adults under community supervision (4,814,200) declined during 2011 (appendix table 1). This represents the third consecutive within-year decrease in this population. In 2011, the population fell below the level not
observed since 2003 (4,847,500).
"This downward trend in the community supervision population is relatively recent. The U.S. saw increasing numbers of adults under community supervision from 1980 through 2008. During that period, growth rates fluctuated from a high of 10.9% in 1983 to a low of 0.5% in 2004. The number of adults under community supervision declined for the first time in 2009 and continued to decline through 2011.
"During 2011, the probation population declined by about 81,800, falling below 4 million (figure 2; appendix table 2). This level was last observed in 2002 (3,995,200) and marked the third consecutive within-year decline in the population. Since probationers accounted for about 82% of the adults under community supervision, the trend observed among the community supervision population was largely driven by the trend in the probation population. Between 1980 and 2008, the growth of the probation population fluctuated from a high of 10.7% in 1983 to a low of 0.5% in 2004 and 2005. In 2009, the probation population declined for the first time since BJS began tracking this population in 1980."

(Cost of Incarceration) "Taxpayers spent about $68.7 billion in 2008 to feed, clothe, and provide medical care to prisoners in county jails, state and federal prisons and facilities housing legal and illegal aliens facing possible deportation.⁴⁶ From 1982 to 2002, state and federal spending on corrections, not adjusted for inflation, rose by 423%, from $40 to $209 per U.S. resident.⁴⁷ Corrections spending, as a share of state budgets, rose faster than health care, education, and natural resources spending from 1986 to 2001.⁴⁸ The average cost of housing a prisoner for a year was about $24,000 in 2005, though rates vary from state to state.⁴⁹"

(Cost Savings by Shifting Offenders from Jail/Prison to Probation/Parole) "The calculations in Table 4 assume that for each non-violent offender shifted from prison or jail (at an average cost of about $25,500 to $26,000 per year) to probation or parole (at average cost of $1,300 to $2,800 per year), government corrections systems would save $23,000 to $25,000 per inmate per year. Given the mix of prisoners by offense type (see Table 3), a 50 percent reduction in non-violent-offender inmates would save the federal government about $2.1 billion per year, state governments about $7.6 billion per year, and local governments about $7.2 billion per year, even after factoring in additional probation and parole costs. Across all three levels of government, these savings total $16.9 billion or about 22.8 percent of the total national spending on corrections in 2008."

(Global Prison Population) "More than 10.1 million people are held in penal institutions throughout the world, mostly as pre-trial detainees/remand prisoners or as sentenced prisoners. Almost half of these are in the United States (2.29m), Russia (0.81m) or China (1.65m sentenced prisoners). In addition more than 650,000 are in ‘detention centres’ in China; if these are included the overall Chinese total is over 2.3 million and the world total more than 10.75 million."

According to the US Census Bureau, the population of the US in 2012 was estimated to represent 4.46% of the world's total population (314,630,920 out of a total 7,047,450,914).

(Global Prison Population Rates) "The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world, 743 per 100,000 of the national population, followed by Rwanda (c. 595), Russia (568), Georgia (547), U.S. Virgin Is. (539), Seychelles (507), St Kitts & Nevis (495), British Virgin Is. (468), Belize (439), Dominica (431), Bermuda (428), Grenada (423) and Curacao (422).
"However, more than half the countries and territories (54%) have rates below 150 per 100,000.
"The world population at mid-2010 was estimated at 6.9 billion (United Nations); if set against the world prison population of 10.1 million this would produce a world prison population rate of 146 per 100,000 (156 per 100,000 if set against a world prison population of 10.75 million)."

(Prison Population Growth) "For the first time in nearly 40 years, the number of state prisoners in the United States has declined. Survey data compiled by the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States, in partnership with the Association of State Correctional Administrators, indicate that as of January 1, 2010, there were 1,404,053 persons under the jurisdiction of state prison authorities, 4,777 (0.3 percent) fewer than there were on December 31, 2008.¹ This marks the first year-to-year drop in the state prison population since 1972.
"In this period, however, the nation’s total prison population increased by 2,061 people because of a jump in the number of inmates under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The federal count rose by 6,838 prisoners, or 3.4 percent in 2009, to an all-time high of 208,118.
"Prior to 1972, the number of prisoners had grown at a steady rate that closely tracked growth rates in the general population. Between 1925 (the first year national prison statistics were officially collected) and 1972, the number of state prisoners increased from 85,239 to 174,379.²
"Starting in 1973, however, the prison population and imprisonment rates began to rise precipitously. This change was fueled by stiffer sentencing and release laws and decisions by courts and parole boards, which sent more offenders to prison and kept them there for longer terms.³ In the nearly five decades between 1925 and 1972, the prison population increased by 105 percent; in the four decades since, the number of prisoners grew by 705 percent.⁴ Adding local jail inmates to state and federal prisoners, the Public Safety Performance Project calculated in 2008 that the overall incarcerated population had reached an all-time high, with 1 in 100 adults in the United States living behind bars.⁵"

(Prisons Over Capacity) "Overall, in 2010 state systems were operating between 1% under their highest capacity and 9% over their lowest capacity, compared to being exactly at high capacity and 15% over low capacity in 2000 (appendix table 23). (See capacity in Definitions of Terms).
„„"Nineteen state systems were operating above their highest capacity, with seven states at least 25% over their highest capacity at yearend 2010, led by Alabama at 196% and Illinois at 144% (appendix table 23).
"Twenty-eight state systems were operating at or below their highest capacity. Mississippi was operating at 46% of its highest capacity, followed by New Mexico (53%) and Utah and Wyoming (each at 79%).
"The Federal Bureau of Prisons operated at 36% above reported capacity at yearend 2010."

(Prisons Over Capacity) "At yearend 2006, 23 States and the Federal system operated at more than 100% of their highest capacity. Seventeen States operated at between 90% and 99% of their highest capacity. The Federal prison system was operating at 37% above its rated capacity at yearend 2006.
"By comparison, in 1995 States operated at 114% of their highest capacity and 125% of their lowest reported capacity. The Federal system was operating at 26% over reported capacity in 1995."

(Parents in Prison) "An estimated 809,800 prisoners of the 1,518,535 held in the nation's prisons at midyear 2007 were parents of minor children, or children under age 18. Parents held in the nation's prisons -- 52% of state inmates and 63% of federal inmates -- reported having an estimated 1,706,600 minor children, accounting for 2.3% of the U.S. resident population under age 18."

(Corrections Industry Workers) "The corrections sector is a large and growing part of the labor force. According to the Census Bureau, more than 770,000 people worked in the U.S. correctional industry in 2008.⁶⁰ The U.S. Department of Labor, in its 2010-11 Occupational Outlook Handbook, estimates there were about 620,000 guards, probation officers, prison supervisors and court bailiffs in 2008.⁶¹"

(Adults Under Correctional Control) "With far less notice, the number of people on probation or parole has skyrocketed to more than 5 million, up from 1.6 million just 25 years ago. This means that 1 in 45 adults in the United States is now under criminal justice supervision in the community, and that combined with those in prison and jail, a stunning 1 in every 31 adults, or 3.2 percent, is under some form of correctional control. The rates are drastically elevated for men (1 in 18) and blacks (1 in 11) and are even higher in some high-crime inner-city neighborhoods."

(Prison Population Growth) "Since sentenced prisoners made up 96% of the prison population in 2011, it was expected that the changes in the sentenced prison population in 2011 mirrored those in the total prison population. The total number of sentenced prisoners declined by 1.0%, and the sentenced prison population in the federal system increased by 3.4%. The sentenced state prison population declined by 1.6%.
"Between 2010 and 2011, the imprisonment rate—the number of sentenced prisoners divided by the U.S. resident population times 100,000—declined from 500 to 492 per 100,000 U.S. residents (table 6). The imprisonment rate has declined consistently since 2007 when there were 506 persons imprisoned per 100,000 U.S. residents. The rate in 2011 was comparable to the rate observed in 2005 (492 per 100,000)."

(International Incarceration Comparisons) "The U.S. incarcerates nearly 2.4 million people,¹³ including people held pretrial and those sentenced for an offense; if they were all in one state, it would be the 36th most populated, between New Mexico and Nevada.¹⁴ No other country in the world incarcerates as many people as the United States. China, a country of 1.3 billion people—about four times as many people as the U.S.¹⁵—is second, incarcerating 1.6 million people.¹⁶

(Growth in Imprisonment Rate, 2000-2007) "During 2007, the prison population increased more rapidly than the U.S. resident population. The imprisonment rate — the number of sentenced prisoners per 100,000 residents — increased from 501 prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents in 2006 to 506 prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents in 2007. From 2000 through 2007, the imprisonment rate increased from 475 per 100,000 U.S. residents to 506 per 100,000 U.S. residents. During these seven years, the number of sentenced prisoners increased by 15% while the general population increased by 6.4%."

(Sexual Violence in US Prisons and Jails, 2011-2012) "The estimated number of prison and jail inmates experiencing sexual victimization totaled 80,600 (or 4.0% of all prison inmates and 3.2% of jail inmates nationwide) (table 1).
"Among all state and federal prison inmates, 2.0% (or an estimated 29,300 prisoners) reported an incident involving another inmate, and 2.4% (34,100) reported an incident involving facility staff. Some prisoners (0.4% or 5,500) reported sexual victimization by both another inmate and facility staff.
"Among all jail inmates, about 1.6% (11,900) reported an incident with another inmate, and 1.8% (13,200) reported an incident with staff. Approximately 0.2% of jail inmates (2,400) reported being sexually victimized by both another inmate and staff."

(Rates of Inmate-on-Inmate Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails)
"• Rates of inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization among prison inmates were higher among females (6.9%) than males (1.7%), higher among whites (2.9%) or inmates of two or more races (4.0%) than among blacks (1.3%), higher among inmates with a college degree (2.7%) than among inmates who had not completed high school (1.9%), and lower among currently married inmates (1.4%) than among inmates who never married (2.1%) (table 7).
ƒƒ"• Similar patterns of inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization were reported by jail inmates. Female jail inmates (3.6%), whites (2.0%), and inmates with a college degree (3.0%) reported higher rates of victimization than males (1.4%), blacks (1.1%), and inmates who had not completed high school (1.4%).
ƒƒ"• Rates of inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization were unrelated to age among state and federal prisoners, except for slightly lower rates among inmates age 55 or older.
ƒƒ"• Rates were lower among jail inmates in the oldest age categories (ages 35 to 44, 45 to 54, and 55 or older) than among jail inmates ages 20 to 24."

(Patterns of Prison and Jail Staff Sexual Misconduct) "The reported use or threat of physical force to engage in sexual activity with staff was generally low among all prison and jail inmates (0.8%); however, at least 5% of the inmates in three state prisons and one high-rate jail facility reported they had been physically forced or threatened with force. (See appendix tables 3 and 7.) The Clements Unit (Texas) had the highest percentage of inmates reporting sexual victimization involving physical force or threat of force by staff (8.1%), followed by Denver Women’s Correctional Facility (Colorado) (7.3%), and Idaho Maximum Security Institution (6.0%). Wilson County Jail (Kansas) led all surveyed jails, with 5.6% of inmates reporting that staff used physical force or threat of force to have sex or sexual contact.
"While 0.8% of prison and jail inmates reported the use or threat of physical force, an estimated 1.4% of prison inmates and 1.2% of jail inmates reported being coerced by facility staff without any use or threat of force, including being pressured or made to feel they had to have sex or sexual contact. In 8 of the 24 facilities with high rates of staff sexual misconduct, at least 5% of the inmates reported such pressure by staff. Among state prisoners, the highest rates were reported by female inmates in the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility (Colorado) (8.8%) and by male inmates in the Clements Unit (Texas) (8.7%). Among jail inmates, the highest rates were reported by inmates in the Rose M. Singer Center (New York) (5.6%) and the Contra Costa County Martinez Detention Facility (California) (5.2%)."

(Prison Growth) "The United States has adopted a set of criminal justice policies that has produced a tidal wave of imprisonment in this country. Between 1970 and 2005, the number of men, women, and children locked up in this country has grown by an historically unprecedented 700%. As a result, the United States locks up almost a quarter of the prisoners in the entire world. In fact, if all our prisoners were confined in one city, that city would be the fourth largest in the country."

(Federal Prison Overcrowding) "The number of inmates held in BOP [Bureau of Prisons] facilities grew from 125,560 in FY20005¹ to 180,725 as of September 2011. From FY2000–FY2010, prison crowding grew from 32% over rated capacity to 37% over rated capacity, despite the fact that the number of facilities operated by BOP increased from 97 to 116. The growing federal prison population has not only resulted in more crowded prisons, but it has also strained BOP’s ability to properly manage and care for federal inmates."

(Justice System Growth 1982-2003) "The increase in justice expenditures over nearly 20 years reflects the expansion of the Nation's justice system. For example, in 1982 the justice system employed approximately 1.27 million persons; in 2003 it reached over 2.3 million.
"Police protection
"One indicator of police workload, the FBI's arrest estimates for State and local police agencies, grew from 12 million in 1982 to an estimated 13.6 million in 2003. The number of employees in police protection increased from approximately 724,000 to over 1.1 million.
"Judicial and legal
"The judicial and legal workload, including civil and criminal cases, prosecutor functions, and public defender services, also expanded during this period. Cases of all kinds (criminal, civil, domestic, juvenile, and traffic) filed in the nearly 16,000 general and limited jurisdiction State courts went from about 86 million to 100 million in the 16-year period, 1987-2003. The total of judicial and legal employees grew about 101% to over 494,000 persons in 2003.
"Corrections
"The total number of State and Federal inmates grew from 403,000 in 1982 to over 1.4 million in 2003. The number of local jail inmates more than tripled from approximately 207,000 in 1982 to over 691,000 in 2003. Adults on probation increased from over 1.4 million to about 4.1 million persons. Overall, corrections employment more than doubled from nearly 300,000 to over 748,000 during this same period."

(Parents in Prison) "Thirty-seven percent of parents held in state prison reported living with at least one of their children in the month before arrest, 44% reported just prior to incarceration, and 48% reported at either time (table 7). Mothers were more likely than fathers to report living with at least one child. More than half of mothers held in state prison reported living with at least one of their children in the month before arrest, compared to 36% of fathers. More than 6 in 10 mothers reported living with their children just prior to incarceration or at either time, compared to less than half of fathers.
"Parents held in federal prison were more likely than those held in state prison to report living with a child in the month before arrest, just prior to incarceration, or at either time (appendix table 7). Mothers in federal prison were more likely than fathers to report living with a child."

(Parents in Prison) "Mothers in state prison (58%) were more likely than fathers (49%) to report having a family member who had also been incarcerated (table 11). Parents in state prison most commonly reported a brother (34%), followed by a father (19%). Among mothers in state prison, 13% reported a sister and 8% reported a spouse. Six percent of fathers reported having a sister who had also been incarcerated; 2%, a spouse.
"While growing up, 40% of parents in state prison reported living in a household that received public assistance, 14% reported living in a foster home, agency, or institution at some time during their youth, and 43% reported living with both parents most of the time (appendix table 11). Mothers (17%) held in state prison were more likely than fathers (14%) to report living in a foster home, agency, or institution at some time during their youth. Parents in federal prison reported lower percentages of growing up in a household that received public assistance (31%) or living in a foster home, agency, or institution (7%). These characteristics varied little by gender for parents held in federal prison.
"More than a third (34%) of parents in state prison reported that during their youth, their parents or guardians had abused alcohol or drugs. Mothers in state prison (43%) were more likely than fathers (33%) to have had this experience. Fewer parents (27%) in federal prison reported having a parent or a guardian who had abused alcohol or drugs."

(State Expenditure Per Prison Inmate) According to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2010, state corrections institutions spent $37.3 billion to imprison a total of 1,316,858 inmates. BJS estimates that the mean expenditures per capita was $28,323. There was a wide range in state spending: the bottom 25th percentile averaged only $21,417, the 50th percentile averaged $29,094, and the 75th percentile averaged $40,175.

(Growth in State Spending on Corrections, 1986-2001) "State spending for corrections increased from $65 per resident in 1986 to $134 in 2001 (table 1). Per capita expenditures for State prison operations alone rose from $49 in 1986 to $104 in 2001.
"At an average annual increase of 6.2% for total State correctional spending and 6.4% specifically for prisons, increases in the cost of adult incarceration outpaced those of health care (5.8%), education (4.2%), and natural resources (3.3%).
"Although correctional spending grew at a faster rate than many other State boards and programs (including court payments between 1986 and 2001, it remained one of the smaller cost items. For example, the outlay for education, at $374.5 billion, was nearly 10 times larger, and that for welfare, at $260.3 billion, was nearly 7 times larger."

(Prison Population Growth Rates 1995-2005) "The rate of growth of the State prison population slowed between 1995 and 2001 and then began to rise. During this time the percentage change in the first 6 months of each year steadily decreased, reaching a low of 0.6% in 2001, and then rose to 1.0% in 2005 (table 2). The percentage change in the second 6 months of each year showed a similar trend, resulting in an actual decrease in State prison populations for the second half of 2000 and 2001.
"Since 1995 the Federal system has grown at a much higher rate than the States, peaking at 6.0% growth in the first 6 months of 1999. In the first 6 months of 2005, the number of Federal inmates increased 2.3%, more than twice the rate of State growth."

(Sexual Violence in Prison) "In December 2000, the Prison Journal published a study based on a survey of inmates in seven men's prison facilities in four states. The results showed that 21 percent of the inmates had experienced at least one episode of pressured or forced sexual contact since being incarcerated, and at least 7 percent had been raped in their facility. A 1996 study of the Nebraska prison system produced similar findings, with 22 percent of male inmates reporting that they had been pressured or forced to have sexual contact against their will while incarcerated. Of these, over 50 percent had submitted to forced anal sex at least once. Extrapolating these findings to the national level gives a total of at least 140,000 inmates who have been raped."

(Educational Level of Prisoners) "With the emphasis on law enforcement over education, it is no surprise that according to the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy Prison Survey, 37 percent of people in U.S. prisons had not finished high school. Only 4 out of 10 (41 percent) had a high school education or GED equivalent; 74 percent had parents who had a high school education or less; and 26 percent had parents who did not finish high school.¹⁶⁵"

(Justice System Spending) "In 2003 the United States spent a record $185 billion for police protection, corrections, and judicial and legal activities. Expenditures for operating the Nation's justice system increased from almost $36 billion in 1982 to over $185 billion in 2003, an increase of 418%.
"Local governments funded half of all justice system expenses. Another 33% of direct justice funding came from the States.
"Total justice expenditures comprised approximately 7.2% of all State and local public expenditures in 2003. Compared to justice expenditures, State and local governments continued to spend almost 4 times as much on education, twice as much on public welfare, and roughly an equal amount on hospitals and healthcare."

(State Prison Costs, 2001) "Correctional authorities spent $38.2 billion to maintain the Nation’'s State correctional systems in fiscal year 2001, including $29.5 billion specifically for adult correctional facilities. Day-to-day operating expenses totaled $28.4 billion, and capital outlays for land, new building, and renovations, $1.1 billion.
"The average annual operating cost per State inmate in 2001 was $22,650, or $62.05 per day. Among facilities operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, it was $22,632 per inmate, or $62.01 per day."

"We must have law enforcement authorities address the issue because if we do not, prevention, education, and treatment messages will not work very well. But having said that, I also believe that we have created an American gulag."

(Growth of Prison Population) "The prison population began to climb in the late 1970s as states and the federal government cracked down on crime. One turning point was New York State’s 1973 imposition of mandatory sentencing laws for drug offenses, under the administration of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.⁴⁰ Other states followed. Initiatives included mandatory sentences for repeat armed career criminals. Congress, in the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 (18 U.S.C. 3651), repealed federal courts’ authority to suspend criminal sentences and made other changes.⁴¹ In 1994, California voters and legislators approved Proposition 184, the so-called Three Strikes Law. Among other things, the law set a minimum sentence of 25 years to life for three-time offenders with prior serious or violent felony convictions.⁴²"

Prisons & Jails - Federal Data

(Average Cost of Federal Incarceration) "The fee to cover the average cost of incarceration for Federal inmates in Fiscal Year 2009 was $25,251. The average annual cost to confine an inmate in a Community Corrections Center for Fiscal Year 2009 was $24,758."

(Federal Bureau of Prisons Budget) "The FY 2013 budget request for BOP totals $6,919 million, which is a 4.2% increase over the FY 2012 Enacted. The request includes $6,820 million for Salaries and Expenses and $99.2 million for Buildings and Facilities. A rescission of $75.0 million in prior year construction balances is also proposed."

State- and Local-Specific Data

(State Spending on Corrections) "State spending on corrections reflects the costs to build and operate prison systems and may include spending on juvenile justice programs and alternatives to incarceration such as probation and parole. State spending for corrections totaled $51.1 billion in fiscal 2010, a 3.2 percent decrease compared to fiscal 2009. State spending on corrections in fiscal 2011 is estimated to total $51.7 billion, a 1.3 percent increase from fiscal 2010 but still below fiscal 2009 levels. As with other areas of the state budget, spending growth on corrections has slowed considerably due to widespread revenue shortfalls and limited resources; as recently as fiscal 2007 state spending on corrections grew by 10.1 percent."

(State Spending on Corrections)
(2010) States spent $51.1 billion on Corrections in 2010. That year, states spent $164.8 billion on higher education and only $26.6 billion on public assistance.
(2008) States spent $52 billion on Corrections in 2008. That year, states spent $158.2 billion on higher education and only $25.1 billion on public assistance.
(2005) States spent $42.9 billion on Corrections in 2005. That year, states spent $131.2 billion on higher education and only $24.7 billion on public assistance.

(State Prison Population and Violent Crime) "As state prison populations fell, so did the violent crime rate, which provides further evidence that increased incarceration does not mean more public safety. Concurrent with the 5.3 percent fall in violent crime in 2008-2009, state prison populations decreased 0.2 percent, the first population decrease since 2000.⁴ The number of people in prison is still growing, but at a slower rate than during the last few decades and primarily due to increases in federal prison system population.⁵ The 0.2 percent growth in the total U.S. prison population during 2009 was the third year of decline in the rate of growth and the slowest growth in eight years."

(State Spending on Prisons vs. Higher Education) "In 1987, the states collectively spent $10.6 billion of their general funds—their primary pool of discretionary tax dollars—on corrections. Last year, they spent more than $44 billion, a 315 percent jump, data from the National Association of State Budget Officers show. Adjusted to 2007 dollars, the increase was 127 percent. Over the same period, adjusted spending on higher education rose just 21 percent."

(Felony Convictions in State Courts) "In 2006, an estimated 1,205,273 persons were convicted of a felony (federal and state courts). Of that number, 1,132,290 were convicted in state courts, the vast majority (94 percent) of whom pleaded guilty. At the time of sentencing, about 3 out of 4 felons sentenced (77 percent) were sentenced for a single felony."

The accompanying data table shows that 377,860 (33.4%) of these convictions were for Drug Offenses, of which 165,360 (14.6% of all convictions) were for Possession and 212,490 (18.8% of all convictions) were for Trafficking.

(Increase in State Prisons) "Over the last 25 years, the number of state facilities increased from just fewer than 600 to over 1,000 in the year 2000, an increase of about 70 percent. In other words, more than 40 percent of state prisons in operation today opened in the last 25 years."

Sociopolitical Research

(Incarceration and Crime Rates) "While it may seem obvious that locking up more people would lower the crime rate, the reality is much more complicated. Sentencing and release policies, not crime rates, determine the numbers of persons in prison. This point is illustrated by examining what happened to incarceration rates and crime rates nationally in the period from 1991-1998. This was a period in which crime rates fell but rates of incarceration continued to increase. During that time, the states that experienced below-average increases in their rate of incarceration actually experienced above-average decreases in crime. The three largest states offer useful examples: Texas experienced a 144% increase in incarceration with a 35% drop in crime rates, and California had a 44% rise in its incarceration rate with a 36% drop in crime rates. In contrast, New York saw its incarceration rate increase by only 24%, yet nonetheless experienced a drop in crime rates of 43%."

(Cost Savings from Reducing the Incarceration Rate) "We calculate that a reduction by one-half in the incarceration rate of non-violent offenders would lower correctional expenditures by $16.9 billion per year and return the U.S. to about the same incarceration rate we had in 1993 (which was already high by historical standards). The large majority of these savings would accrue to financially squeezed state and local governments, amounting to about one-fourth of their annual corrections budgets. As a group, state governments could save $7.6 billion, while local governments could save $7.2 billion."

(Incarceration and Crime Reduction) "Incarceration has not been definitively shown to reduce crime rates. Bruce Western at Harvard University recently found that only 10 percent of the crime decline in the 1990s was due to increased use of incarceration.⁷ Between 1998 and 2007, states that had the greatest increases in incarceration rates did not necessarily see a corresponding drop in crime rates. Some states (Maryland Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas) lowered their incarceration rates and still experienced a drop in crime rates.⁸ Such uneven results do not support continued over-reliance on incarceration, particularly in a time of fiscal crisis."

(Economic Incentive for Prison Construction) "The economic benefits of new prisons may come from the flow of additional state and federal dollars. In the decennial census, prisoners are counted where they are incarcerated, and many federal and state funding streams are tied to census population counts. According to the U.S. General Accounting Office (2003), the federal government distributes over $140 billion in grant money to state and local governments through formula-based grants. Formula grant money is in part based on census data and covers programs such as Medicaid, Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, and Social Services Block Grant (U.S. General Accounting Office 2003). Within a state, funding for community health services, road construction and repair, public housing, local law enforcement, and public libraries are all driven by population counts from the census."

(Housing Prisoners in Other States) "The effect of prisoner location on population counts may also influence the allocation of political representation and, therefore, political influence (Haberman 2000). In Wisconsin, the number of state prisoners who were housed in other states (known as interstate transfers) caused concern because these prisoners would be counted in the decennial census in the states where they were incarcerated. In 1999, U.S. Representative Mark Green introduced a bill (unsuccessfully) that proposed changes to the census policy so Wisconsin prisoners held in other states would be counted as Wisconsin residents."

(Economics of Prison Construction) "The few studies on the local economic impacts of prisons to date have not found significant positive impacts. For example, a study by the Sentencing Project challenges the notion that a new prison brings economic benefits to smaller communities. Using 25 years of data from New York State rural counties, the authors looked at employment rates and per capita income and found 'no significant difference or discernible pattern of economic trends' between counties that were home to a prison and counties that were not home to a prison (King, Mauer, and Huling 2003). According to a recent study by Iowa State University, many towns that made sizeable investments in prisons did not reap the economic gains that were predicted (Besser 2003). Another analysis in Texas found no impacts as measured by consumer spending in nearly three-fourths of the areas examined (Chuang 1998)."

(Community Losses Due to Prisoner Relocation) According to a report on prison growth by the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center, "Every dollar transferred to a "prison community" is a dollar that is not given to the home community of a prisoner, which is often among the country's most disadvantaged urban areas. According to one account, Cook County Illinois will lose nearly $88 million in federal benefits over the next decade because residents were counted in the 2000 Census in their county of incarceration rather than their county of origin (Duggan 2000). Losing funds from the "relocation" of prisoners is also an issue for New York City, as two-thirds of state prisoners are from the city, while 91 percent of prisoners are incarcerated in upstate counties (Wagner 2002a)."

(Prison Construction Boom) "The prison construction boom was not concentrated in a few, key states or in certain regions of the country. Prison systems expanded significantly in states across the country. Prison systems also expanded within states. The share of counties in the top 10 states that were home to at least one prison increased from 13 to 31 percent between 1979 and 2000. State level maps (figures 13 to 22) illustrate that new prisons were geographically dispersed throughout the states. New prisons were generally not spatially concentrated, as few counties gained three or more prisons. Finally, prisons expanded into different types of counties; prisons increased significantly in both non-metro counties and metro counties."

(Incarceration Far From Home) "Another issue related to prison expansion of the 1980s and 1990s is the disparity between where prisoners come from ("home counties") and where prisoners serve their sentences ("prison counties"). Many believe that the prison construction boom of the last 20 years happened in areas that were located far away from prisoners' homes. This has been an area of concern because greater distances between a prisoner's home and where he or she is incarcerated can negatively impact a prisoner and his or her family members. Being incarcerated far away from home makes it more challenging to maintain familial relationships and parent/child relationships in particular. In addition, challenges related to reintegrating into the community increase when a prisoner is housed far away from home. For example, steps that may facilitate prisoner reentry, such as finding a job and a place to live, are more difficult when a prisoner is imprisoned a long distance from the place to which he or she will return after release."

(States with Greatest Prison Growth) "Figure 6 lists the top 10 states ranked from the highest growth to the lowest growth. They are Texas, Florida, California, New York, Michigan, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Colorado, and Missouri. The magnitude of prison growth in these 10 states is remarkable. Between 1979 and 2000, the number of additional prisons ranged from 19 prisons in Missouri to 120 prisons in Texas. The growth in Texas equates to an extraordinary average annual increase of 5.7 additional prisons per year over the 21-year period. As a group, the 10 states were operating more than three times as many prisons in 2000 as in 1979—increasing from 195 facilities to 604 facilities. Figure 6 shows the relative growth in each state in addition to the absolute growth. In all 10 states, the number of prisons increased by more than 100 percent over the two decades. States with the lowest relative growth are Florida, which grew by 115 percent, and New York, which grew by 117 percent. Texas is again the clear leader growing by 706 percent over the 21-year period. Indeed, Texas is in a league of its own, as it added the most prisons (120), currently has the largest number of prisons in operation (137), and experienced the largest percentage increase (706 percent)."

(Suicide Risk in Jails) "Once they [people with drug addiction and mental health disorders] are incarcerated, researchers have found that the people’s reaction to jail conditions can exacerbate mental health problems and conditions that may increase their propensity towards suicidal behavior. Newly jailed people experience fear of the unknown, distrust of the environment, isolation from family and significant others, shame and stigma of incarceration, a loss of stabilizing resources and severe guilt or shame over the alleged offense. Current mental illness and prior history of suicidal behavior also intensify in the jail environment.¹⁵⁰ These conditions and stressors conspire to increase the suicide rate in jails, as compared to the general population. Compared with a U.S. suicide rate of 17 per 100,000 people, the suicide rate in local jails is 47 per 100,000 people.¹⁵¹ Suicide is second only to illness in the leading cause of death in jails: 25 percent of all deaths in jails in 2006 were suicides.¹⁵²"

Private Prisons

(Total Inmates Held in Private Prisons, 2011)
"• The percentage of all prisoners housed in private prison facilities increased slightly in 2011 from 7.9% to 8.2% (appendix table 15)."

(Number of State and Federal Inmates in Private Prisons)
"• The number of prisoners in private facilities under the jurisdiction of state Departments of Corrections decreased by 1.8% between 2010 and 2011.
"• The Federal Bureau of Prisons increased the number of inmates held in private prisons by 14% from 2010 to 2011.
"On December 31, 2011, 6.7% of the state and 18% of the federal prison populations were incarcerated in private facilities."

(Use of Private Prisons by Some States)
"• Texas (18,603 inmates) and Florida (11,827 inmates) had the highest number of inmates in private prisons.
„„"• North Carolina, Wisconsin, California, and Alabama each decreased the size of their private prison population by at least 45% from 2010 to 2011.
"• Arizona, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and South Dakota incarcerated at least 17% more inmates in private facilities in 2011 than in 2010."

(Private Prison Costs) "Meanwhile, the benefit to counties where private prisons are built and operated can be quite scant — some receive less than $2 per prisoner per day from the private prison operator.¹¹⁹ The private prison companies themselves receive a far greater payoff from the government entity (such as a state corrections department) whose prisoners the company incarcerates. For example, private prison operators in Arizona were paid $63.52 per medium security prisoner per day in 2009,¹²⁰ and as early as 2000, the federal government agreed to pay CCA almost $90 per day for each detained immigrant at a San Diego facility."

(Private Prison Industry) "Today, private companies imprison roughly 130,000 prisoners³⁴ and, according to one group, 16,000 civil immigration detainees in the United States at any given time.³⁵ As states send more and more people to prison, they funnel ever greater amounts of taxpayer money to private prison operators. By 2010, annual revenues of the two top private prison companies alone stood at nearly $3 billion.³⁶"

Note: The two prison companies named in this report are "Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group (then called Wackenhut Corrections Corporation)."

(Lobbying by Private Prison Companies) "Certain private prison companies, according to a recent report by Detention Watch Network, spend large sums of money to lobby the House of Representatives, the Senate, and several federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Prisons (which incarcerates over 200,000 prisoners at any given time) and the Department of Homeland Security (which detains over 30,000 immigrants at any given time).²³⁸ According to nonprofit groups, CCA alone spent over $18 million on federal lobbying between 1999 and 2009, 'often employing five or six firms at the same time,'²³⁹ and in 2010, CCA spent another $970,000 lobbying the federal government."

HIV/AIDS in Prison

(Cases and Deaths in State and Federal Prisons) "At yearend 2010, state and federal prisons held a reported 20,093 inmates who had HIV or AIDS, down from 20,880 at yearend 2009. As a result of this decline, the estimated rate of HIV/AIDS among prisoners in custody dropped from 151 HIV/AIDS cases per 10,000 inmates in 2009 to 146 per 10,000 in 2010. The number of state and federal inmates who died from AIDS-related causes also declined between 2009 and 2010, from 94 to 72 deaths. During the same period, the rate of AIDS-related deaths among inmates with HIV/AIDS declined from 47 deaths per 10,000 inmates to 38 per 10,000."

(Cases and Deaths in Inmate Population, 2001-2010) "Between 2001 and 2010, the estimated number of inmates with HIV/AIDS declined by 16%, and the number of AIDS-related deaths in prison declined by 77% (not shown in table) resulting in declines in the rates of HIV/AIDS and AIDS-related deaths among all inmates and those with HIV/AIDS. At yearend 2001, the estimated rate of HIV/AIDS among state and federal prison inmates was 194 HIV/AIDS cases per 10,000 inmates. By yearend 2010, the estimated rate was 146 cases per 10,000. Among the total inmate population, the rate of AIDS-related deaths declined from 24 per 100,000 inmates in 2001 to 5 per 100,000 in 2010. Among the inmate population with HIV/AIDS, the rate declined from 134 AIDS-related deaths per 10,000 inmates in 2001 to 38 per 10,000 in 2010."

(HIV Prevalence Among State Prisoners by Drug Use) "The percentage of State prison inmates who were HIV positive was —

"1.3% of those who never used drugs
"1.7% of those who had ever used drugs
"1.9% of those who used drugs in the month before their current offense
"2.8% of those who had used a needle to inject drugs
"5.1% of those who had shared a needle.

"Like State inmates, Federal inmates who used a needle and shared a needle had higher rates of HIV infection than those inmates who reported ever using drugs or using drugs in the month before their current offense."

(HIV Prevalence Among Prisoners by Offense, 2004) "Inmates held on a property offense in State and Federal prisons had the highest HIV-positive rate (both 2.6%) (table 11). Among State inmates, public-order offenders (0.9%) were least likely to report being HIV positive; among Federal prisoners, drug offenders (0.7%) were least likely to report being HIV positive."

(HIV/AIDS Death Rate in Prisons, 2001-2010) "The rate of AIDS-related deaths in state prisons among inmates ages 15 to 54 declined sharply between 2001 and 2009, compared to the more modest decline observed among the same age group in the U.S. general population. As a result, the AIDS-related death rate in state prisons fell below the rate in the U.S. general population in 2009. Between 2001 and 2009, the AIDS-related death rate among state prisoners ages 15 to 54 declined from 22 deaths per 100,000 inmates to 6 per 100,000, while the rate among that age group in the general population declined from 9 per 100,000 to 7 per 100,000."

(HIV and AIDS Cases Among State and Federal Prisoners, 2010) "A reported 20,093 inmates with HIV/AIDS were in custody in state or federal prison at yearend 2010, down from 20,880 at yearend 2009 (table 1).
"The reported number of state inmates with HIV/AIDS decreased from 19,290 in 2009 to 18,515 in 2010. The number of federal inmates with HIV/AIDS also declined, from 1,590 in 2009 to 1,578 in 2010.
"California, Florida, New York, and Texas each reported holding more than 1,000 inmates with HIV/AIDS at yearend 2010. These states held 51% (9,492) of all state prisoners with HIV/AIDS.
"Among state and federal inmates with HIV/AIDS at yearend 2010, 18,337 were male and 1,756 were female, compared to 19,027 male and 1,853 female inmates at yearend 2009 (table 2)."

(HIV/AIDS in Prison, 2005) "In each year since 1991, the rate of confirmed AIDS has been higher among prison inmates than in the U.S. general population, but the gap has been narrowing. At yearend 2005, the estimated rate of confirmed AIDS in State and Federal prisons was more than 21⁄2 times higher than in the general population (table 3). In 1999 it was nearly 5 times higher.
"The shrinking difference between the rate of confirmed AIDS cases in prisons and the general population between 1999 and 2005 resulted from a decrease in the number of confirmed AIDS cases in prisons (down 20%) and an increase in cases (up 44%) among the general population."

(AIDS Deaths in Prisons by Region, 2005) "During 2005 an estimated 176 State inmates died from AIDS-related causes, down from 185 in 2004. For every 100,000 State inmates, 13 died from AIDS-related causes. AIDS-related deaths accounted for nearly 1 in 20 deaths reported in State prisons. New York reported the largest number of AIDS-related deaths (19), followed by Florida (17) and California (14). Relative to the number of inmates in custody, the Northeast reported the highest rate of AIDS-related deaths (28 per 100,000 inmates), followed by the South (13 per 100,000 inmates).
"Among Federal inmates, 27 died from AIDS-related causes in 2005, up from 18 in 2004. For every 100,000 Federal inmates, 15 died from AIDS-related causes. AIDS-related deaths accounted for 7% of all deaths in Federal prisons."

(HIV in Jails) "Among jail inmates in 2002 who had ever been tested for HIV, Hispanics (2.9%) were more than 3 times as likely as whites (0.8%) and twice as likely as blacks (1.2%) to report being HIV positive."

(AIDS Deaths in Local Jails) "In 2002 the number of AIDS-related deaths in local jails was 42, down from 58 in 2000 (table 11). The rate of AIDS-related deaths was down from 9 per 100,000 inmates in 2000 to 6 per 100,000 in 2002. Of the 42 inmates who died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2002, 38 were male and 4 were female. Those who died from AIDS-related illnesses were most likely black (31 inmate deaths) and between the ages 35 and 44 (21 inmate deaths). Over the 3-year period beginning in 2000, a total of 155 local jail inmates died from AIDS-related causes."

(HIV Among Jail Inmates) "In personal interviews conducted in 2002, nearly two-thirds of local jail inmates reported ever being tested for HIV; of those, 1.3% disclosed that they were HIV positive."

Definitions and Other

(Writ of Habeas Corpus) "By way of background, the writ of habeas corpus is a venerable legal procedure that allows a prisoner to get a hearing before an impartial judge. If the jailer is able to supply a valid legal basis for the arrest and imprisonment at the hearing, the judge will simply order the prisoner to be returned to jail. But if the judge discovers that the imprisonment is illegal, he has the power to set the prisoner free. For that reason, the Framers of the American Constitution routinely referred to this legal procedure as the 'Great Writ' because it was considered one of the great safeguards of individual liberty."

(Jails) "Jails, which are also primarily local in nature, detain not only persons arrested for local offenses, but also virtually all persons charged and awaiting trial under State law. Local jails may also house Federal detainees and State 'prison-ready' inmates — convicted and sentenced persons whose transfer to State prison is delayed by overcrowding or other reasons. In most such cases, State or Federal governments pay fees to the local communities that house these prisoners."

(Probation) “Probation is a court-ordered period of correctional supervision in the community, generally as an alternative to incarceration. In some cases, probation can be a combined sentence of incarceration followed by a period of community supervision.”

(Parole) “Parole is a period of conditional supervised release in the community following a prison term. It includes parolees released through discretionary or mandatory supervised release from prison, those released through other types of post-custody conditional supervision, and those sentenced to a term of supervised release.”

(Pretrial Detention) "Pretrial detention is associated with a higher likelihood of both being found guilty³⁵ and receiving a sentence of incarceration over probation,³⁶ thus forcing a person further into the criminal justice system. In the United States, this is particularly important because of the sheer numbers: with 20 percent of the total number of people incarcerated being pretrial, that means nearly 500,000 people each year are more likely to be found guilty and sentenced to incarceration, thus significantly adding to the total number of people in prison."

(Detention Until Trial) "In the U.S., when a person is charged with an offense they may be detained in jail until their trial or they may be released to await their trial in the community through a variety of mechanisms which will be discussed later. In many other nations, people are said to be “remanded,” which is a summons to appear before a judge at a later date. If they are not released pretrial they can be “remanded to custody” until their court proceeding; if they are convicted, they can be remanded to custody prior to sentencing or during an appeal process."

^{• Violent Offense Categories: Homicide, Robbery, Other Violent
• Property Offense Categories: Burglary, Fraud, Other Property
• Public Order Offense Categories: Immigration, Weapons, Other Public Order}

Data Tables

^{* "Non-secure, privately operated community corrections centers."
Notes from Correctional Population 2010 report:
"Data may not be comparable to previously published BJS reports because of updates and changes in
reference dates. Total includes all inmates held in state or federal prison facilities or in local jails. It does not include inmates held in U.S. territories, military facilities, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, jails in Indian country, and juvenile facilities."
"Community supervision data collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) were reported by probation and parole agencies that supervise adults. In these data, adults are defined as persons under the authority of an adult court or correctional agency. Persons under age 18 who are prosecuted as an adult in a criminal court are considered adults and are included in these probation and parole populations, but persons under age 18 who were under the authority of a juvenile court or agency are excluded.
"Jails are confinement facilities, usually administered by a local law enforcement agency, that are intended to hold adults. Local jails may also hold inmates under age 18 before or after adjudication (7,560 in 2010), and these inmates are included in the jail population.1
"The state and federal custody prison data were reported by state departments of corrections and the Federal Bureau of prisons. (See text box on page 2 for discussion about the difference between the custody and jurisdiction prison populations.) In these data, adults are defined as prisoners who were serving time in a state or federal correctional facility or privately operated facility under state or federal authority after being sentenced as an adult in a criminal court. Prisoners under age 18 who were sentenced as an adult in a criminal court (2,295 in 2010) are considered adults and are included in the prison population.2 the prison custody population also includes persons under age 18 who were held (before or after adjudication) in correctional facilities in the six states with combined prison-jail systems."}

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