People held in custody in the US in State or Federal Prisons or in Local Jails, by Type of Facility
  Year
2000 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Total Number of People in Custodya,b 1,938,500 2,293,157 2,308,390 2,291,912 2,266,832 2,240,600 2,228,400 2,211,400 2,217,900 2,166,600 2,157,800 2,134,000 2,102,400 2,068,800 1,674,200 1,767,200
Federalb,c  
  Total 140,100 197,285 198,414 205,087 206,968 214,800 216,900 215,100 209,600 195,600 188,300 182,100 177,400 174,400 151,300 171,600
    Prisons 133,900 189,154 189,770 196,318 198,339 206,000 208,000 205,700 200,100 186,500 179,100 172,700 169,600 174,400 145,500 164,300
      Federal Facilities 124,500 165,975 165,252 171,000 173,138 176,200 176,500 173,800 169,500 160,700 154,200 154,600 151,500 147,000 123,500 135,000
      Privately Operated Facilities 9,400 23,179 24,518 25,318 25,201 29,800 31,500 31,900 30,500 25,800 24,900 18,100 18,200 19,600 22,100 29,300
    Community Corrections Centersd 6,100 8,131 8,644 8,769 8,629 8,800 8,900 9,300 9,500 9,200 9,200 9,500 7,700 7,800 5,700 7,300
State 1,177,200 1,315,291 1,324,420 1,319,391 1,310,800 1,290,200 1,267,000 1,265,200 1,264,800 1,243,500 1,228,800 1,206,700 1,186,700 1,159,900 973,800 959,300
  State Facilitiese 1,101,200 NA NA 1,224,145 1,216,700 1,197,800 1,170,200 1,173,000 1,173,100 1,152,200 1,134,700 1,112,800 1,096,000 1,071,300 901,500 884,100
  Privately Operated Facilities 76,100 NA NA 95,246 94,365 92,400 96,800 92,200 91,700 91,300 94,200 93,900 90,700 88,500 72,300 75,200
Local Jailsb 621,100 780,581 785,556 767,434 748,728 735,600 744,500 731,200 744,600 727,400 740,700 745,200 738,400 734,500 549,100 636,300
Incarceration Rateb,f 680 756 760 743 731 720 710 700 690 680 670 650 640 630 500 530
  Adult Incarceration Rateb,g 920 NA 1,000 981 962 940 920 910 900 870 860 840 830 810 650 680

Note: Custody counts in this table differ from jurisdiction counts in other tables and figures in this report. See Terms and definitions. Counts are rounded to the nearest 100 and include estimates for nonresponding jurisdictions. Estimates may have been revised based on updated reporting and may differ from previously published statistics. See Methodology. Rates are rounded to the nearest 10. Details may not to sum to totals due to rounding. Prison counts are for December 31, while jail counts are for the last weekday in June. See Methodology for sources of incarceration data. Significance testing was conducted for local jail estimates because counts are based on a sample of jails in the 2011, 2020, and 2021 Annual Survey of Jails. Other counts presented are based on a full census of the population. *Comparison year. Significance testing for local jail inmate data only. †Difference with comparison year is significant at the 95% confidence level. :Not calculated. aAll persons in the custody of state or federal prisons, privately operated facilities, or local jails. Excludes persons held in U.S. territories, military facilities, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, jails in Indian country (see table 10), or juvenile facilities. bThe count and rate estimates for the local jail and total incarceration populations obtain standard error terms from the Annual Survey of Jails in 2011–2018, 2020, and 2021. See appendix tables 2 and 3 for standard errors. cAfter 2001, responsibility for sentenced prisoners from the District of Columbia was transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. dNonsecure, privately operated community corrections centers. eExcludes prisoners held in local jails in Georgia for 2011, 2020, and 2021 to avoid double counting. fRates are based on the total number of persons in the custody of state or federal prisons, privately operated facilities, or local jails per 100,000 U.S. residents and were calculated using U.S. Census Bureau estimates of the U.S. resident population of persons of all ages for January 1 of the following year. gRates are based on the total number of persons in the custody of state or federal prisons, privately operated facilities, or local jails per 100,000 adult U.S. residents and were calculated using U.S. Census Bureau estimates of the U.S. resident population of persons age 18 or older for January 1 of the following year. An estimated 7,840 persons age 17 or younger were in the custody of state prisons or local jails in 2011; 2,650 in 2020; and 2,280 in 2021. The change for the jail population was calculated as the difference between the last weekday in June 2019 and the last weekday in June 2020.

Source

E. Ann Carson, PhD and Rich Kluckow, DSW. Correctional Populations in the United States, 2021 - Statistical Tables. February 2023. NCJ 305542. Bureau of Justice Statistics: Washington, DC.

Rich Kluckow, DSW and Zhen Zeng, PhD. Correctional Populations in the United States, 2020 - Statistical Tables. March 2022. NCJ 303184. Bureau of Justice Statistics: Washington, DC.

Todd D. Minton, Lauren G. Beatty, and Zhen Zeng, PhD. Correctional Populations in the United States, 2019 - Statistical Tables. July 2021. NCJ 300655. Bureau of Justice Statistics: Washington, DC.

Laura M. Maruschak and Todd D. Minton. Correctional Populations in the United States, 2017-2018. August 2020. NCJ252157. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Washington, DC. 

Danielle Kaeble and Mary Cowhig. Correctional Populations in the United States, 2016. April 2018. NCJ250374. Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. 

Danielle Kaeble and Lauren Glaze. Correctional Populations in the United States, 2015. December 2016. NCJ250374. Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. 

Danielle Kaeble, Lauren Glaze, Anastasios Tsoutis, and Todd Minton. Correctional Populations in the United States, 2014. December 2015, Revised January 21, 2016. NCJ249513. Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. 

Lauren E. Glaze and Danielle Kaeble. Correctional Populations in the United States, 2013. December 2014. NCJ248479. Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. 

Lauren E. Glaze and Erinn J. Herberman, PhD. Correctional Populations in the United States, 2012. Dec. 2013. NCJ243936. Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. 

Glaze, Lauren E. Correctional Population in the United States, 2010. Dec. 2011. NCJ236319. Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. 

Glaze, Lauren E. Correctional Population in the United States, 2009. Dec. 2010. NCJ 231681. Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. 

Heather C. West and William J. Sabol, PhD. Prisoners in 2007. Dec. 2008. NCJ224280. Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics.