American prison population surpasses 2 million

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April 2003

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American prison population surpasses 2 million,
the highest incarceration rate in the world
For the first time in history, the number of inmates in American prisons and jails has exceeded 2 million. As of June 30, 2002, there were 1.35 million prisoners in State and Federal prisons and an additional 665, 475 in local jails, according to a new report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. This represents an increase of nearly 2 percent over the first six months of 2002.

The rate of incarceration in the United States, 702 inmates per 100,000 residents, continues to be the highest in the world. Among black males 25 to 29, 12.9 percent were in prison or jail. Overall, 4.8 percent of black males were in prison or jails, compared to 1.7 percent of Hispanics and 0.6 percent of whites. Black women in prisons and jails continue to outnumber their white (5 times as many) and Hispanic (more than twice as many) counterparts.

According to criminal justice analysts, the Bureau's report demonstrates state and federal policies continue to drive up incarceration rates despite sharp drops in violent crime rates since 1994 and efforts by many state governors and legislators from both political parties to reduce swollen prison populations and corrections budgets during an economic downturn. "The relentless increases in prison and jail populations can best be explained as the legacy of an entrenched infrastructure of punishment that has been embedded in the criminal justice system over the last 30 years," says Malcolm C. Young, Executive Director of The Sentencing Project, a non-profit organization which promotes greater use of alternatives to prison and more effective methods of reducing crime.

Drug offenses account for nearly 60 percent of the federal prison population and more than 20 percent of the state inmate population. Despite harsh mandatory minimum laws that send many low-level drug offenders to prison, drug use as evidenced by survey information and emergency room admissions remains flat. The numbers contained in the Bureau's report demonstrate the role of policy over actual crime trends in determining incarceration.

· State prison populations increased only 1 percent in the year ending June 30, 2002, following an ever lower increase of 0.3 percent in the previous year. In this time period, nearly half the states adopted various strategies to reduce corrections costs by lowering the number of people imprisoned. The largest reported declines in prison populations occurred in states such as Texas and California, which changed parole policies to allow the release of thousands of inmates.

· In comparison, jail inmate populations grew by 5.4 percent, outstripping the annual average increase of 4.3 percent since 1995. Jails are locally controlled and less subject to state-wide policy changes.

· And, the federal prison population grew 2.8 percent, a little less than the average growth of 3.8 percent since 1995, and due in part to an influx of inmates from the closed prison system for the District of Columbia. Federal policymakers, who are far removed from the budgetary constraints that affect their state counterparts, have shown little interest in reducing the federal inmate population.

· Violent crime, which is of most concern to people on the street, has fallen to its lowest levels since 1974, when data was first collected nationally. This reduction in numbers of offenders has yet to show itself in rates of incarceration. Experts believe that policy decisions which have increased the length of sentences for both violent and non-violent offenders has more than compensated for the smaller number of offenders.

Among the two million inmates are nearly 10,000 youths who are incarcerated in adult jails and prisons, marking the influence of laws that make prosecution of children in adult court far easier than at any time in the nation's history.

For more information:
The Bureau of Justice Statistics
BOJS' statistics on drugs and crime.

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