Section II: Incarceration & Its Consequences

Penal Control in the U.S.

• Number of adults on probation, 2001236: 3,932,751
• Number of adults on parole, 2001237: 732,351
• Total population under control of the penal system (prison, jail, probation and parole) in 2001238: 6,594,000
• Population of the United States, 2001239: 285,317,559
• Probability of a U.S. resident being under some form of penal control240: 1 in 43
• Number in 1980, per 100,000 U.S. population, under some form of penal control241: 812
• Number in 2000, per 100,000 U.S. population, under some form of penal control242: 2,298
• Number in 1950, per 100,000 Soviet population, imprisoned in Stalin's gulags243: 1,423

Incarceration in the U.S.

• Number of people in U.S. prisons and jails, 2001244: 1,965,495
• Number of prisoners in U.S. federal prisons, 2001245: 140,741
• Number of prisoners in U.S. state prisons, 2001246: 1,187,322
• Number of inmates in local jails, 2001247: 631,240

• Average annual percent growth, U.S. population, 1990-2000248: 1.24%
• Average annual percent growth, U.S. incarcerated population, 1990-2000249: 5.35%
• Average annual percent growth, U.S. federal prison population, 1990-2000250: 8.6%

• Number of prisoners per 100,000 population, 1925251: 79
• Number of prisoners per 100,000 population, 1980252: 139
• Number of prisoners per 100,000 population, 2000253: 478
• Number of prisoners and jail inmates per 100,000 population, 2000254: 699

Federal Prisons

• Number of federal prisoners, 1970255: 21,266
• Percent of federal prisoners that are incarcerated for a drug offense, 1970256: 16.3%
• Number of federal prisoners, 2001257: 125,904
• Percent of federal prisoners that are incarcerated for a drug offense, 2001258: 56.3%
• Average annual growth in federal prison population, 1995-2001259: 8.6%
• Number of prisoners the federal Bureau of Prisons is planning to hold in 2009260: 211,516

This page is an excerpt from The Prison Index: Taking the Pulse of the Crime Control Industry (April 2003) by Peter Wagner, published by the Western Prison Project and the Prison Policy Initiative.

Footnotes

236 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Probation and Parole in the United States, 2001, p. 1.

237 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Probation and Parole in the United States, 2001, p. 1.

238 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Probation and Parole in the United States, 2001, p. 1.

239 Census Bureau Estimate for July 1, 2001, census.gov.

240 Calculation from the above.

241 Calculated from Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2000, Table 6.1 and Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2001, The National Data Book, Table 1.

242 Calculation from the above.

243 Nils Christie, Crime Control as Industry, 2000 ed, p. 30.

244 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Mid-Year 2001, revised 5/10/02 Table 1.

245 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Mid-Year 2001, revised 5/10/02 Table 1.

246 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Mid-Year 2001, revised 5/10/02 Table 1.

247 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Mid-Year 2001, revised 5/10/02 Table 1.

248 Calculation, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2001, The National Data Book, Table 1.

249 Calculation, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Mid-Year 2001, revised 5/10/02 Table 1.

250 Calculation based on Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Mid-Year 2001, revised 5/10/02 Table 1.

251 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2000, Table 6.27

252 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2000, Table 6.27.

253 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2000, Table 6.27.

254 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2000, Table 6.18.

255 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2000, Table 6.51.

256 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2000, Table 6.51.

257 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2000, Table 6.51.

258 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2000, Table 6.51.

259 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Mid-year 2001, p. 2.

260 UNICOR Annual Report 2001, p. 13.