Site Network:Prison Policy Initiative|Prisoners of the Census

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 (2003) by Peter Wagner, published by the Western Prison Project and the Prison Policy Initiative..