{"id":9930,"date":"2020-05-14T12:36:17","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T16:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/?p=9930"},"modified":"2024-04-09T19:37:52","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T23:37:52","slug":"jails-vs-prison-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/2020\/05\/14\/jails-vs-prison-update\/","title":{"rendered":"While jails drastically cut populations, state prisons have released almost no one"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was updated on October 21st, 2021<\/a> with more recent jail and prison population data. That version<\/a> should be used instead of this one.<\/p>\n

In the last two months, local governments across the U.S. have drastically reduced their jail populations to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The typical jail has reduced its population by more than 30%. But state prisons — where social distancing is just as impossible as in jails, and correctional staff still move in and out every day — have been much slower to release incarcerated people: The typical prison system has reduced its population by only 5%. Below, we compare the population cuts in local jails to those in state prisons, discussing just how little states are doing to keep their residents (and the general public) safe. (And note, our use of the term \u201creduction\u201d is a purposeful distinction from \u201crelease,\u201d as we have found that there are multiple mechanisms<\/a> impacting populations, of which releases are but one part.)<\/p>\n

\n\"graph\n<\/picture> While jails continue to make quick changes in the face of the pandemic, they house only 1\/3rd of the incarcerated population<\/a>, while the other two-thirds are held by state and federal authorities, who are moving far too slowly. After North Dakota, the six states with the largest reductions share an important quirk: they are all small state prison systems that serve as both prisons and jails<\/a>. For that reason, much of their reduction could be the result of drops in the jail portion of their populations and it is possible that the reduction of their sentenced prison population may be much smaller. The one exception is Connecticut, which after the previous version of this report sent us data<\/a> showing that their pretrial population decreased 10% and their sentenced population decreased by 11% from March 1st to April 29. (For detailed data on 131 large jails, see Table 1<\/a> below and for the data on more than 600 jails see our appendix<\/a>, and for the smaller changes in 41 state prison systems and the federal Bureau of Prisons, see Table 2<\/a> below.)<\/p>\n

The strategies jails are using to reduce their populations vary by location, but they add up to big changes. In some counties, police are issuing citations in lieu of arrests, prosecutors are declining to charge people for “low-level offenses,” courts are reducing the amounts of cash bail, and jail administrators are releasing people detained pretrial or those serving short sentences for “nonviolent offenses.” (We’re tracking news stories and official announcements of the most important changes in the country on our virus response page<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n