Data Source: New York DOCS "Profile of Inmates Under Custody" series. (Graph: Rachel Gandy, 2015)

This graph originally appeared in What’s behind New York State’s elderly prison boom?.

The number of people sent to prison each year has been trending downward for all ages under 50 since at least 2007, and the number of people under age 40 sent to prison each year has been declining since the beginning of our data. To be sure, the number of people sent to prison in their 50s and 60s has been increasing, but the rate of growth is miniscule compared to the rapid growth seen in the incarcerated populations of these age groups in the previous graph.