Data Source: Prison Policy Initiative analysis of April 2025 ICE Detention Management and U.S. Marshals Prisoner Operations Division data. Note: State-operated facilities providing pretrial detention in Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Rhode Island, and Vermont are considered local. (Graph: Wendy Sawyer, 2025)
This graph originally appeared in Hiding in Plain Sight: How local jails obscure and facilitate mass deportation under Trump.
In 25 states and Washington D.C., local jails provided the only detention infrastructure available to federal agencies like ICE or the U.S. Marshals. In other states, jails are an essential part of the federal detention network alongside federal, state, or private detention facilities. In Arizona, less than 1% of people held for federal agencies are in local jails. Hawai’i and Delaware have no local jail involvement due to other available detention options in those locations.
Events
- February 25, 2026:
On February 25, 2026 at 1 p.m. EST, join the Prison Policy Initiative and guests James Kilgore and Mon Mohapatra to discuss ways to push back on “carceral humanist” reforms that don’t change the underlying dehumanization of the criminal legal system.
Register here
Not near you?
Invite us to your city, college or organization.