HELP US END MASS INCARCERATION The Prison Policy Initiative uses research, advocacy, and organizing to dismantle mass incarceration. We’ve been in this movement for 23 years, thanks to individual donors like you.

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Image charts the incarcerated populations in federal prisons, state prisons, and local jails from 1925 to 2020. The state prison and jail populations grew exponentially in the 1980s and 1990s, and began to decline slowly after 2008, while federal prison populations show less change over time.

Data Source: Compiled from multiple Bureau of Justice Statistics data sets. See our blog post about the data. (Graph: Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner, 2022)

This graph originally appeared in Updated charts provide insights on racial disparities, correctional control, jail suicides, and more.

The original version of the charts showing how state policy drives mass incarceration was published in Tracking State Prison Growth in 50 States.

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