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Alabama has an incarceration rate of 938 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than any democracy on earth. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in Alabama and why.

46,000 people from Alabama are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in Alabama is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 90,000 different people are booked into local jails in Alabama.

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these Alabama graphs:

• total numbers rather than rates.
• Women’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population
• Men’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population

Today, Alabama’s incarceration rates stand out internationally

In the U.S., incarceration extends beyond prisons and local jails to include other systems of confinement. The U.S. and state incarceration rates in this graph include people held by these other parts of the justice system, so they may be slightly higher than the commonly reported incarceration rates that only include prisons and jails. Details on the data are available in States of Incarceration: The Global Context. We also have a version of this graph focusing on the incarceration of women.

People of color are overrepresented in prisons and jails

See also our detailed graphs about Whites and Blacks in Alabama prisons and jails.

Alabama's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails

The high cost of being incarcerated in Alabama

Prisons and jails in Alabama are increasingly shifting the cost of incarceration to people behind bars and their families, hiding the true economic costs of mass incarceration:

• Jails in Alabama charge up to $3.75 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge 75¢ for a 15-minute call.
• Alabama prisons charge people $4 to see a healthcare provider.
• Alabama prisons charge families up to a 15% fee to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
• If a person in Alabama prisons has more than $15 in their commissary. account they may not qualify for assistance to purchase essentials like hygiene items and postage.
• People in Alabama prisons sometimes earn nothing for their work.

Our other articles about Alabama

• Bail companies in Alabama have a track record of avoiding accountability, our report All Profit, No Risk and review of state-by-state evidence show
• Alabama prisons release about 12,920 people every year
• Alabama hinders jury diversity by excluding people with certain felony records
• Cruel and unusual punishment: When Alabama prisons don't provide air conditioning
• How much do incarcerated people in Alabama earn for their work in prison?
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - Alabama gets an F
• Alabama is 1 of only 8 states still suspending driver's licenses for drug offenses unrelated to driving
• Who's helping the 41,753 women released from Alabama correctional facilities each year?

Data on COVID-19 in Alabama jails and prisons

We gave Alabama a failing grade in September 2021 for its response to the coronavirus in prisons, noting that:

• Alabama is the only state for which we were unable to find evidence of the Department of Correction providing free masks to incarcerated people.
• Alabama released fewer people on parole in 2020 than they had in 2019, and approved a smaller percent of parole applications.

For more detail, see our report States of Emergency. Or check out these other resources:

• How many COVID-19 cases in Alabama communities can be linked to outbreaks in correctional facilities? (data from our report Mass Incarceration, COVID-19, and Community Spread)

Other resources

• Research on Alabama in our Research Library