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Arizona has an incarceration rate of 868 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 Arizona and why.

52,000 people from Arizona are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in Arizona is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 117,000 different people are booked into local jails in Arizona.

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these Arizona graphs:

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

Today, Arizona’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

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

The high cost of being incarcerated in Arizona

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

• Jails in Arizona charge up to $3.15 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge up to $1.05 for a 15-minute phone call.
• Arizona suspended its $5 medical copays in prisons at the beginning of the pandemic, it should eliminate them completely.
• Arizona prisons charge families up to a 12% fee to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
• If a person in Arizona prisons has more than $12 in their commissary account they may not qualify for assistance to purchase essentials like hygiene items and postage.
• People in Arizona prisons earn as little as 15¢ an hour for their work.
• Arizona charges up to 25¢ for an e-message to or from prison.

Our other articles about Arizona

• People on parole in Arizona can be sent back to prison for "associating" with anyone else on supervision — even loved ones who are trying to support them
• The cost of incarcerating older people is incredibly high, and their risk of reincarceration is incredibly low, yet 11% of people in Arizona prisons are over the age of 55. Why is the state keeping so many older people locked up?
• Arizona makes it difficult or even risky for incarcerated journalists to tell their stories.
• Bail companies in Arizona have a track record of avoiding accountability, our report All Profit, No Risk and review of state-by-state evidence show
• Arizona prisons release about 12,933 people every year
• In some Arizona prisons, incarcerated people are forced to drink and breathe contaminants
• Arizona hurts jury diversity by excluding people with felony records
• Cruel and unusual punishment: When Arizona prisons don't provide air conditioning
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - Arizona gets an F-
• Who's helping the 48,869 women released from Arizona correctional facilities each year?
• Arizona is one of 20 states that locks up some people convicted of sex offenses in shadowy "civil commitment" facilities, long after their sentences are over — and often indefinitely
• Arizona's choice to criminalize "failure to appear" may be hurting public safety

Other resources

• Research on Arizona in our Research Library

Data on COVID-19 in Arizona jails and prisons

We gave Arizona a failing grade in September 2021 for its response to the coronavirus in prisons, noting that Arizona is one of 13 states that did not implement any policies to accelerate releases, promote medical parole or compassionate release, prevent incarceration for technical violations of probation and parole, or hasten releases for people incarcerated on minor offenses.

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

• How many COVID-19 cases in Arizona communities can be linked to outbreaks in correctional facilities? (data from our report Mass Incarceration, COVID-19, and Community Spread)
• Arizona returned as many people to prison for technical violations of probation or parole in 2020 — the first year of the pandemic — as it did in 2019.