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California has an incarceration rate of 549 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 almost any democracy on earth. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in California and why.

239,000 people from California are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in California is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 368,000 different people are booked into local jails in California.

Using 2020 census data, we looked at where people in California prisons come from. We found mass incarceration harms all corners of the state.

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these California graphs:

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

Today, California’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, Hispanics, and Blacks in California prisons and jails.

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

The high cost of being incarcerated in California

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

• Jails in California charge up to $3.15 for a 15-minute phone call.
• California is one of just a handful of states that do not charge incarcerated people copays for medical care.
• California prisons charge families up to a 20% fee to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
• The poorest people in California prisons get some items for free — but they have to pay the state back.
• People in California prisons earn as little as 8¢ an hour for their work.

Our other articles about California

• Los Angeles County has a jail-based polling location that enables people detained at the facility to cast ballots in elections
• Bail companies in California have a track record of avoiding accountability, our report All Profit, No Risk and review of state-by-state evidence show
• California prisons release about 37,462 people every year
• Report: Where people in prison come from: The geography of mass incarceration in California
• In some California prisons, incarcerated people are forced to drink and breathe contaminants
• California hinders jury diversity by excluding people with felony records until they complete probation and parole sentences
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - California gets an F-
• Who's helping the 189,066 women released from California correctional facilities each year?
• Victory in California: RISE Act repeals sentencing enhancements
• Governor Brown signs prison anti-sterilization bill
• California’s budget secret: Prisoners form core of forest fire fighting army

Protecting family contact in California prisons and jails

• California legislators continue fighting for in-person jail visits
• Victory: Santa Barbara County scraps harmful jail letter ban policy
• New Youth CineMedia video documents Santa Barbara struggle to overturn jail letter ban
• Step one to reduce recidivism in Santa Barbara County: stop banning letters from home
• Victory: Santa Clara County sheriff scraps plan to ban letters from home

Prison-based gerrymandering in California

• California Senate passes bill to end prison-based gerrymandering
• Importing Constituents: Incarcerated People and Political Clout in California

Data on COVID-19 in California jails and prisons

We gave California a "C-" grade in September 2021 for its response to the coronavirus in prisons, noting that:

• Prison populations have dropped by almost 20% in California, but in June 2021, the state prison system was still holding more people than it was designed for, at 107% of their design capacity (and up from 103% in January 2021).
• Over half of all people in California prisons (52%) have tested positive for COVID-19.

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

• California was one of three states that saw more than 500 people die in its prisons in the first year of the COVID pandemic.
• How many COVID-19 cases in California communities can be linked to outbreaks in correctional facilities? (data from our report Mass Incarceration, COVID-19, and Community Spread)

Other resources

• Research on California in our Research Library