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California has an incarceration rate of 581 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 many wealthy democracies do. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in California and why.

Are you looking for information on what jails and prisons in California are doing to stop COVID-19? See our regularly-updated coronavirus response page.

241,000 people from California are behind bars

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

graphic comparing the incarceration rates of the founding NATO members with the incarceration rates of the United States and the state of California. The incarceration rate of 698 per 100,000 for the United States and 581 for California is much higher than any of the founding NATO members 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.