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Delaware has an incarceration rate of 631 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 Delaware and why.

5,400 people from Delaware are behind bars

Using 2020 census data, we looked at where people in Delaware 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 Delaware graphs:

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

Today, Delaware’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 Delaware prisons.

Delaware's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons

The high cost of being incarcerated in Delaware

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

• Prisons in Delaware charge up to 60¢ for a 15-minute phone call.
• During the pandemic, Delaware suspended medical copays for incarcerated people seeking treatment for COVID-like symptoms. It should end these copays completely.
• Delaware is among the few states that do not charge families to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
• If a person in a Delaware prison has an average balance of more than $10 in their commissary account they likely will not qualify for assistance to purchase essentials like hygiene items and postage — but they'll likely have to repay the state if they do receive help.
• People in Delaware prisons earn as little as 25¢ an hour for their work.
• The hidden costs in Delaware's "no-cost" prison tablet contract
• Delaware charges up to 25¢ for an e-message to or from prison.

Our other articles about Delaware

• Delaware's choice to criminalize "failure to appear" may be hurting public safety
• The cost of incarcerating older people is incredibly high, and their risk of reincarceration is incredibly low, yet 15% of people in Delaware prisons are over the age of 55. Why is the state keeping so many older people locked up?
• Delaware makes it difficult or even risky for incarcerated journalists to tell their stories.
• Some Delaware prisons are replacing incarcerated people's personal mail with scans, stifling family contact
• Delaware prisons release about 2,269 people every year
• Report: Where people in prison come from: The geography of mass incarceration in Delaware
• Delaware hurts jury diversity by excluding people with felony records
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - Delaware gets an F-
• Who's helping the 1,749 women released from Delaware correctional facilities each year?

Other resources

• Research on Delaware in our Research Library

Data on COVID-19 in Delaware jails and prisons

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

• Delaware is one of 15 prison systems that does not have a policy making hand sanitizer widely available or providing free hygiene products — like soap — to incarcerated people.
• Delaware failed to utilize one of the most obvious, and easiest, tools for reducing the prison population — stopping prison admissions for technical violations of probation and parole (which are not crimes).

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

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