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36,000 people from Maryland are behind bars today

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these Maryland graphs:

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

Today, Maryland’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 Maryland prisons and jails.

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

Our other articles about Maryland

• Maryland proposes - and promptly withdraws - plan to ban letters to people incarcerated in the state’s prisons by Alison Walsh, July 20, 2016
• Letter to the Editor: Cecil County, MD, should cancel jail letter ban plan, by Leah Sakala, March 17, 2015
• New Study: Maryland taxpayers spend $288 million a year to incarcerate people from Baltimore City, by Justice Policy Institute, February 25, 2015
• The Right Investment? Corrections Spending in Baltimore City, by the Justice Policy Institute and the Prison Policy Initiative, February 2015
• Historic election for "one person, one vote" in Maryland, by Leah Sakala, October 31, 2014
• Implementing Reform: How Maryland & New York Ended Prison Gerrymandering, by Bernadette Rabuy, August 20, 2014
• Maryland law brings long-awaited racial justice to Somerset County, by Leah Sakala, August 16, 2012
• Supreme Court upholds Maryland law ending prison-based gerrymandering; Huge victory for fair representation, press release, June 25, 2012
• Rights groups rejoice in Somerset election change, by Liz Holland, Delmarva Daily Times, April 16, 2010
• Md. to count prisoners in their home towns, by Carol Morello, Washington Post, April 15, 2010
• Maryland enacts law to count incarcerated people at their home addresses, press release, April 13, 2010
• Importing Constituents: Incarcerated People and Political Clout in Maryland, by Peter Wagner and Avi Cummings, March 4, 2010

Other resources

• Research on Maryland in our Research Library