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North Carolina has an incarceration rate of 617 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 North Carolina and why.

Jump to COVID-19 data.

67,000 people from North Carolina are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in North Carolina is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 128,000 different people are booked into local jails in North Carolina.

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these North Carolina graphs:

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

Today, North Carolina’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 North Carolina prisons and jails.

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

Data on COVID-19 in North Carolina jails and prisons

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

• North Carolina is one of only 8 state prison systems that did not offer free phone calls at any point during the pandemic.
• North Carolina 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:

• Our Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic page tracks criminal justice policy responses to the coronavirus all 50 states
• As of late April, only 49% of corrections staff in North Carolina prisons had gotten the COVID-19 vaccine
• How crowded are North Carolina prisons, as of December 2020?
• How many COVID-19 cases in North Carolina communities can be linked to outbreaks in correctional facilities? (data from our report Mass Incarceration, COVID-19, and Community Spread)
• We're tracking North Carolina's medical copay policies in prisons during the pandemic
• State prison and jail population data for May, August, September, and December 2020 (data availability varies by state)

Our other articles about North Carolina

• North Carolina 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 - North Carolina gets an F-
• The Harm of Prison Gerrymandering, Or is Bernie Madoff Really a Resident of Granville County School Board District 3?
• North Carolina prison construction September 2003

Other resources

• Research on North Carolina in our Research Library