North Carolina profile
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.
57,000 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
- 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
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
The high cost of being incarcerated in North Carolina
Prisons and jails in North Carolina are increasingly shifting the cost of incarceration to people behind bars and their families, hiding the true economic costs of mass incarceration:
- Jails in North Carolina charge up to $3.15 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge $1.50 for a 15-minute call.
- North Carolina suspended its $5 medical copays in prisons at the beginning of the pandemic for flu related medical visits — it should eliminate them entirely.
- North Carolina prisons charge families up to a 17% fee to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
- People in North Carolina prisons must pay for hygiene items and other basics — unless they have no money to afford these products.
- People in North Carolina prisons earn as little as 5¢ an hour for their work.
Our other articles about North Carolina
- North Carolina prisons are replacing incarcerated people's personal mail with scans, stifling family contact
- Bail companies in North Carolina have a track record of avoiding accountability, our report All Profit, No Risk and review of state-by-state evidence show
- North Carolina prisons release about 17,106 people every year
- 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?
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:
- 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)
Other resources
- Research on North Carolina in our Research Library
