New Hampshire has an incarceration rate of 278 (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than almost any democratic country on earth. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in New Hampshire and why.
4,200 people from New Hampshire are behind bars
Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in New Hampshire is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 25,000 different people are booked into local jails in New Hampshire.
Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years
Today, New Hampshire’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
New Hampshire's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails
Reports and briefings about New Hampshire's criminal legal system:
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Prisons in New Hampshire have tablets, but they may be being used to restrict incarcerated people’s access to books and sap them of the little money they have.
People on parole in New Hampshire can be sent back to prison for "associating" with anyone who has a felony conviction — even loved ones who are trying to support them
Black people in New Hampshire are incarcerated at a rate 5.7 times higher than white people.
New Hampshire is one of 20 states that locks up some people convicted of sex offenses in shadowy "civil commitment" facilities, long after their sentences are over — and often indefinitely.
New Hampshire suspended its $3 medical copays in prisons at the beginning of the pandemic for flu related medical visits — but should eliminate them completely.