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Nevada has an incarceration rate of 713 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 any democracy on earth. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in Nevada and why.

20,000 people from Nevada are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in Nevada is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 38,000 different people are booked into local jails in Nevada.

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

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

Today, Nevada’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

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

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The high cost of being incarcerated in Nevada

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

• Jails in Nevada charge up to $3.15 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge $1.65 for a 15-minute call.
• Nevada did not suspend its $8 medical copays in prisons — even during a pandemic.
• Nevada prisons charge families up to a 35% fee to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
• People in Nevada prisons must pay for hygiene items and other basics even if they can't afford them.
• People in Nevada prisons earn as little as 25¢ an hour for their work.
• Nevada charges up to 30¢ for an e-message to or from prison; above the national average.
• Nevada charges up to 30¢ for an e-message to or from prison, above the national average.

Our other articles about Nevada

• People on parole in Nevada can be sent back to prison for "associating" with anyone who has a felony conviction — even loved ones who are trying to support them
• The parole board in Nevada is releasing 33% fewer people and holding 34% fewer hearings since the pandemic started
• Nevada'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 13% of people in Nevada prisons are over the age of 55. Why is the state keeping so many older people locked up?
• Nevada makes it difficult or even risky for incarcerated journalists to tell their stories.
• Report: Where people in prison come from: The geography of mass incarceration in Nevada
• Nevada prisons release about 6,646 people every year
• Nevada hurts jury diversity by excluding people with felony records
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - Nevada gets a D
• Who's helping the 35,190 women released from Nevada correctional facilities each year?
• In 2019, Nevada passed a law ending prison gerrymandering in the state
• More on prison gerrymandering in Nevada

Other resources

• Research on Nevada in our Research Library

Data on COVID-19 in Nevada jails and prisons

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

• Nevada released fewer people on parole in 2020 than they had in 2019.
• Nevada is one of 13 states that did not implement any policies to accelerate releases, promote medical parole or compassionate release, prevent incarceration for technical violations of probation and parole, or hasten releases for people incarcerated on minor offenses.

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

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