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Prison gerrymandering

New York has an incarceration rate of 376 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 New York and why.

59,000 people from New York are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in New York is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 267,000 different people are booked into local jails in New York.

Using 2020 census data, we looked at where people in New York prisons come from. We found they come from all corners of the state, but disproportionately Upstate and traditionally under-resourced communities.

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these New York graphs:

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

Today, New York’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 York's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails

The high cost of being incarcerated in New York

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

• How New York prisons force people to pay for their own incarceration
• Jails in New York charge up to $9.90 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge 60¢ for a 15-minute phone call.
• New York is one of just a handful of states that do not charge people in prison copays for medical care.
• New York prisons charge families up to a 20% fee to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
• New York's policy on resources for the poorest people in prisons lacks important information.
• People in New York prisons earn as little as 10¢ an hour for their work.
• The hidden costs in New York's "no-cost" prison tablet contract
• New York charges up to 20¢ for an e-message to or from prison.

Our other articles about New York

• People on parole in New York can be sent back to prison for "associating" with anyone who has a felony or misdemeanor conviction — even loved ones who are trying to support them
• The parole board in New York is releasing 46% fewer people and holding 36% fewer hearings since the pandemic started
• “Housing First” programs, like NYC FUSE, have been shown to reduce the likelihood of future criminal justice system involvement for participants. More places should adopt this type of housing program.
• The cost of incarcerating older people is incredibly high, and their risk of reincarceration is incredibly low, yet 13% of people in New York prisons are over the age of 55. Why is the state keeping so many older people locked up?
• Prisons in Northeastern states, like New York, have seen the greatest increase in deaths during heatwaves.
• Data from New York and other jurisdictions shows: Releasing people pretrial doesn't harm public safety
• New York makes it difficult or even risky for incarcerated journalists to tell their stories.
• New York 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 York passed a caregiver proximity law requiring that a primary caregiver is incarcerated in a facility as close as possible to where their child(ren) reside.
• Report: Where people in prison come from: The geography of mass incarceration in New York
• In some New York prisons, incarcerated people are forced to drink and breathe contaminants
• Bail companies in New York have a track record of avoiding accountability, our report All Profit, No Risk and review of state-by-state evidence show
• New York prisons are replacing incarcerated people's personal mail with scans, stifling family contact
• New York prisons release about 20,791 people every year
• New York granted extremely few commutations to incarcerated people in recent years, even during COVID-19
• New York hurts jury diversity by excluding people with felony records
• What New York's "Stop-and-Frisk" Policy Really Means: Discrimination and Use of Force
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - New York gets a D-
• Who's helping the 29,792 women released from New York correctional facilities each year?
• New York State's elderly prison boom: An update
• New York City to make all calls from jail free
• New study examines gender and jail in New York City
• Analysis shows people in NYC jails would be better served in the community

Other resources

• Research on New York in our Research Library

Data on COVID-19 in New York jails and prisons

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

• New York released fewer people on parole in 2020 than they had in 2019, and approved a smaller percent of parole applications.
• New York was one of 15 prison systems that — as of September 2021 — had not yet vaccinated more than 60% of the incarcerated population.

For more detail, see our September 2021 report States of Emergency.

More resources about New York prisons and COVID-19:

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