New York profile
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.
91,000 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
See also our detailed graphs about Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks in New York prisons and jails.
New York's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails
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:
- Our Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic page tracks criminal justice policy responses to the coronavirus in all 50 states
- State prison and jail population data for February 2022. (Previous data is available for October 2021, June 2021, February 2021, December 2020, September 2020, August 2020, and May 2020.) Data availability varies by state.
- Prisons are COVID-19 hotspots, but as of mid-May 2021, only 27% of people in New York prisons had gotten a vaccine
- As of late April 2021, only 39% of corrections staff in New York prisons had gotten the COVID-19 vaccine
- New York released fewer people on parole in 2020 than in 2019
- 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)
- We found that almost two months into the pandemic, NYC jails were still full of people held for noncriminal "technical violations"
Our other articles about New York
- New York granted extremely few commutations to incarcerated people in recent years, even during COVID-19
- In some New York prisons, incarcerated people are forced to drink and breathe contaminants
- New York is one of just a handful of states that do not charge incarcerated people copays for medical care.
- How New York prisons force people to pay for their own incarceration
- Fees for sending money to a loved one in a New York prison are unreasonably high
- New York hurts jury diversity by excluding people with felony records
- How much do incarcerated people in New York earn for their work in prison?
- 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?
- The hidden costs in New York's "no-cost" prison tablet contract
- New York State's elderly prison boom: An update
- New study examines gender and jail in New York City
- Analysis shows people in NYC jails would be better served in the community
- New York has some of the highest jail phone rates in the country
- New York City to make all calls from jail free
- New York prison system tells FCC meaningful prison phone regulation is possible
- Prison Gerrymandering Project New York Page
- Implementing Reform: How Maryland & New York Ended Prison Gerrymandering
- Voting equality still up for debate in Rome, NY
- Attica's lessons and the urgency of ending prison-based gerrymandering
Phantom constituents in the Empire State: How outdated Census Bureau methodology burdens New York counties
Most upstate counties with prisons agree: A prison cell is not a residence [PDF]
Actual Constituents: Students and Political Clout in New York
Too big to ignore: How counting people in prisons distorted Census 2000- Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in New York
Prison and jail phone calls in New York
Prison-based gerrymandering in New York
Other resources
- Research on New York in our Research Library
