New York profile   

88,000 people from New York are behind bars today

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

Our other articles about New York

• Analysis shows people in NYC jails would be better served in the community by Bernadette Rabuy, November 16, 2016
• Stop and frisk dropping but still ineffective by Yoo Eun Kim, May 16, 2016
• Prison Gerrymandering Project New York Page
• What’s behind New York State's elderly prison boom?, by Rachel Gandy, June 29, 2015
• Implementing Reform: How Maryland & New York Ended Prison Gerrymandering by Bernadette Rabuy, August 20, 2014
• Voting equality still up for debate in Rome, NY, by Aleks Kajstura, June 23, 2014
• New York prison system tells FCC meaningful prison phone regulation is possible, by Leah Sakala, July 10, 2013
• Patting down the data on racial profiling in New York City, by Peter Wagner, Prison Law Blog, May 10, 2012
• Attica's lessons and the urgency of ending prison-based gerrymandering, by Peter Wagner and Rose Heyer, Prison Gerrymandering Blog, September 13, 2011
• An End to Prison Gerrymandering, New York Times editorial, August 23, 2010.
• Phantom constituents in the Empire State: How outdated Census Bureau methodology burdens New York counties By Peter Wagner, Meghan Rudy, Ellie Happel and William Goldberg July 18, 2007
• Most upstate counties with prisons agree: A prison cell is not a residence [PDF]by Peter Wagner, February 14, 2010
• Actual Constituents: Students and Political Clout in New York, by Peter Wagner, October 6, 2004
• Too big to ignore: How counting people in prisons distorted Census 2000, by Rose Heyer and Peter Wagner, April 2004
• Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in New York, by Peter Wagner, April 22, 2002

Other resources

• Research on New York in our Research Library