Pennsylvania profile   

96,000 people from Pennsylvania are behind bars today

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these Pennsylvania graphs:

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

Today, Pennsylvania’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 Pennsylvania prisons and jails.

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

Our other articles about Pennsylvania

• Prison Policy Initiative research displayed outside of Philadelphia City Hall by Peter Wagner, October 30, 2015
• FCC caps cost of phone calls to prison inmates, by Andrew McGill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 10, 2013
• Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Pennsylvania, by Peter Wagner and Elena Lavarreda, June 26, 2009
• Report: Census Prisoner Count Dilutes Urban Political Clout By Amaris Elliott-Engel, The Legal Intelligencer, June 26, 2009
• In Memory of Jon E. Yount (1938 - 2012), by Peter Wagner, May 22, 2012

Other resources

• Research on Pennsylvania in our Research Library