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The cost of incarceration

Prison gerrymandering

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Rhode Island has an incarceration rate of 289 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 Rhode Island and why.

2,500 people from Rhode Island are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in Rhode Island is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 19,000 different people are booked into local jails in Rhode Island.

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these Rhode Island graphs:

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

Today, Rhode Island’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

Rhode Island's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons

The high cost of being incarcerated in Rhode Island

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

• Jails in Rhode Island charge up to $1.35 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge 45¢ for a 15-minute call.
• Rhode Island suspended its $3 medical copays in prisons at the beginning of the pandemic. It should eliminate them permanently.
• Rhode Island prisons and Access Corrections don’t report data on fees to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
• People in Rhode Island prisons must pay for hygiene items and other basics unless they are involuntarily unemployed and have less than $10 in their account.
• People in Rhode Island prisons earn as little as 29¢ an hour for their work.
• Rhode Island does not offer e-messaging in prisons.

Prison-based gerrymandering in Rhode Island

• Ending prison gerrymandering in Rhode Island campaign and resource page
• In 2021, Rhode Island's redistricting commission partially ended prison gerrymandering in the state.
• Why end prison gerrymandering? Rhode Island Judiciary Committee hears testimony
• Rhode Island Senate votes to end prison gerrymandering
• New filings in Cranston prison gerrymandering lawsuit
• Case page for Davidson vs. City of Cranston, a lawsuit against prison gerrymandering in Cranston's municipal districts
• Blog roundup: Fighting prison gerrymandering in Cranston, RI
• Residents and Advocates Sue City of Cranston Over Redistricting Plan That Counts Incarcerated Population as Residents by PPI, February 19, 2014

Our other articles about Rhode Island

• People on parole in Rhode Island can be sent back to prison for "associating" with anyone else on supervision — even loved ones who are trying to support them
• The parole board in Rhode Island is releasing 38% fewer people and holding 15% fewer hearings since the pandemic started
• Report: Where people in prison come from: The geography of mass incarceration in Rhode Island
• Rhode Island’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 14% of people in Rhode Island prisons are over the age of 55. Why is the state keeping so many older people locked up?
• Prisons in Northeastern states, like Rhode Island, have seen the greatest increase in deaths during heatwaves.
• Rhode Island makes it difficult or even risky for incarcerated journalists to tell their stories.
• Bail companies in Rhode Island have a track record of avoiding accountability, our report All Profit, No Risk and review of state-by-state evidence show
• Rhode Island prisons release about 720 people every year
• Rhode Island has granted zero commutations to incarcerated people in recent years, including during COVID-19
• Rhode Island hinders jury diversity by excluding people with felony records until they complete probation and parole sentences
• State prison systems could learn from Rhode Island and do much more to prevent opioid overdose deaths among people leaving prison
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states — Rhode Island gets an F
• Who's helping the 326 women released from Rhode Island correctional facilities each year?

Other resources

• Research on Rhode Island in our Research Library

Data on COVID-19 in Rhode Island jails and prisons

We gave Rhode Island a failing grade in September 2021 for its response to the coronavirus in prisons, noting that Rhode Island failed to utilize one of the most obvious, and easiest, tools for reducing the prison population — stopping prison admissions for technical violations of probation and parole (which are not crimes).

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

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