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Texas has an incarceration rate of 840 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 any democracy on earth. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in Texas and why.

219,000 people from Texas are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in Texas is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 505,000 different people are booked into local jails in Texas.

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these Texas graphs:

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

Today, Texas’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 and Blacks in Texas prisons and jails.

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

The high cost of being incarcerated in Texas

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

• Jails in Texas charge up to $11.25 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge 90¢ for a 15-minute phone call.
• Texas suspended medical copays in prisons at the beginning of the pandemic, but now charges incarcerated people $13.55 to access medical care.
• We do not know how much Texas prisons charge for money transfers — one of the only states we don't have data on.
• The poorest people in Texas prisons get some items for free — but they have to pay the state back.
• People in Texas prisons are not paid for their work.
• Texas prisons, we've got some questions about your commissary vendors.
• Texas charges up to 47¢ for an e-message to or from prison; Among the highest rates in the nation.

Our other articles about Texas

• Texas 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
• What does successful bail reform look like? To start, look to Harris County, Texas.
• Harris County Jail has a jail-based polling location that enables people detained at the facility to cast ballots in elections.
• Bail companies in Texas have a track record of avoiding accountability, our report All Profit, No Risk and review of state-by-state evidence show
• Texas prisons release about 78,119 people every year
• How the end of Roe v. Wade will impact the 110,704 women on probation and parole in Texas
• In some Texas prisons, incarcerated people are forced to drink and breathe contaminants
• Texas hinders jury diversity by excluding people with felony records and some prior misdemeanors
• Cruel and unusual punishment: When Texas prisons don't provide air conditioning
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - Texas gets an F
• Texas is 1 of only 8 states still suspending driver's licenses for drug offenses unrelated to driving
• Who's helping the 157,883 women released from Texas correctional facilities each year?
• How Texas has reformed its juvenile justice system (from our report Youth Confinement: The Whole Pie)
• How bail systems in Texas hurt women
• Explaining Texas’ overnight prison boom

Protecting family contact in Texas prisons and jails

Travis County, Texas: A case study on video visitation

Victory: In-person visits return to jails in Travis County, Texas!

In-person family visits will return to Austin, Texas

Dallas County approves video visitation contract

Dallas County rejects Securus video visitation contract

Prison-based gerrymandering in Texas

Texas counties favor fairness and common sense over prison gerrymandering

Avoiding prison gerrymandering is often a matter of common sense: Texas and Louisiana research update

Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Texas

Data on COVID-19 in Texas jails and prisons

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

• Texas is one of 13 states that did not explicitly mention incarcerated people in their vaccination rollout plan, and is one of 15 prison systems that has not yet vaccinated more than 60% of the incarcerated population.
• Texas is one of 13 states that did not implement any policies to accelerate releases, promote medical parole or compassionate release, prevent incarceration for technical violations of probation and parole, or hasten releases for people incarcerated on minor offenses.

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

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

Other resources

• Research on Texas in our Research Library