Prisons, Jails & Probation - Overview

(prisons & jails - writ of habeas corpus) "By way of background, the writ of habeas corpus is a venerable legal procedure that allows a prisoner to get a hearing before an impartial judge. If the jailer is able to supply a valid legal basis for the arrest and imprisonment at the hearing, the judge will simply order the prisoner to be returned to jail. But if the judge discovers that the imprisonment is illegal, he has the power to set the prisoner free. For that reason, the Framers of the American Constitution routinely referred to this legal procedure as the “Great Writ” because it was considered one of the great safeguards of individual liberty."

(prisons & jails - detention until trial) "In the U.S., when a person is charged with an offense they may be detained in jail until their trial or they may be released to await their trial in the community through a variety of mechanisms which will be discussed later. In many other nations, people are said to be “remanded,” which is a summons to appear before a judge at a later date. If they are not released pretrial they can be “remanded to custody” until their court proceeding; if they are convicted, they can be remanded to custody prior to sentencing or during an appeal process."

(prisons & jails - pretrial detention) "Pretrial detention is associated with a higher likelihood of both being found guilty³⁵ and receiving a sentence of incarceration over probation,³⁶ thus forcing a person further into the criminal justice system. In the United States, this is particularly important because of the sheer numbers: with 20 percent of the total number of people incarcerated being pretrial, that means nearly 500,000 people each year are more likely to be found guilty and sentenced to incarceration, thus significantly adding to the total number of people in prison."

(prisons & jails - parole - definition) “Parole is a period of conditional supervised release in the community following a prison term. It includes parolees released through discretionary or mandatory supervised release from prison, those released through other types of post-custody conditional supervision, and those sentenced to a term of supervised release.”

(prisons & jails - probation - definition) “Probation is a court-ordered period of correctional supervision in the community, generally as an alternative to incarceration. In some cases, probation can be a combined sentence of incarceration followed by a period of community supervision.”

Prisons & Jails - Data

(2011 - prisons & jails - U.S. incarceration comparisons) "The U.S. incarcerates nearly 2.4 million people,¹³ including people held pretrial and those sentenced for an offense; if they were all in one state, it would be the 36th most populated, between New Mexico and Nevada.¹⁴ No other country in the world incarcerates as many people as the United States. China, a country of 1.3 billion people—about four times as many people as the U.S.¹⁵—is second, incarcerating 1.6 million people.¹⁶

(1999-2010 - prisons & jails - lobbying by private prison companies) "Certain private prison companies, according to a recent report by Detention Watch Network, spend large sums of money to lobby the House of Representatives, the Senate, and several federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Prisons (which incarcerates over 200,000 prisoners at any given time) and the Department of Homeland Security (which detains over 30,000 immigrants at any given time).²³⁸ According to nonprofit groups, CCA alone spent over $18 million on federal lobbying between 1999 and 2009, “often employing five or six firms at the same time,”²³⁹ and in 2010, CCA spent another $970,000 lobbying the federal government."

(2010 - prisons & jails - over capacity) "The Federal Bureau of Prisons operated at 36% above reported capacity at yearend 2010."

(2010 - prisons & jails - private prisons) "About 16% of federal prisoners (33,830) and nearly 7% of state prisoners (94,365) were housed in private facilities on December 31, 2010."

(2010 - prisons & jails - persons under control of U.S. corrections system) “At yearend 2010, the total number of offenders under the supervision of the adult correctional authorities represented about 3.0% of adults in the U.S. resident population, or 1 in every 33 adults. The rate of adults under correctional supervision has remained relatively stable since 2000 (3.1%).”

(2010 - prisons & jails - prison population) "For the first time in nearly 40 years, the number of state prisoners in the United States has declined. Survey data compiled by the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States, in partnership with the Association of State Correctional Administrators, indicate that as of January 1, 2010, there were 1,404,053 persons under the jurisdiction of state prison authorities, 4,777 (0.3 percent) fewer than there were on December 31, 2008.¹ This marks the first year-to-year drop in the state prison population since 1972.

"In this period, however, the nation’s total prison population increased by 2,061 people because of a jump in the number of inmates under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The federal count rose by 6,838 prisoners, or 3.4 percent in 2009, to an all-time high of 208,118.

"Prior to 1972, the number of prisoners had grown at a steady rate that closely tracked growth rates in the general population. Between 1925 (the first year national prison statistics were officially collected) and 1972, the number of state prisoners increased from 85,239 to 174,379.²

"Starting in 1973, however, the prison population and imprisonment rates began to rise precipitously. This change was fueled by stiffer sentencing and release laws and decisions by courts and parole boards, which sent more offenders to prison and kept them there for longer terms.³ In the nearly five decades between 1925 and 1972, the prison population increased by 105 percent; in the four decades since, the number of prisoners grew by 705 percent.⁴ Adding local jail inmates to state and federal prisoners, the Public Safety Performance Project calculated in 2008 that the overall incarcerated population had reached an all-time high, with 1 in 100 adults in the United States living behind bars.⁵"

(2009 - prisons & jails - size of private prison industry) "Today, private companies imprison roughly 130,000 prisoners³⁴ and, according to one group, 16,000 civil immigration detainees in the United States at any given time.³⁵ As states send more and more people to prison, they funnel ever greater amounts of taxpayer money to private prison operators. By 2010, annual revenues of the two top private prison companies alone stood at nearly $3 billion.³⁶"

Note: The two prison companies are "Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group (then called Wackenhut Corrections Corporation)."

(2009 - prisons & jails - private prison financing) "... the benefit to counties where private prisons are built and operated can be quite scant—some receive less than $2 per prisoner per day from the private prison operator.¹¹⁹ The private prison companies themselves receive a far greater payoff from the government entity (such as a state corrections department) whose prisoners the company incarcerates. For example, private prison operators in Arizona were paid $63.52 per medium security prisoner per day in 2009,¹²⁰ and as early as 2000, the federal government agreed to pay CCA almost $90 per day for each detained immigrant at a San Diego facility."

(2008 - prisons & jails - prisoner and parolee populations)
"• Growth in the probation population has slowed in recent years to an average of 0.7% annually between 2003 and 2008 from an average of 2.5% annually between 2000 and 2003.

• During 2008 growth in the parole population slowed to about a third of the average annual increase between 2005 and 2007 (2.6%), the fastest period of growth in the parole population since 2000."

(2008 - prisons & jails - world prison populations) "The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world, 756 per 100,000 of the national population, followed by Russia (629), Rwanda (604), St Kitts & Nevis (588), Cuba (c.531), U.S. Virgin Is. (512), British Virgin Is. (488), Palau (478), Belarus (468), Belize (455), Bahamas (422), Georgia (415), American Samoa (410), Grenada (408) and Anguilla (401).

"Almost three fifths of countries (59%) have rates below 150 per 100,000.

"The world population in 2008 is estimated at 6,750 million (United Nations); set against a world prison population of 9.8 million this produces a world prison population rate of 145 per 100,000 (158 per 100,000 if set against a world prison population of 10.65 million)."

(2007 - prisons & jails - parents in prison) "An estimated 809,800 prisoners of the 1,518,535 held in the nation's prisons at midyear 2007 were parents of minor children, or children under age 18. Parents held in the nation's prisons -- 52% of state inmates and 63% of federal inmates -- reported having an estimated 1,706,600 minor children, accounting for 2.3% of the U.S. resident population under age 18."

(2007 - prisons & jails - probation and parole populations) "... the number of people on probation or parole has skyrocketed to more than 5 million, up from 1.6 million just 25 years ago. This means that 1 in 45 adults in the United States is now under criminal justice supervision in the community, and that combined with those in prison and jail, a stunning 1 in every 31 adults, or 3.2 percent, is under some form of correctional control. The rates are drastically elevated for men (1 in 18) and blacks (1 in 11) and are even higher in some high-crime inner-city neighborhoods."

(2007 - prisons & jails - prisoner growth per 100,000) "During 2007, the prison population increased more rapidly than the U.S. resident population. The imprisonment rate — the number of sentenced prisoners per 100,000 residents — increased from 501 prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents in 2006 to 506 prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents in 2007. From 2000 through 2007, the imprisonment rate increased from 475 per 100,000 U.S. residents to 506 per 100,000 U.S. residents. During these seven years, the number of sentenced prisoners increased by 15% while the general population increased by 6.4%."

(2006 - prisons & jails - prison growth rates) "After increasing 2.8% during 2006, the growth of the prison population slowed to 1.8% during 2007. The 1.8% increase was slower than the average annual growth witnessed from 2000 to 2006 (2.0%)."

(2006 - prisons & jails - capacity) "At yearend 2006, 23 States and the Federal system operated at more than 100% of their highest capacity. Seventeen States operated at between 90% and 99% of their highest capacity. The Federal prison system was operating at 37% above its rated capacity at yearend 2006.

"By comparison, in 1995 States operated at 114% of their highest capacity and 125% of their lowest reported capacity. The Federal system was operating at 26% over reported capacity in 1995."

(2006 - prisons & jails - global prison population) "More than 9.25 million people are held in penal institutions throughout the world, mostly as pre-trial detainees (remand prisoners) or as sentenced prisoners. Almost half of these are in the United States (2.19m), China (1.55m plus pretrial detainees and prisoners in 'administrative detention') or Russia (0.87m)."

According to the US Census Bureau, the population of the US represents 4.5% of the world's total population (308,749,494 out of a total 6,804,763,183).

(1970-2005 - prisons & jails - prison growth) "The United States has adopted a set of criminal justice policies that has produced a tidal wave of imprisonment in this country. Between 1970 and 2005, the number of men, women, and children locked up in this country has grown by an historically unprecedented 700%. As a result, the United States locks up almost a quarter of the prisoners in the entire world. In fact, if all our prisoners were confined in one city, that city would be the fourth largest in the country."

(2004 - prisons & jails - parents in prison) "Thirty-seven percent of parents held in state prison reported living with at least one of their children in the month before arrest, 44% reported just prior to incarceration, and 48% reported at either time (table 7). Mothers were more likely than fathers to report living with at least one child. More than half of mothers held in state prison reported living with at least one of their children in the month before arrest, compared to 36% of fathers. More than 6 in 10 mothers reported living with their children just prior to incarceration or at either time, compared to less than half of fathers.

"Parents held in federal prison were more likely than those held in state prison to report living with a child in the month before arrest, just prior to incarceration, or at either time (appendix table 7). Mothers in federal prison were more likely than fathers to report living with a child."

(2004 - prisons & drug offenders - federal & state - parents in prison) "Mothers in state prison (58%) were more likely than fathers (49%) to report having a family member who had also been incarcerated (table 11). Parents in state prison most commonly reported a brother (34%), followed by a father (19%). Among mothers in state prison, 13% reported a sister and 8% reported a spouse. Six percent of fathers reported having a sister who had also been incarcerated; 2%, a spouse.

"While growing up, 40% of parents in state prison reported living in a household that received public assistance, 14% reported living in a foster home, agency, or institution at some time during their youth, and 43% reported living with both parents most of the time (appendix table 11). Mothers (17%) held in state prison were more likely than fathers (14%) to report living in a foster home, agency, or institution at some time during their youth. Parents in federal prison reported lower percentages of growing up in a household that received public assistance (31%) or living in a foster home, agency, or institution (7%). These characteristics varied little by gender for parents held in federal prison.

"More than a third (34%) of parents in state prison reported that during their youth, their parents or guardians had abused alcohol or drugs. Mothers in state prison (43%) were more likely than fathers (33%) to have had this experience. Fewer parents (27%) in federal prison reported having a parent or a guardian who had abused alcohol or drugs."

(2003 - prisons & jails - educational level of prisoners) "With the emphasis on law enforcement over education, it is no surprise that according to the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy Prison Survey, 37 percent of people in U.S. prisons had not finished high school. Only 4 out of 10 (41 percent) had a high school education or GED equivalent; 74 percent had parents who had a high school education or less; and 26 percent had parents who did not finish high school.¹⁶⁵"

(2003 - prisons & jails - correctional spending) "In 2003 the United States spent a record $185 billion for police protection, corrections, and judicial and legal activities. Expenditures for operating the Nation's justice system increased from almost $36 billion in 1982 to over $185 billion in 2003, an increase of 418%.

"Local governments funded half of all justice system expenses. Another 33% of direct justice funding came from the States.

"Total justice expenditures comprised approximately 7.2% of all State and local public expenditures in 2003. Compared to justice expenditures, State and local governments continued to spend almost 4 times as much on education, twice as much on public welfare, and roughly an equal amount on hospitals and healthcare."

(1998 - prisons & jails - comparative prison population) "[The U.S.] nonviolent prisoner population, alone, is larger than the combined populations of Wyoming and Alaska."

(1997 - prisons & jails - parents in prison) "A majority of parents in both State (62%) and Federal (84%) prison were held more than 100 miles from their last place of residence."

Prisons - State and Local

(2010 - prisons & jails - state - spending on corrections) "State spending on corrections reflects the costs to build and operate prison systems and may include spending on juvenile justice programs and alternatives to incarceration such as probation and parole. State spending for corrections totaled $51.1 billion in fiscal 2010, a 3.2 percent decrease compared to fiscal 2009. State spending on corrections in fiscal 2011 is estimated to total $51.7 billion, a 1.3 percent increase from fiscal 2010 but still below fiscal 2009 levels. As with other areas of the state budget, spending growth on corrections has slowed considerably due to widespread revenue shortfalls and limited resources; as recently as fiscal 2007 state spending on corrections grew by 10.1 percent."

(prisons & jails - state spending on corrections)
(2010) States spent $51.1 billion on Corrections in 2010 alone. To compare, states spent $164.8 billion on higher education and only $26.6 billion on public assistance.

(2008) States spent $52 billion on Corrections in 2008 alone. To compare, states spent $158.2 billion on higher education and only $25.1 billion on public assistance.

(2005) States spent $42.9 billion on Corrections in 2005 alone. To compare, states spent $131.2 billion on higher education and only $24.7 billion on public assistance.

(2009 - prisons & jails - state - corrections population and violent crime) "As state prison populations fell, so did the violent crime rate, which provides further evidence that increased incarceration does not mean more public safety. Concurrent with the 5.3 percent fall in violent crime in 2008-2009, state prison populations decreased 0.2 percent, the first population decrease since 2000.⁴ The number of people in prison is still growing, but at a slower rate than during the last few decades and primarily due to increases in federal prison system population.⁵ The 0.2 percent growth in the total U.S. prison population during 2009 was the third year of decline in the rate of growth and the slowest growth in eight years."

(2007 - prisons & jails - state - growth in state prison spending vs. higher education spending) "In 1987, the states collectively spent $10.6 billion of their general funds—their primary pool of discretionary tax dollars—on corrections. Last year, they spent more than $44 billion, a 315 percent jump, data from the National Association of State Budget Officers show. Adjusted to 2007 dollars, the increase was 127 percent. Over the same period, adjusted spending on higher education rose just 21 percent."

(2005 - local jails - suicide in prison) "Once they [people with drug addiction and mental health disorders] are incarcerated, researchers have found that the people’s reaction to jail conditions can exacerbate mental health problems and conditions that may increase their propensity towards suicidal behavior. Newly jailed people experience fear of the unknown, distrust of the environment, isolation from family and significant others, shame and stigma of incarceration, a loss of stabilizing resources and severe guilt or shame over the alleged offense. Current mental illness and prior history of suicidal behavior also intensify in the jail environment.¹⁵⁰ These conditions and stressors conspire to increase the suicide rate in jails, as compared to the general population. Compared with a U.S. suicide rate of 17 per 100,000 people, the suicide rate in local jails is 47 per 100,000 people.¹⁵¹ Suicide is second only to illness in the leading cause of death in jails: 25 percent of all deaths in jails in 2006 were suicides.¹⁵²"

(1995-2001 - state - growth rates in state prison populations) "The rate of growth of the State prison population slowed between 1995 and 2001 and then began to rise. During this time the percentage change in the first 6 months of each year steadily decreased, reaching a low of 0.6% in 2001, and then rose to 1.0% in 2005 (table 2). The percentage change in the second 6 months of each year showed a similar trend, resulting in an actual decrease in State prison populations for the second half of 2000 and 2001.

"Since 1995 the Federal system has grown at a much higher rate than the States, peaking at 6.0% growth in the first 6 months of 1999. In the first 6 months of 2005, the number of Federal inmates increased 2.3%, more than twice the rate of State growth."

(2001 - state prison costs) "Correctional authorities spent $38.2 billion to maintain the Nation’s State correctional systems in fiscal year 2001, including $29.5 billion specifically for adult correctional facilities. Day-to-day operating expenses totaled $28.4 billion, and capital outlays for land, new building, and renovations, $1.1 billion.

"The average annual operating cost per State inmate in 2001 was $22,650, or $62.05 per day. Among facilities operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, it was $22,632 per inmate, or $62.01 per day."

In constant dollars, expenditures for "Total State Corrections" were about 2.5 times higher in 2001 than they were in 1986, with the cost per state resident going from $65 in 1986 to $134 in 2001.

(2000 - increase in state prisons) According to a report on prison growth by the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center, "Over the last 25 years, the number of state facilities increased from just fewer than 600 to over 1,000 in the year 2000, an increase of about 70 percent. In other words, more than 40 percent of state prisons in operation today opened in the last 25 years."

Prisons & Jails - Research

(prison and crime rates) "While it may seem obvious that locking up more people would lower the crime rate, the reality is much more complicated. Sentencing and release policies, not crime rates, determine the numbers of persons in prison. This point is illustrated by examining what happened to incarceration rates and crime rates nationally in the period from 1991-1998. ... The three largest states offer useful examples: Texas experienced a 144% increase in incarceration with a 35% drop in crime rates, and California had a 44% rise in its incarceration rate with a 36% drop in crime rates. In contrast, New York saw its incarceration rate increase by only 24%, yet nonetheless experienced a drop in crime rates of 43%."

(incarceration and crime reduction) "Incarceration has not been definitively shown to reduce crime rates. Bruce Western at Harvard University recently found that only 10 percent of the crime decline in the 1990s was due to increased use of incarceration.7 Between 1998 and 2007, states that had the greatest increases in incarceration rates did not necessarily see a corresponding drop in crime rates. Some states (Maryland Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas) lowered their incarceration rates and still experienced a drop in crime rates.8 Such uneven results do not support continued over-reliance on incarceration, particularly in a time of fiscal crisis."

(rape in prison) "In December 2000, the Prison Journal published a study based on a survey of inmates in seven men's prison facilities in four states. The results showed that 21 percent of the inmates had experienced at least one episode of pressured or forced sexual contact since being incarcerated, and at least 7 percent had been raped in their facility. A 1996 study of the Nebraska prison system produced similar findings, with 22 percent of male inmates reporting that they had been pressured or forced to have sexual contact against their will while incarcerated. Of these, over 50 percent had submitted to forced anal sex at least once. Extrapolating these findings to the national level gives a total of at least 140,000 inmates who have been raped."

(revenue lost from prisoner relocation) According to a report on prison growth by the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center, "Every dollar transferred to a "prison community" is a dollar that is not given to the home community of a prisoner, which is often among the country's most disadvantaged urban areas. According to one account, Cook County Illinois will lose nearly $88 million in federal benefits over the next decade because residents were counted in the 2000 Census in their county of incarceration rather than their county of origin (Duggan 2000). Losing funds from the "relocation" of prisoners is also an issue for New York City, as two-thirds of state prisoners are from the city, while 91 percent of prisoners are incarcerated in upstate counties (Wagner 2002a)."

(limited economic benefits of prison construction) "The few studies on the local economic impacts of prisons to date have not found significant positive impacts. For example, a study by the Sentencing Project challenges the notion that a new prison brings economic benefits to smaller communities. Using 25 years of data from New York State rural counties, the authors looked at employment rates and per capita income and found 'no significant difference or discernible pattern of economic trends' between counties that were home to a prison and counties that were not home to a prison (King, Mauer, and Huling 2003). According to a recent study by Iowa State University, many towns that made sizeable investments in prisons did not reap the economic gains that were predicted (Besser 2003). Another analysis in Texas found no impacts as measured by consumer spending in nearly three-fourths of the areas examined (Chuang 1998)."

(housing prisoners in other states) "The effect of prisoner location on population counts may also influence the allocation of political representation and, therefore, political influence (Haberman 2000). In Wisconsin, the number of state prisoners who were housed in other states (known as interstate transfers) caused concern because these prisoners would be counted in the decennial census in the states where they were incarcerated. In 1999, U.S. Representative Mark Green introduced a bill (unsuccessfully) that proposed changes to the census policy so Wisconsin prisoners held in other states would be counted as Wisconsin residents."

(economic incentive of prisons) "The economic benefits of new prisons may come from the flow of additional state and federal dollars. In the decennial census, prisoners are counted where they are incarcerated, and many federal and state funding streams are tied to census population counts. According to the U.S. General Accounting Office (2003), the federal government distributes over $140 billion in grant money to state and local governments through formula-based grants. Formula grant money is in part based on census data and covers programs such as Medicaid, Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, and Social Services Block Grant (U.S. General Accounting Office 2003). Within a state, funding for community health services, road construction and repair, public housing, local law enforcement, and public libraries are all driven by population counts from the census."

(prison location) "Another issue related to prison expansion of the 1980s and 1990s is the disparity between where prisoners come from ("home counties") and where prisoners serve their sentences ("prison counties"). Many believe that the prison construction boom of the last 20 years happened in areas that were located far away from prisoners' homes. This has been an area of concern because greater distances between a prisoner's home and where he or she is incarcerated can negatively impact a prisoner and his or her family members. Being incarcerated far away from home makes it more challenging to maintain familial relationships and parent/child relationships in particular. In addition, challenges related to reintegrating into the community increase when a prisoner is housed far away from home. For example, steps that may facilitate prisoner reentry, such as finding a job and a place to live, are more difficult when a prisoner is imprisoned a long distance from the place to which he or she will return after release."

(states with fastest prison growth) "... the top 10 states ranked from the highest growth to the lowest growth. They are Texas, Florida, California, New York, Michigan, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Colorado, and Missouri. The magnitude of prison growth in these 10 states is remarkable. Between 1979 and 2000, the number of additional prisons ranged from 19 prisons in Missouri to 120 prisons in Texas. The growth in Texas equates to an extraordinary average annual increase of 5.7 additional prisons per year over the 21-year period. As a group, the 10 states were operating more than three times as many prisons in 2000 as in 1979—increasing from 195 facilities to 604 facilities. Figure 6 shows the relative growth in each state in addition to the absolute growth. In all 10 states, the number of prisons increased by more than 100 percent over the two decades. States with the lowest relative growth are Florida, which grew by 115 percent, and New York, which grew by 117 percent. Texas is again the clear leader growing by 706 percent over the 21-year period. Indeed, Texas is in a league of its own, as it added the most prisons (120), currently has the largest number of prisons in operation (137), and experienced the largest percentage increase (706 percent)."

(prison construction) "The prison construction boom was not concentrated in a few, key states or in certain regions of the country. Prison systems expanded significantly in states across the country. Prison systems also expanded within states. The share of counties in the top 10 states that were home to at least one prison increased from 13 to 31 percent between 1979 and 2000. State level maps (figures 13 to 22) illustrate that new prisons were geographically dispersed throughout the states. New prisons were generally not spatially concentrated, as few counties gained three or more prisons. Finally, prisons expanded into different types of counties; prisons increased significantly in both non-metro counties and metro counties."

(General Barry McAffrey on American prisons) "We must have law enforcement authorities address the issue because if we do not, prevention, education, and treatment messages will not work very well. But having said that, I also believe that we have created an American gulag."

HIV/AIDS in Prison

(2007 & 2008 - HIV/AIDS cases and deaths in state and federal prisons)
"• At yearend 2008, a reported 21,987 inmates held in state or federal prisons were HIV positive or had confirmed AIDS, accounting for 1.5% of the total custody population.

"• At yearend 2008, 1.5% (20,075) of male inmates and 1.9% (1,912) of female inmates held in state or federal prisons were HIV positive or had confirmed AIDS.

"• At yearend 2008 an estimated 5,733 state and federal prisoners had confirmed AIDS.

"• During 2007, 130 state and federal prisoners died from AIDS-related causes."

(2004 - HIV prevalence in state prisons by drug use) "The percentage of State prison inmates who were HIV positive was —

"1.3% of those who never used drugs
"1.7% of those who had ever used drugs
"1.9% of those who used drugs in the month before their current offense
"2.8% of those who had used a needle to inject drugs
"5.1% of those who had shared a needle.

"Like State inmates, Federal inmates who used a needle and shared a needle had higher rates of HIV infection than those inmates who reported ever using drugs or using drugs in the month before their current offense."

(2004 - HIV prevalence in state and federal prisons by offense) "Inmates held on a property offense in State and Federal prisons had the highest HIV-positive rate (both 2.6%) (table 11). Among State inmates, public-order offenders (0.9%) were least likely to report being HIV positive; among Federal prisoners, drug offenders (0.7%) were least likely to report being HIV positive."

(2004 - HIV/AIDS in prison) "In every year since 1991, the rate of confirmed AIDS has been higher among prison inmates than in the general population (figure 1). At yearend 2004 the rate of confirmed AIDS in State and Federal prisons was more than 3 times higher than in the total U.S. population. About 50 in every 10,000 prison inmates had confirmed AIDS, compared to 15 in 10,000 persons in the U.S. general population."

(2004 - AIDS deaths deaths in state prisons by region) "In 2004 for every 100,000 State inmates, 14 died from AIDS-related causes. The most AIDS-related deaths were reported in the South (84), followed by the Northeast (60). Together, these two regions accounted for more than three-quarters of AIDS-related deaths in State prisons."

(2004 - HIV positive and confirmed AIDS cases in state and federal prisons) "On December 31, 2004, 1.9% of State prison inmates and 1.1% of Federal prison inmates were known to be infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Correctional authorities reported that 21,366 State inmates and 1,680 Federal inmates were HIV positive. The number known to be HIV positive totaled 23,046, downfrom 23,663 at yearend 2003.

"Of those known to be HIV positive in all U.S. prisons at yearend 2004, an estimated 6,027 were confirmed AIDS cases, up from 5,944 in 2003. Among State inmates, 0.5% had AIDS; among Federal inmates, 0.4%."

(2002 - HIV racial disparities in jails) "Among jail inmates in 2002 who had ever been tested for HIV, Hispanics (2.9%) were more than 3 times as likely as whites (0.8%) and twice as likely as blacks (1.2%) to report being HIV positive."

(2002 - AIDS deaths in local jails) "In 2002 the number of AIDS-related deaths in local jails was 42, down from 58 in 2000 (table 11). The rate of AIDS-related deaths was down from 9 per 100,000 inmates in 2000 to 6 per 100,000 in 2002. Of the 42 inmates who died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2002, 38 were male and 4 were female. Those who died from AIDS-related illnesses were most likely black (31 inmate deaths) and between the ages 35 and 44 (21 inmate deaths). Over the 3-year period beginning in 2000, a total of 155 local jail inmates died from AIDS-related causes."

(2002 - HIV testing in local jails) "In personal interviews conducted in 2002, nearly two-thirds of local jail inmates reported ever being tested for HIV; of those, 1.3% disclosed that they were HIV positive."

Prisons & Jails - Tables

(2000, 2009 & 2010 - prisons & jails - U.S. corrections population) The table below shows the number of individuals under the control of the adult correctional system in the United States. This system supervises "offenders in the community under the authority of adult probation or parole agencies and those incarcerated in state or federal prisons or local jails."

"During 2010, the number of persons under supervision of adult correctional authorities declined by 1.3% (91,700 offenders), reaching 7.1 million at yearend. This was the second consecutive year of decline in the correctional population."

During the 2000-2010 time frame, the types of facilities that experienced the greatest increases were private prisons, with growth rates equaling +168.6% for private federal facilities and +31.3% for private state facilities.

The number of federal inmates increased by almost 50% during those eleven years, while the number of state and local prisoners grew by somewhat slower rates of +11.5% and +20.5% respectively.

^{• Total includes all inmates held in state or federal prison facilities or in local jails. It does not include inmates held in U.S. territories, military facilities, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, jails in Indian country, and juvenile facilities.
• Community correction centers are non-secure and privately operated.
• Jails are confinement facilities, usually administered by a local law enforcement agency, that are intended
to hold adults. Local jails may also hold inmates under age 18 before or after adjudication, and these inmates are included in the jail population."}

(1990, 2000, 2008, 2009 & 2010 - prisons & jails - federal - prisoners by most serious offense) During the eleven years of 2000-2010, the number of federal prisoners grew by almost +45%; since 1990, they have more than tripled.

At almost +104%, the fastest growing category of federal inmates belonged to "public order," which represents those incarcerated for immigration and weapons violations. The number of federal "drug" inmates in 2010 expanded by almost one third over those in 2000, but remained at the same approximate 50% of total federal inmates as in 1990.

^{• Violent = homicide, robbery, murder, and manslaughter (negligent and non-negligent).
• Property = burglary, fraud, etc.
• Public Order = immigration, weapons, etc.}

(2006 - prisons & jails - length of sentence by offense) The table below shows the average sentence (mean and median) imposed on Federal prisoners for various offenses in 2006. "Among offenders convicted of a felony and sentenced to prison, the mean sentence was 49 months and the median was 24 months."

~ = Not applicable

(2000 - prisons & jails - federal prison sentence length by offense) The table below shows the average sentence (mean and median) imposed on Federal prisoners for various offenses in 2000. "Prison sentences imposed increased slightly from 55.1 months during 1988 to 56.8 months during 2000. For drug offenses, prison sentences increased from 71.3 months to 75.6 months; for weapon offenses, sentences imposed increased from 52.3 months to 92.2 months."