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1988 Prisoners in 1 (1988)

handle is hein.death/prsin1988 and id is 1 raw text is: 0a

(7  U.S. Department of Justice
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LP( Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Prisoners in 1988

The number of prisoners under the
jurisdiction of Federal or State
correctional authorities at yearend
1988 reached a record 627,402. The
States and the District of Columbia
added 41,339 prisoners; the Federal
system, 1,628. The increase for 1988
brings total growth in the prison
population since 1980 to 297,581--an
increase of about 90% in the 8-year
period (table 1).
The 1988 growth rate (7.4%) was
greater than the percentage increase
recorded during 1987 (7.2%), and the
number of new prisoners added during
1988, 42,967, was about 3,500 higher
than the number added during the
preceding year (39,463). The 1988
increase translates into a nationwide
need for more than 800 new prison
bedspaces per week.
Prisoners with sentences of more
than 1 year (referred to as sentenced
prisoners) accounted for 96% of the
total prison population at the end of
1988, growing by 7.8% during the year
(table 2). The remaining prisoners had
sentences of a year or less or were
Table 1. Change in the State and Federal
prison populations, 1980-88
Total
Number    Annual  percent
of        percent change
Year    inmates    change  since 1980
1980     329,821
19,81    369,930    12.2%    12.2%
1982     413,806    11.9     25.5
1983     437,248     5.7     32.6
1984     464,567     6.2     40.9
1985     502,507     8.2     52.4
1986     544,972     8.5     65.2
1987     584,435     7.2     77.2
1988     627,402     7.4     90.2
Note: All counts are for December 31 of each
year and may differ from previously reported
numbers because of revision.

unsentenced (like those, for example,
awaiting trial in States with combined
prison-jail systems).
The number of sentenced Federal
prisoners grew at nearly the same rate
as sentenced prisoners in the States
during the year (8.1% vs. 7.7%). Among
the 7,190 Federal prisoners with no sen-
tences or sentences of 1 year or less
were 1,856 under the jurisdiction of the
Immigration and Naturalization Serv-
ice, a decrease of 528 from the number
held at the end of 1987 (2,384). The
number of Federal prisoners with no
sentences or sentences of less than 1
year declined by 1,587 during 1988
(from 8,777 to 7,190), while the number
of sentenced prisoners increased by
3,215.
In 7 States total prison populations
decreased by a total of 961 inmates
during 1988. Four of these States-
North Carolina, South Dakota, Wash-
ington, and West Virginia--also reported
declines in 1987. Compared to yearend
1986 counts, the number of prisoners at
the end of 1988 was 3.6% lower than 2
years earlier in North Carolina, 12.4%
lower In South Dakota, 11.9% lower in
Washington, and 1.6% lower In West
Virginia.
Total prison population rose most
rapidly during 1988 in Rhode Island
(33.5%), Colorado (24.7%), New Hamp-
shire (17.5%), Michigan (16.1%), and
California (13.7%). Nine States and
the District of Columbia reported total
prisoner increases of 10% or more since
yearend 1987. California's increase of
nearly 9,200 prisoners during the year

April 1989
This Bulletin presents population
counts for the Nation's prisons
on December 31, 1988. Prison
population increased 7.4% during
1988, a slightly higher rate than
in 1987. The 1988 increase of
43,000 prisoners approximately
equals a demand for more than
800 new prison beds per week.
The number of prisoners at the
end of the year set a new record
for the 14th consecutive year.
The Bureau of Justice Statis- -
tics expresses Its appreciation
to the departments of correc-
tions in the 50 States, the
District of Columbia, and the
Federal prison system, who make
It possible for us to continue
to gather and report data on
the Nation's prisoners.
Joseph M. Bessette
Acting Director
was the largest for any single jurisdic-
tion. Although California had 11.5% of
all the Nation's prisoners at the end of
1987, its prison population growth in
1988 accounted for 21% of the national
increase. Colorado, for the second year
In a row, experienced an annual in-
crease of more than 20% in the number
of State prisoners; its yearend 1988
population of 5,997 was 58% higher
than the yearend 1986 population of
3,804.

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