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1996 Prisoners in 1 (1996)

handle is hein.death/prsin1996 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs

0

June 1997, NCJ 164619

Prisoners in 1996

By Christopher J. Mumola
and Allen J. Beck, Ph.D.
BJS Statisticians
The total number of prisoners under
the jurisdiction of Federal or State
adult correctional authorities was
1,182,169 at yearend 1996. During
the year the States and the District
of Columbia added 50,582 prisoners,
and the Federal prison system added
5,294 prisoners. Overall, the Nation's
prison population grew by 5.0%, which
was less than the average annual
growth rate of 7.3% recorded since
1990. The 1996 increase was the
equivalent of 1,075 more inmates
per week.
At midyear 1996 (the latest available
data), more than 1.6 million U.S. resi-
dents were incarcerated. State and
Federal prisons housed about two-
thirds of the incarcerated population
(1,112,448). Jails, which are locally
operated and typically hold persons
awaiting trial and those with sentences
of a year or less, held the other third
(518,492).
Relative to the number of U.S. resi-
dents, the rate of incarceration in pris-
ons at yearend 1996 totaled 427
sentenced inmates per 100,000 resi-
dents- up from 292 in 1990. On De-
cember 31, 1996, 1 in every 118 men
and 1 in every 1,818 women were un-
der the jurisdiction of State or Federal
correctional authorities.

I   Hi h i sI

Number of inmates

Sentenced prisoners
per 100,000 resident
population

Population housed as
a percent of highest
capacity

Year       Federal    State     Federal    State      Federal   State
1985       40,223    462,284       14       187        123%      105%
1990       65,526    708,393       20       272        151        115
1991       71,608    753,951       22       287        146        116
1992       80,259    802,241       26       305        137        118
1993       89,587    880,857       29       330        136        118
1994       95,034    959,668       30       356        125        117
1995       100,250  1,026,043      32       379        126        114
1996       105,544  1,076,625      33       394        125        116

* During 1996 the number of female
prisoners rose by 9.1%, nearly dou-
ble the increase of male prisoners
(4.7%). At yearend 74,730 women
were in State or Federal prison
6.3% of inmates.
@ On December 31, 1996, State pris-
ons were operating at between 16%
and 24% above capacity, while Fed-
eral prisons were operating at 25%
over capacity.
* California (147,712), Texas
(132,383), and the Federal system
(105,544) together held 1 in every
3 prisoners in the Nation. Fifteen
States, each holding fewer than
5,000 inmates, together held only
3% of the Nation's prisoners.
* The prison population of 12 States
grew by at least 10% in 1996, led by
North Dakota (18.8%) and New Mex-
ico (15.8%). Vermont (down 12.0%),

the District of Columbia (-4.3%), and
Florida (-0.2%) recorded declines.
* Factors underlying the growth in the
State prison population between
1985 and 1995 include-
-a 12.3% average annual increase
in the number of Hispanic inmates,
higher than among blacks (9.4%)
and whites (7.6%).
- a 91% rise in the number of
admissions from 1985 to 1990 and
a 13% rise from 1990 to 1995.
- a decline in annual release rates
of prisoners from 37% in 1990 to
31% in 1995.
- a sharp rise in violent offenders
among white inmates (accounting for
42% of the 10-year increase in white
prisoners) and in drug offenders
among black inmates (42% of their
increase).
- an overall increase in the percent-
age held for drug offenses offset by
declines in violent and property
percentages.

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