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2009 Prisoners in 1 (2009)

handle is hein.death/prsin2009 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics

Revised 10/27/2011

Bureau of Justice Statistics
I
December 2010, NCJ 231675
Prisoners in 2009
Heather C. West, Ph.D. and William J. Sabol, Ph.D. BJS Statisticians, and Sarah J. Greenman, BJS Program Assistant

n December 31, 2009, state and federal correctional
authorities had jurisdiction over 1,613,740 prisoners, an
increase of 3,981 prisoners from yearend 2008 (figure 1).1
This 0.2% increase marked the third consecutive year of slower
growth in the U.S. prison population and the smallest increase
during the decade. Jurisdiction refers to the legal authority over a
prisoner, regardless of where the prisoner is held.
The slowing in the growth of the total U.S. prison population
masked an increase in the federal prison population (3.4%) during
2009, while the number of prisoners under jurisdiction of state
correctional authorities declined by 0.2%, the first decline in the
state prison population since 1977 (figure 2). The increase in
the growth rate of the federal prison population reflected a shift
from the general pattern of declining annual growth rates in that
population. The decline in the growth rate of the state prison
population during 2009 continued the 3-year trend of declining
annual growth rates for state prisoners.
1This number is 84 prisoners higher than reported in the BJS Data Brief, Pris
oners at Yearend 2009: Advance Counts, NCJ 230189, June 2010. BJS permits
respondents to update their data to reflect their most accurate counts.
*The U.S. prison population grew at its slowest rate (0.2%)
since 2000, reaching 1,613,740 prisoners at yearend 2009.
* Prison admissions (down 2.5%) and prison releases (up
2.2%) converged from 2006 through 2009, slowing the
growth of the nations prison population.
The imprisonment rate-the number of sentenced prison-
ers per 100,000 U.S. residents- declined for the second
straight year, falling to 502 per 100,000 from 506 per
100,000 in 2007.
* From 2000 to 2008, the state prison population increased
by 159,200 prisoners, and violent offenders accounted for
60% of this increase. The number of drug offenders in state
prisons declined by 12,400 over this period.

FIGURE 1
Prisoners under state and federal jurisdiction at yearend, 2000-2009

Number of prisoners
1,750,000
1,500,000
1,250,000

Annual percent change

Annual percent change
3.0%
2.5%
2.0%
1.5%
1.0%
0.5%

1,000,000                                                                         0.0%
2000   2001   2002   2003   2004   2005    2006   2007   2008   2009
On December 31
FIGURE 2
Change in the number of prisoners under state and federal
jurisdiction, 2000-2009
Percent change
8.0%

Federal

2000    2001    2002   2003    2004    2005   2006    2007   2008    2009
On December31

For a list of publications in this series go to http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbse&sid=40

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