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2010 Prisoners in 1 (2010)

handle is hein.death/prsin2010 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs

Revised 2/9/12

Bureau of Justice Statistics
December 2011, NCJ 236096

Prisoners in 2010
Paul Guerino, Paige M. Harrison, and William J. Sabol, BJS Statisticians

On December 31, 2010, state and
federal correctional authorities
had jurisdiction over 1,612,395
prisoners, a decrease of 5,575 prisoners
from yearend 2009 (figure 1). The
combined U.S. prison population
decreased 0.3% in 2010, the first decline
since 1972. The 2010 imprisonment
rate for the nation was 500 sentenced
prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents,
which is 1 in 200 residents.
The statistics in this report are drawn
from the Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS)
National Prisoner Statistics (NPS) series,
which annually collects data on prisoner
counts and characteristics, as well as
admissions, releases, and capacity, from
the 50 states and the Federal Bureau of
Prisons. The 2010 NPS collection is the
85th in a series begun in 1925.

FIGURE 1
Prisoners under state and federal jurisdiction at yearend,
2000-2010

Number
1,750,000
1,500,000
1,250,000
1,000,000

Annual percent change

Annual

F Number

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
On December 31

Note: Jurisdiction refers to the legal authority of state or federal correctional officials over a
prisoner regardless of where the prisoner is held.
Source: BJS, National Prisoner Statistics Program.

HIGHLIGHTS
 The overall U.S. prison population declined in 2010 for
the first time since 1972. State and federal prisoners
numbered 1,612,395 at yearend 2010, a decrease of
0.3% (5,575 prisoners) from yearend 2009.
 The federal prison population increased by 0.8%
(1,653 prisoners), while the number of prisoners under
state authority declined by 0.5% (7,228 prisoners).
 Half of state departments of corrections (25) reported
decreases in their prison populations during 2010.
California (down 6,213) reported the largest decline
in absolute numbers, while Rhode Island (down 8.6%)
reported the largest percentage decrease.
 During 2010, prison releases (708,677) exceeded
prison admissions (703,798) for the first time since BJS
began collecting jurisdictional data in 1977.
 The stability in prison release rates and expected time
to be served indicates that the change in the state
prison population between 2009 and 2010 was the
result of a decrease in state prison admissions.

 The imprisonment rate was 500 inmates per 100,000
U.S. residents in 2010, continuing the decline since
imprisonment rates peaked at 506 per 100,000 in
2007.
 In 2009, the most recent data available, 53% of state
prison inmates were serving time for violent offenses,
19% for property, 18% for drug, and 9% for public-
order offenses.
 About half (51%) of federal inmates in 2010 were
serving time for drug offenses, 35% for public-order
offenses (largely weapons and immigration), and less
than 10% each for violent and property offenses.
 States held 2,295 inmates under age 18 in custody
at midyear 2010, down from 2,779 at midyear 2009.
A reported 95,977 non citizens were held in state
custody at midyear 2010, down from 97,133 at
midyear 2009.

BIS

For a list of all publications in this series, go to http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbse&sid=32.

MD
-S

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