At the beginning of 2025, the United States had the highest number of incarcerated individuals worldwide, with around 1.8 million people in prison. China followed with around 100,000 fewer prisoners. Brazil followed in third. The incarceration problem in the U.S. The United States has an incredibly high number of incarcerated individuals. Therefore, the incarceration problem has become a widely contested issue, because it impacts disadvantaged people and minorities the most. Additionally, the prison system has become capitalized by outside corporations that fund prisons, but there is still a high cost to taxpayers. Furthermore, there has been an increase in the amount of private prisons that have been created. For-profit prison companies have come under scrutiny because of their lack of satisfactory staff and widespread lobbying. Violent offenses are the most common type of offense among prisoners in the U.S. Incarceration rates worldwide El Salvador had the highest rate of incarceration worldwide, at 1,659 prisoners per 100,000 residents as of February 2025. Cuba followed in second with 794 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants. The incarceration rate is a better measure to use when comparing countries than the total prison populations, which will naturally have the most populous countries topping the list.

Overview

The Marshall Project, the nonprofit investigative newsroom dedicated to the U.S. criminal justice system, has partnered with The Associated Press to compile data on the prevalence of COVID-19 infection in prisons across the country. The Associated Press is sharing this data as the most comprehensive current national source of COVID-19 outbreaks in state and federal prisons.

Lawyers, criminal justice reform advocates and families of the incarcerated have worried about what was happening in prisons across the nation as coronavirus began to take hold in the communities outside. Data collected by The Marshall Project and AP shows that hundreds of thousands of prisoners, workers, correctional officers and staff have caught the illness as prisons became the center of some of the country’s largest outbreaks. And thousands of people — most of them incarcerated — have died.

In December, as COVID-19 cases spiked across the U.S., the news organizations also shared cumulative rates of infection among prison populations, to better gauge the total effects of the pandemic on prison populations. The analysis found that by mid-December, one in five state and federal prisoners in the United States had tested positive for the coronavirus -- a rate more than four times higher than the general population.

This data, which is updated weekly, is an effort to track how those people have been affected and where the crisis has hit the hardest.

Methodology and Caveats

The data tracks the number of COVID-19 tests administered to people incarcerated in all state and federal prisons, as well as the staff in those facilities. It is collected on a weekly basis by Marshall Project and AP reporters who contact each prison agency directly and verify published figures with officials.

Each week, the reporters ask every prison agency for the total number of coronavirus tests administered to its staff members and prisoners, the cumulative number who tested positive among staff and prisoners, and the numbers of deaths for each group.

The time series data is aggregated to the system level; there is one record for each prison agency on each date of collection. Not all departments could provide data for the exact date requested, and the data indicates the date for the figures.

To estimate the rate of infection among prisoners, we collected population data for each prison system before the pandemic, roughly in mid-March, in April, June, July, August, September and October. Beginning the week of July 28, we updated all prisoner population numbers, reflecting the number of incarcerated adults in state or federal prisons. Prior to that, population figures may have included additional populations, such as prisoners housed in other facilities, which were not captured in our COVID-19 data. In states with unified prison and jail systems, we include both detainees awaiting trial and sentenced prisoners.

To estimate the rate of infection among prison employees, we collected staffing numbers for each system. Where current data was not publicly available, we acquired other numbers through our reporting, including calling agencies or from state budget documents. In six states, we were unable to find recent staffing figures: Alaska, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Montana, Utah.

To calculate the cumulative COVID-19 impact on prisoner and prison worker populations, we aggregated prisoner and staff COVID case and death data up through Dec. 15. Because population snapshots do not account for movement in and out of prisons since March, and because many systems have significantly slowed the number of new people being sent to prison, it’s difficult to estimate the total number of people who have been held in a state system since March. To be conservative, we calculated our rates of infection using the largest prisoner population snapshots we had during this time period.

As with all COVID-19 data, our understanding of the spread and impact of the virus is limited by the availability of testing. Epidemiology and public health experts say that aside from a few states that have recently begun aggressively testing in prisons, it is likely that there are more cases of COVID-19 circulating undetected in facilities. Sixteen prison systems, including the Federal Bureau of Prisons, would not release information about how many prisoners they are testing.

Corrections departments in Indiana, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota and Wisconsin report coronavirus testing and case data for juvenile facilities; West Virginia reports figures for juvenile facilities and jails. For consistency of comparison with other state prison systems, we removed those facilities from our data that had been included prior to July 28. For these states we have also removed staff data. Similarly, Pennsylvania’s coronavirus data includes testing and cases for those who have been released on parole. We removed these tests and cases for prisoners from the data prior to July 28. The staff cases remain.

About the Data

There are four tables in this data:

• covid_prison_cases.csv contains weekly time series data on tests, infections and deaths in prisons. The first dates in the table are on March 26. Any questions that a prison agency could not or would not answer are left blank.

• prison_populations.csv contains snapshots of the population of people incarcerated in each of these prison systems for whom data on COVID testing and cases are available. This varies by state and may not always be the entire number of people incarcerated in each system. In some states, it may include other populations, such as those on parole or held in state-run jails. This data is primarily for use in calculating rates of testing and infection, and we would not recommend using these numbers to compare the change in how many people are being held in each prison system.

• staff_populations.csv contains a one-time, recent snapshot of the headcount of workers for each prison agency, collected as close to April 15 as possible.

• covid_prison_rates.csv contains the rates of cases and deaths for prisoners. There is one row for every state and federal prison system and an additional row with the National totals.

Queries

The Associated Press and The Marshall Project have created several queries to help you use this data:

Get your state's prison COVID data: Provides each week's data from just your state and calculates a cases-per-100000-prisoners rate, a deaths-per-100000-prisoners rate, a cases-per-100000-workers rate and a deaths-per-100000-workers rate here

Rank all systems' most recent data by cases per 100,000 prisoners here

Find what percentage of your state's total cases and deaths -- as reported by Johns Hopkins University -- occurred within the prison system here

Attribution

In stories, attribute this data to: “According to an analysis of state prison cases by The Marshall Project, a nonprofit investigative newsroom dedicated to the U.S. criminal justice system, and The Associated Press.”

Contributors

Many reporters and editors at The Marshall Project and The Associated Press contributed to this data, including: Katie Park, Tom Meagher, Weihua Li, Gabe Isman, Cary Aspinwall, Keri Blakinger, Jake Bleiberg, Andrew R. Calderón, Maurice Chammah, Andrew DeMillo, Eli Hager, Jamiles Lartey, Claudia Lauer, Nicole Lewis, Humera Lodhi, Colleen Long, Joseph Neff, Michelle Pitcher, Alysia Santo, Beth Schwartzapfel, Damini Sharma, Colleen Slevin, Christie Thompson, Abbie VanSickle, Adria Watson, Andrew Welsh-Huggins.

Questions

If you have questions about the data, please email The Marshall Project at info+covidtracker@themarshallproject.org or file a Github issue.

To learn more about AP's data journalism capabilities for publishers, corporations and financial institutions, go here or email kromano@ap.org.

This data collection supplies annual data on the size of the prison population and the size of the general population in the United States for the period 1925 to 1986. These yearend counts include tabulations for prisons in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as the federal prisons, and are intended to provide a measure of the overall size of the prison population. The figures were provided from a voluntary reporting program in which each state, the District of Columbia, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons reported summary statistics as part of the statistical information on prison populations in the United States.

The Washington legislature has established a comprehensive system of corrections for convicted law violators within the state of Washington to accomplish a primary objective of ensuring public safety. The system is designed and managed to provide the maximum feasible safety for the persons and property of the general public, the staff, and the inmates (RCW 72.09.010).

This collection provides annual data on jail populations across the nation and examines the "spillover" effect on local jails resulting from the dramatic growth in federal and state prison populations. These data permit an assessment of the demands placed on correctional resources and provide a comprehensive picture of the adult correctional system and changes that occur within the system. Information is available on the number of inmates by sex, race, adult or juvenile status, reason being held, and cause of death. Also added in the 1992 survey were variables on citizenship, population movement, and total number of inmate deaths for inmates originally confined to the facility in question who died either at that facility or elsewhere. Also, the 1992 version included a more complete survey of jail programs and a supplemental questionnaire (CJ-5S), which dealt with AIDS-related questions. In addition, information was collected for the first time on drug testing, programs that treated or educated inmates, boot camps, work release, and alternatives to incarceration such as electronic monitoring, house arrest, community service, and weekend or day reporting.

As of February 2025, El Salvador had the highest prisoner rate worldwide, with over 1,600 prisoners per 100,000 of the national population. Cuba, Rwanda, Turkmenistan, and the United States, rounded out the top five countries with the highest rate of incarceration. Homicides in El Salvador Interestingly, El Salvador, which long had the highest global homicide rates, has dropped out of the top 20 after a high number of gang members have been incarcerated. A high number of the countries with the highest homicide rate are located in Latin America. Prisoners in the United StatesThe United States is home to the largest number of prisoners worldwide. More than 1.8 million people were incarcerated in the U.S. at the beginning of 2025. In China, the estimated prison population totaled 1.69 million people that year. Other nations had far fewer prisoners. The largest share of the U.S. prisoners in federal correctional facilities were of African-American origin. As of 2020, there were 345,500 black, non-Hispanic prisoners, compared to 327,300 white, non-Hispanic inmates. The U.S. states with the largest number of prisoners in 2022 were Texas, California, and Florida. Over 160,000 prisoners in state facilities were sentenced for rape or sexual assault, which was the most common cause of imprisonment. The second most common was murder, followed by aggravated or simple assault.

The Washington legislature has established a comprehensive system of corrections for convicted law violators within the state of Washington to accomplish a primary objective of ensuring public safety. The system is designed and managed to provide the maximum feasible safety for the persons and property of the general public, the staff, and the inmates (RCW 72.09.010).

As of July 2023, the number of prisoners in Italy was 57,749 inmates. Between 2000 and 2019, Italy's prison population increased, while it experienced a decrease in 2020 and 2021. In 2010, the population of prisoners in custody reached its peak at 68,000 inmates, whereas by the end of 2019, the number of inmates amounted to 60,800 individuals. During the coronavirus emergency, Italy adopted a decree for the supervised release of certain prisoners in order to reduce overcrowding. Thus, the number of detainees in the last year experienced a decrease.

Demography of incarcerated population

Among prisoners, two groups stand out for age and educational level. Data related to the age of people in jail show that individuals between 50 and 59 years old made up the largest group of the prison population (ten thousand inmates). Furthermore, a glance at their educational background reveals that 19 thousand individuals held a lower secondary school degree. Both groups represented a significant part of the incarcerated population.

Overcrowded prisons and tough conditions

Prison overcrowding is a worldwide phenomenon. Prison systems in more than one hundred countries operate at over double their capacities. Likewise, several prisons in Italy hold more prisoners than the facilities can accommodate. In 2019, a jail in the South Italian region Molise was rated the most overcrowded prison in the country, which was occupied at 195 percent of designed prison capacity. In addition to overcrowding, a further problem of the Italian prison system concerns the tough conditions for mafia prisoners. In October 2019, the European court of human rights (ECHR) ruled that the Italian prison system for mafia inmates must be reviewed, as the conditions in which they are serving their life term sentence violate their human rights.

This census provides information on county and municipal jails facilities in the United States and their administration. For all jails, the data include number of prisoners and their reason for being held, age and sex of prisoners, maximum sentence that could be served in the facility, facility capacity and age, types of security available, and operating expenditures. For jails in counties and municipalities with populations of 25,000 or more, data are supplied on quarterly jail population, age of cells, and availability of service facilities and programs for inmates.

Jail Management Software Market size was valued at USD 756.56 Million in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 1040.76 Million by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 5.45% during the forecast period 2024-2030.

Global Jail Management Software Market Drivers

The market drivers for the Jail Management Software Market can be influenced by various factors. These may include:

Growing Number of Prisoners: The demand for cutting-edge JMS solutions is driven by the growing prison population and the requirement for effective management of correctional facilities. The need for technologies that can expedite administrative procedures is growing as the number of inmates in prisons rises. Governmental Modernization Initiatives: Governments and law enforcement organisations are spending money to update their jail infrastructure. This includes implementing technological solutions to improve data management, general security, and operational efficiency, such as JMS. Put Public Safety First: The emphasis on security and safety for the general public leads to the use of cutting edge technology in correctional facilities. JMS assists in keeping the peace, monitoring prisoners, and guaranteeing the security of both personnel and inmates. Connectivity with Different Systems: The JMS is becoming more integrated with other criminal justice and law enforcement institutions. The criminal justice system functions more effectively overall when databases, biometric systems, and other security technology are integrated seamlessly. Compliance and Data Security: Adoption of JMS solutions is fueled by growing concerns about data security and the requirement for regulatory compliance. These systems frequently have components that guarantee the safe management of private prisoner data and adherence to legal requirements regarding privacy. Effectiveness and Economical Benefits: JMS facilitates the automation of numerous manual tasks, lowers the amount of paperwork, and boosts overall operational effectiveness. For correctional facilities, this can therefore result in financial savings. Technological Progress: Continuous technological developments, such the incorporation of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) in JMS, enhance analytics, boost predictive capacities, and facilitate better decision-making in correctional facilities. Cloud-Based Programmes: Law enforcement agencies may handle and retrieve data more effectively with the flexibility, scalability, and accessibility provided by cloud-based JMS systems. Emphasis on Rehab Initiatives: Programmes for prisoners' rehabilitation and reintegration are receiving more attention. JMS can be used to monitor and oversee these initiatives, which helps to achieve the overarching objective of lowering recidivism.

--- ### Context This dataset contains the complete detail about the Prison and various characteristics of inmates. This will help to understand better about prison system in India. ### Content 1. Details of Jail wise population of prison inmates 1. Details about the list of jails in India at the end of year 2015. 1. Jail category wise population of inmates. 1. Capacity of jails by inmate population. 1. Age group, nationality and gender wise population of inmates. 1. Religion and gender wise population of inmates. 1. Caste and gender wise population of inmates. 1. Education standards of inmates. 1. Domicile of inmates. 1. Incidence of recidivism. 1. Rehabilitation of prisoners. 1. Distribution of sentence periods of convicts in various jails by sex and age-groups. 1. Details of under trial prisoners by the type of IPC (Indian Penal Code) offences. 1. Details of convicts by the type of IPC (Indian Penal Code) offences. 1. Details of SLL (special & local law) Crime headwise distribution of inmates who convicted 1. Details of SLL (special & local law) Crime head wise distribution of inmates under trial 1. Details of educational facilities provided to prisoners. 1. Details of Jail breaks, group clashes and firing in jail (Tranquility). 1. Details of wages per day to convicts. 1. Details of Prison inmates trained under different vocational training. 1. Details of capital punishment (death sentence) and life imprisonment. 1. Details of prison inmates escaped. 1. Details of prison inmates released. 1. Details of Strength of officials 1. Details of Total Budget and Actual Expenditure during the year 2015-16. 1. Details of Budget 1. Details of Expenditure 1. Details of Expenditure on inmates 1. Details of Inmates suffering from mental ilness 1. Details of Period of detention of undertrials 1. Details of Number of women prisoners with children 1. Details of Details of inmates parole during the year 1. Details of Value of goods produced by inmates 1. Details of Number of vehicles available 1. Details of Training of Jail Officers 1. Details of Movements outside jail premises 1. Details of Details of electronic equipment used in prison ### Inspiration There are many questions about Indian prison with this dataset. Some of the interesting questions are 1. Percentage of jails over crowded. Is there any change in percentage over time? 1. How many percentage of inmates re-arrested? 1. Which state/u.t pay more wages to the inmates? 1. Which state/u.t has more capital punishment/life imprisonment inmates? 1. Inmates gender ratio per state ### Acknowledgements National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Govt of India has shared this [dataset](https://data.gov.in/dataset-group-name/prison-statistics) under [Govt. Open Data License - India](https://data.gov.in/government-open-data-license-india). NCRB has also shared prison data on their [website](http://ncrb.nic.in/StatPublications/PSI/PrevPublications.htm). ---

Abstract: Mortality in prisons, a basic indicator of the right to health for incarcerated persons, has never been studied extensively in Brazil. An assessment of all-cause and cause-specific mortality in prison inmates was conducted in 2016-2017 in the state of Rio de Janeiro, based on data from the Mortality Information System and Prison Administration. Mortality rates were compared between prison population and general population after standardization. The leading causes of death in inmates were infectious diseases (30%), cardiovascular diseases (22%), and external causes (12%). Infectious causes featured HIV/AIDS (43%) and TB (52%, considering all deaths with mention of TB). Only 0.7% of inmates who died had access to extramural health services. All-cause mortality rate was higher among prison inmates than in the state’s general population. Among inmates, mortality from infectious diseases was 5 times higher, from TB 15 times higher, and from endocrine diseases (especially diabetes) and cardiovascular diseases 1.5 and 1.3 times higher, respectively, while deaths from external causes were less frequent in prison inmates. The study revealed important potentially avoidable excess deaths in prisons, reflecting lack of care and exclusion of this population from the Brazilian Unified National Health System. This further highlights the need for a precise and sustainable real-time monitoring system for deaths, in addition to restructuring of the prison staff through implementation of the Brazilian National Policy for Comprehensive Healthcare for Persons Deprived of Freedom in the Prison System in order for inmates to fully access their constitutional right to health with the same quality and timeliness as the general population.

The Census of Jail Inmates is the eighth in a series of data collection efforts aimed at studying the nation's locally-administered jails. Beginning in 2005, the National Jail Census was broken out into two collections. The 2005 Census of Jail Inmates (CJI) collects data on the facilities' supervised populations, inmate counts and movements, and persons supervised in the community. The forthcoming 2006 Census of Jail Facilities collects information on staffing levels, programming, and facility policies. Previous censuses were conducted in 1970, 1972, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, and 1999. The 2005 CJI enumerated 2,960 locally administered confinement facilities that held inmates beyond arraignment and were staffed by municipal or county employees. Among these were 42 privately-operated jails under contract to local governments and 65 regional jails that were operated for two or more jail authorities. In addition, the census identified 12 facilities maintained by the Federal Bureau of Prisons that functioned as jails. These 12 facilities, together with the 2,960 nonfederal facilities, brought the number of jails in operation on June 30, 2005, to a nationwide total of 2,972. The CJI supplies data on characteristics of jails such as admissions and releases, growth in the number of jail facilities, changes in their rated capacities and level of occupancy, crowding issues, growth in the population supervised in the community, and changes in methods of community supervision. The CJI also provides information on changes in the demographics of the jail population, supervision status of persons held, and a count of non-United States citizens in custody. The data are intended for a variety of users, including federal and state agencies, local officials in conjunction with jail administrators, researchers, planners, and the public.

Prisons are vulnerable institutions in terms of the spread of disease, and in the context of a pandemic, prisoners are at particularly high risk compared to the general population. Factors such as an aging prison population, overcrowding, and promiscuity, as well as substance use, create a fertile ground for the spread of the virus. In 2020, more than a quarter of the Canadian prison population that was tested were positive for COVID-19, compared to six percent of the general population. In Quebec, this proportion was 44 percent compared to 12 percent.

The 1999 Census of Jails is the seventh in a series of data collection efforts aimed at studying the nation's locally administered jails. Previous censuses were conducted in 1970, 1972, 1978, 1983, 1988, and 1993. The 1999 census enumerated 3,365 locally administered confinement facilities that held inmates beyond arraignment and were staffed by municipal or county employees. Among these were 47 privately operated jails under contract for local governments and 42 regional jails that were operated for two or more jail authorities. In addition, the census identified 11 facilities maintained by the Federal Bureau of Prisons that functioned as jails. The nationwide total of the number of jails in operation on June 30, 1999, was 3,376. For purposes of this data collection, a local jail was defined as a locally operated adult detention facility that receives individuals pending arraignment and holds them awaiting trial, conviction, or sentencing, readmits probation, parole, and bail-bond violators and absconders, temporarily detains juveniles pending transfer to juvenile authorities, holds mentally ill persons pending their movement to appropriate health facilities, holds individuals for the military, for protective custody, for contempt, and for the courts as witnesses, releases convicted inmates to the community upon completion of sentence, transfers inmates to federal, state, or other authorities, houses inmates for federal, state, or other authorities because of crowding of their facilities, relinquishes custody of temporary detainees to juvenile and medical authorities, operates community-based programs with day-reporting, home detention, electronic monitoring, or other types of supervision, and holds inmates sentenced to short terms. Variables include information on jail population by legal status, age and sex of prisoners, maximum sentence, admissions and releases, available services and programs, structure and capacity, facility age and use of space, expenditure, employment, staff information, and health issues, which include statistics on drugs, AIDS, and tuberculosis.

The Ministry of the Solicitor General annually releases data on the segregation, restrictive confinement, and deaths in custody of inmates in Ontario’s adult correctional system. Data Source: Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS) Segregation is defined in Ontario Regulation 778 as any type of custody where an inmate is in highly restricted conditions for 22 to 24 hours or does not receive a minimum of two hours of meaningful social interaction each day, excluding circumstances of an unscheduled lockdown. A record is created each time an inmate meets the conditions of segregation and closed when the inmate no longer meets those conditions. A break in a segregation placement is defined as occurring when an individual is out of segregation conditions for 24 or more continuous hours. The Ministry of the Solicitor General defines restrictive confinement as any type of confinement that is more restrictive than the general population but less restrictive than segregation. As a result, the ministry is reporting on any case within the fiscal year reporting period where an individual was held in a unit regularly scheduled to be locked down for 17 hours or more per day. This timeframe is considered more restrictive than that of the general population based on an assessment of provincewide lockdown times. Regularly scheduled lockdowns are daily routine times where movement out of a cell is restricted, such as during meal times and overnight. The Ministry of the Solicitor General is committed to providing greater transparency by releasing data on all custodial-related deaths that occurred within the calendar year reporting period. The datasets in this category include information on gender, race, age, religion or spiritual affiliation, and alerts for mental health concerns and suicide risk. To simplify the provision of data, several data tables include information on both individuals in segregation conditions and individuals in restrictive confinement. Due to the differences in the way that the data on segregation conditions and restrictive confinement have been collected, and the differences in the definitions of these concepts, these numbers should not be compared to each other. Some individuals may have both placements in restrictive confinement and segregation conditions, within the reporting period. Therefore, these numbers should not be added together when calculating proportions out of the total. Please refer to https://www.ontario.ca/page/jahn-settlement-data-inmates-ontario for additional information on the data release, including written overviews of the data and disclosure on data collection methods.

This data set consists of hourly updates of the total population in Fulton County jail facilities. The population numbers are extracted from the Comprehensive Justice Information System (CJIS). Because new bookings are not always entered into the CJIS immediately, especially during busy periods, the population numbers in this data set may vary by small amounts from the actual population at any given time.

The dataset contains year- and state-wise compiled data on the total number of inmates (undertrail and convicted prisoners), together with total prison capacity and occupancy ratio in the prisons of India

Context

In 1975, the United States set a new record with 240,593 prisoners incarcerated by state or federal agencies. The United States achieved new record totals during each of the next 34 years. Today, there are over 1,500,000 prisoners in the United States. Over one quarter of the world's entire population of prisoners is located in the United States.

The U.S. Education deparment reports state and local government expenditures on prisons (and jails - not reflected in this dataset) have increased about three times as fast as spending on elementary and secondary education during this time period. Does this significant investment into imprisonment improve public safety? This dataset brings together crime and incarceration statistics to help researchers explore this relationship.

Content

The Bureau of Justice Statistics administers the National Prisoners Statistics Program (NPS), an annual data collection effort that began in response to a 1926 congressional mandate. The population statistics reflect each state's prisoner population as of December 31 for the recorded year. Prisoners listed under federal jurisdiction are incarcerated by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) has served as the FBI's primary national data collection tool since a 1930 congressional mandate directed the Attorney General to "acquire, collect, classify, and preserve identification, criminal identification, crime, and other records." The FBI collects this information voluntarily submitted by local, state, and fedral law enforcement agencies. Some U.S. municipalities choose not to participate fully in the program. The crimes_estimated field indicates cases where the FBI estimated state totals due to lack of participation by some municipalities within a state. The crime_reporting_change field reflects instances when states' reporting standards change. For more information on the responsible use of this dataset, please see Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics: Their Proper Use

Acknowledgements

State and Federal prisoner population figures published by Bureau of Justice Statistics.

State crime and population statistics published by the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. https://www.ucrdatatool.gov/Search/Crime/State/RunCrimeStatebyState.cfm

Banner Photo by Oscar Söderlund on Unsplash

Inspiration

What is the relationship between incarceration rates and crime rates? Does mass incarceration improve public safety? See below for some recent statements from U.S. politicians related to the relationship between crime and incarceration. Are the data consistent with any of these statements?

"There is no better way to reduce crime than to identify, target, and incapacitate those hardened criminals... we cannot incapacitate these criminals unless we build sufficient prison and jail space to house them. " - Nominee for 85th U.S. Attorney General William Barr, [October 28, 1992][13]

"Violent crime has declined since the 1980s because mandatory minimums adopted then locked up violent criminals." - Senator Tom Cotton, August 15, 2018

"You may assume mass incarceration exists because people are committing more crimes. But that is not true... The incredibly costly reality is that prisons in our nation continue to grow irrespective of crime rates. It is a bureaucracy that has been expanding independent of our security or safety." - Senator Cory Booker, Apr 28, 2015

"It is far from clear whether this dramatic increase in incarceration for drug crimes has had enough of an effect on property and violent crime rates to justify the human toll of more incarceration." - Senator Ted Cruz, Apr 27, 2015

"For several decades, tough laws and long sentences have created the illusion that public safety is best served when we treat all offenders the same way: arrest, convict, incarcerate..." - Senator Kamala Harris, [Apr 27, 2015][11]

"We've got some space to put some people! We need to reverse a trend that suggested that criminals won't be confronted seriously with their crimes" - 84th U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, [March 15, 2018][12]

...

Outline of operational concepts for the publication of General Statistics of the Prison Population data