The National Prisoner Statistics (NPS) data collection began in 1926 in response to a congressional mandate to gather information on persons incarcerated in state and federal prisons. Originally under the auspices of the U.S. Census Bureau, the collection moved to the Bureau of Prisons in 1950, and then in 1971 to the National Criminal Justice Information and Statistics Service, the precursor to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) which was established in 1979. From 1979 to 2013, the Census Bureau was the NPS data collection agent. In 2014, the collection was competitively bid in conjunction with the National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP), since many of the respondents for NPS and NCRP are the same. The contract was awarded to Abt Associates, Inc. The NPS is administered to 51 respondents. Before 2001, the District of Columbia was also a respondent, but responsibility for housing the District of Columbia's sentenced prisoners was transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and by yearend 2001 the District of Columbia no longer operated a prison system. The NPS provides an enumeration of persons in state and federal prisons and collects data on key characteristics of the nation's prison population. NPS has been adapted over time to keep pace with the changing information needs of the public, researchers, and federal, state, and local governments.

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 National Prisoner Statistics (NPS) data collection began in 1926 in response to a congressional mandate to gather information on persons incarcerated in state and federal prisons. Originally under the auspices of the U.S. Census Bureau, the collection moved to the Bureau of Prisons in 1950, and then in 1971 to the National Criminal Justice Information and Statistics Service, the precursor to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) which was established in 1979. From 1979 to 2013, the Census Bureau was the NPS data collection agent. In 2014, the collection was competitively bid in conjunction with the National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP), since many of the respondents for NPS and NCRP are the same. The contract was awarded to Abt Associates, Inc. The NPS is administered to 51 respondents. Before 2001, the District of Columbia was also a respondent, but responsibility for housing the District of Columbia's sentenced prisoners was transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and by yearend 2001 the District of Columbia no longer operated a prison system. The NPS provides an enumeration of persons in state and federal prisons and collects data on key characteristics of the nation's prison population. NPS has been adapted over time to keep pace with the changing information needs of the public, researchers, and federal, state, and local governments.

In 2022, the incarceration rate of African Americans in local jails in the United States was *** incarcerations per 100,000 of the population -- the highest rate of any race or ethnicity. The second-highest incarceration rate was among American Indians/Alaska Natives, at *** incarcerations per 100,000 of the population.

These data contain historical incarceration rates, from the mid-1800 to the present day, for Australia, Canada, England & Wales, New Zealand & the United States The data are for two papers: * Andrew Leigh, "Estimating Long-Run Incarceration Rates for Australia, Canada, England & Wales, New Zealand and the United States", Australian Economic History Review, 2020 * Andrew Leigh, "The Second Convict Age: Explaining the Return of Mass Imprisonment in Australia", Economic Record, 2020

The data contain records of sentenced offenders in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at year-end of fiscal year 2020. The data include commitments of United States District Court, violators of conditions of release (e.g., parole, probation, or supervised release violators), offenders convicted in other courts (e.g., military or District of Columbia courts), and persons admitted to prison as material witnesses or for purposes of treatment, examination, or transfer to another authority. These data include variables that describe the offender, such as age, race, citizenship, as well as variables that describe the sentences and expected prison terms. The data file contains original variables from the Bureau of Prisons' SENTRY database as well as additional analysis variables. Variables containing identifying information (e.g., name, Social Security Number) were either removed, coarsened, or blanked in order to protect the identities of individuals. These data are part of a series designed by Abt Associates and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Data and documentation were prepared by Abt Associates.

As of 2022, Black people were more likely than those of other races to be imprisoned in the United States. In that year, the rate of imprisonment for Black men stood at ***** per 100,000 of the population. For Black women, this rate stood at ** per 100,000 of the population.

The Annual Survey of Jails (ASJ) is the only data collection effort that provides an annual source of data on local jails and jail inmates. Data on the size of the jail population and selected inmate characteristics are obtained every five to six years from the Census of Jails. In each of the years between the complete censuses, a sample survey of jails is conducted to estimate baseline characteristics of the nation's jails and inmates housed in these jails. The 2020 Annual Survey of Jails is the 32nd such survey in a series begun in 1982. The ASJ 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, growth in the population supervised in the community, changes in methods of community supervision, and crowding issues. The ASJ also provides information on changes in the demographics of the jail population, supervision status of persons held, and a count of non-U.S. citizens in custody. The data presented in this study were collected in the Annual Survey of Jails, 2020. These data are used to track growth in the number of jails and the capacities nationally, changes in the demographics of the jail population and supervision status of persons held, the prevalence of crowding issues, and a count of non-U.S. citizens within the jail population. 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. The reference date for the survey is June 30, 2020. The 2020 ASJ included a special module to collect data on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on local jails from March 1, 2020, to June 30, 2020. Items included: number of jail inmates at the end of each month from January 2020 to May 2020 number of expedited releases from jail due to the pandemic number of COVID-19 tests conducted on confined inmates number of positive tests number of jail staff that tested positive number of jail inmates and staff that died from COVID-19 The data on COVID-19 tests and deaths are in the restricted-use version of the 2020 ASJ data file only

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) began designing the National Prisoner Statistics Program - Coronavirus Pandemic Supplement (NPS-CPan) in spring 2020, while simultaneously adding questions on the effects of COVID-19 to its Annual Survey of Jails and Annual Surveys of Probation and Parole. The NPS-CPan was conducted from April to October, 2021 by Abt Associates, Inc. on behalf of BJS, as part of the existing multiyear award to collect annual National Prisoner Statistics (NPS-1b) and National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP) data. The NPS-CPan was designed to be fielded a single time, and was administered to the 50 state departments of corrections (DOCs) and the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which is also responsible for housing felons sentenced in the District of Columbia. Respondents were asked to complete a survey requesting details on the monthly custody prison population, admissions, and releases of prisoners from January 2020 to February 2021 and counts and demographic distributions of prisoners who tested positive for and who died from COVID-19. In addition, questions covered policies and practices used by states and the BOP to mitigate transmission of the virus, expedite release of prisoners, and determine the process by which staff and prisoners were vaccinated in early 2021. This 14-month survey period allowed BJS to track monthly trends in admissions and custody populations immediately prior to widespread COVID-19 infections in the United States, as well as capture the introduction of vaccines to prison systems.

In 2022, about *** people per 100,000 inhabitants were imprisoned in the state of Mississippi, the most out of any state. The imprisonment rate stood at *** people per 100,000 inhabitants in the United States in that year.

The National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP) compiles offender-level data on admissions and releases from state and federal prisons and post-confinement community supervision. The data are used to monitor the nation's correctional population and address specific policy questions related to recidivism, prisoner reentry, and trends in demographic characteristics of the incarcerated and community supervision populations. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has administered the NCRP since 1983. Abt Associates has served as the NCRP data collection agent since October 2010.

The National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP) compiles offender-level data on admissions and releases from state and federal prisons and post-confinement community supervision. The data are used to monitor the nation's correctional population and address specific policy questions related to recidivism, prisoner reentry, and trends in demographic characteristics of the incarcerated and community supervision populations. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has administered the NCRP since 1983. Abt Associates has served as the NCRP data collection agent since October 2010. This version of the NCRP contains selected variables making it suitable for public release. This version of the NCRP data contains data for term records, prison admissions, prison releases, and year-end prison population counts. The data files have selected variables making the data suitable for public release. The complete version of NCRP data is classified as restricted access. Please search for (ICPSR No. 38491) to find the analogous complete version of this file.

In 2022, about 1,826 Black men per 100,000 residents were imprisoned in the United States. This rate was much lower for Black women, at 64 per 100,000 residents. The overall imprisonment rate in 2022 stood at 355 per 100,000 Americans.

Around 1.23 million people were imprisoned in the United States in 2022. This is a slight increase from the previous year, when 1.2 million people were in prison.

This dataset displays the inmate populations for all the Federal Prisons throughout the United States on 3.20.08. This weekly Population Report can be found on the Bureau of Prisons website at bop.gov. These facilities are positioned by their lat/lon. This dataset is updated on a weekly basis.

The data contain records of sentenced offenders released from the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) during fiscal year 2020. The data include commitments of United States District Court, violators of conditions of release (e.g., parole, probation, or supervised release violators), offenders convicted in other courts (e.g., military or District of Columbia courts), and persons admitted to prison as material witnesses or for purposes of treatment, examination, or transfer to another authority. Records of offenders who exit federal prison temporarily, such as for transit to another location, to serve a weekend sentence, or for health care, are not included in the exiting cohort. These data include variables that describe the offender, such as age, race, citizenship, as well as variables that describe the sentences and expected prison terms. The data file contains original variables from the Bureau of Prisons' SENTRY database as well as additional analysis variables. Variables containing identifying information (e.g., name, Social Security Number) were either removed, coarsened, or blanked in order to protect the identities of individuals. These data are part of a series designed by the Urban Institute (Washington, D.C.) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Data and documentation were prepared by the Urban Institute through 2012. Data from 2013 and on were prepared by Abt Associates.

Between 2020 and 2021, North Dakota's prison population increased by **** percent, the most out of any state. The overall number of state prisoners in the United States decreased by *** percent over this time period, likely due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Nationwide, over 1.9 million adults were living in correctional facilities as of the 2020 Decennial Census. Correctional facilities for adults include the following types:Federal detention centers, providing "short term" confinement or custody of adults pending adjudication or sentencing. Includes Immigrations Enforcement (ICE) and Customs inmates and ICE Contract Detention Facilities, among other types of federal detention centers.Federal and state prisons*, where people convicted of crimes serve their sentences. Patients in hospitals operated by or for federal or state correctional authorities are counted in the prison population.Local jails and other municipal confinement facilities*, operated by or for counties, cities, and American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments. Patients in hospitals operated by or for local correctional authorities are counted in the jail population.Correctional residential facilities. Residents may be allowed extensive contact with the community, such as for employment or schooling, but are obligated to occupy the premises at night. Examples are halfway houses, restitution centers, and prerelease, work release, and study centers.Military disciplinary barracks and jails, managed by the military to hold those awaiting trial or convicted of crimes.*This category may include privately operated correctional facilities.Full documentation of definitions available on pages B-11 and B-12 of the technical documentation for 2020 Census State Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File. Data available for state, county, tract, block group, and block from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2020 Public Law 94-171 files. State data is symbolized as both a count and a percentage of the adult population. Data for county and below is symbolized to show counts only, as the percentages at lower geography levels are not very meaningful.

There were about 87,784 female prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities in the United States as of December 2022. This is an increase from the previous year, when there were 83,651 female prisoners in the country.

In the 21st century, homicide has been responsible for roughly 0.6 to 0.8 percent of all deaths in the United States. While this is higher than annual rates observed in the post-WWII era, it is significantly less than the rates seen between the mid-1960s and mid-1990s, where over one percent of all deaths in the U.S. were from homicide in most years. Crime wave of the late 20th century There are a variety of factors attributed to the crime wave of the late 20th century. Demographic factors include the arrival of the baby boomer generation into adolescence, a rise in urbanization, and a growing share of the population living in poverty. A series of economic recessions saw the prosperity of the post-war period come to an end, and many turned to crime in response.

This coincided with a rise in the illegal drug trade and drug consumption, as well as the federal government's response via the so-called "War on Drugs", which changed the dynamics of inter-city crime and law enforcement for decades to come. A rise in incarceration rates has been cited as one of the reasons for the "Great Crime Decline" of the 1990s, although many are skeptical of its long-term effectiveness.