US+Prison+Population+Statistics

U.S. Prison Population statistics Factsheet In recent decades the U.S. has experienced a surge in its prison population, quadrupling since 1980, partially as a result of mandated sentences that came about during the "war on drugs" and despite the decline in violent crime and property crime since the early 1990s. The United States spends $60 billion each year on corrections. lowest ratio of imprisoned to civilian population Maine (148 per 100,000), highest ratio Louisiana (816 per 100,000) federal prison, 57% sentenced for drug offenses, one million of those incarcerated are in prison for non-violent crime like theft and drug possession. In 2002, 93.2% of prisoners were male. About 10.4% of all black males in the United States between the ages of 25 and 29 sentenced and in prison, compared to 2.4% of Hispanic males and 1.2% of white males. In 2005, about 1 out of every 136 U.S. residents was incarcerated either in prison or jail. The total amount being 2,320,359, with 1,446,269 in state and federal prisons and 747,529 in local jails. Compared with other countries, the United States has among the highest incarceration rates in the world. More people are behind bars in the United States than any other country, according to available official figures. 2006, a record 7 million people were behind bars, on probation or on parole. Of the total, 2.2 million were incarcerated. China with 20% of the world's population ranks second with a reported 1.5 million followed by Russia with 870,000. However, China's true prison population has been speculated to be considerably higher by activists such as Harry Wu. The United States has 5% of the world's population and 25% of the world's incarcerated population. In 2006 the incarceration rate in England and Wales is 139 persons imprisoned per 100,000 residents while in Norway it is 59 per 100,000 and in Australia and France it is around 100 inmates per 100,000. In many countries, it is common for prisoners to be paroled after serving as little as one third of their sentences. In the U.S., most states strictly limit parole, requiring that at least half of a sentence be served. For certain heinous crimes, there is no parole and the full sentence must be served. Some feel that repeat offenders are not properly handled and that more focus should be on rehabilitation, and that shorter sentences would even reduce the criminal culture in general and especially reduce re-arrest rates for first-time convicts. A survey showed that among the nearly 300,000 prisoners released, 67.5% were rearrested within 3 years, and 51.8% were back in prison. However, the study found no evidence that spending more time in prison raises the re-arrest rate, and found that those serving the longest time, 61 months or more, had a significantly lower re-arrest rate (54.2%) than every other category of prisoner. This is most likely explained by the older average age of those released with the longest sentences, and the study shows a strong negative correlation between recidivism and age of release.