Prison system overview and structure

Prison System

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, on December 31, 2004, there were 2,135.901 prisoners being held in Federal or State prisons or in local jails (Prison). This is an increase of 2.6% from 2003, and less than the average annual growth of 3.4% since the yearend of 1995 (Prison). It is estimated that there are 486 prison inmates per 100,000 United States residents, a figure up from 411 at 1995 yearend (Prison). The number of women incarcerated increased 4% by the end of 2003, reaching 104,848, while the number of men rose 1.8%, totaling 1,391,781 (Prison). At the end of 2004, there were 3,218 African-American male sentenced prison inmates per 100,000 African-Americans in the United States, compared to 1,220 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 Hispanic males, and 463 white male inmates per 100,000 white males (Prison). Moreover, in 2004, approximately 7 million people were on probation, in jail or prison, or on parole by the year's end (Corrections). This breaks down to 3.2% of all United States adult residents, or 1 in every 31 adults (Corrections).

In October 2005, it was reported that the United States has the world's largest prison population and that the figure is still growing (U.S.). According to a recent report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the U.S. population, which was already the largest in the world, actually grew 1.9% to 2,267,787 people last year (U.S.). This place the United States with the highest incarceration rate among all countries (U.S.). Paige Harrison, who co-authored the report, attributed some of the prison population rise to tougher sentencing policies implemented in the late 1990's, which increased the average time served by prisoners by some seven-month from the average time served in 1995 (U.S.).

The Justice Policy Institute, a legal think-tank, said the statistics indicate little relationship between prison population growth and the crime rate, which has been falling in recent years (U.S.). In fact, an earlier government report revealed that violent crimes in the U.S. during 2004 were actually at the lowest level in over three decades (U.S.).

Given the growing prison population, U.S. legal experts are urging policy-makers to reconsider current sentencing policies, in an effort to avoid expensive incarceration costs and to invest in more productive prevention and treatment approaches to crime (U.S.).