Jail Inmates in 2021 – Statistical Tables

• NCJ Number: 304888
• Author(s): Zhen Zeng, PhD, BJS Statistician
• Date Published: December 2022
• Publication Series: Jail Inmates, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear
• Publication Type: Publication

Description

This report is the 35th in a series that began in 1982. It describes the number of persons held in local jails, jail incarceration rates, inmate demographics, conviction status and most serious offense, the number of admissions to jail, jail capacity, inmate turnover rates, and staff employed in local jails.

Highlights

• After a 37% decrease from midyear 2019 to midyear 2020, the number of females confined in local jails increased 22% from 2020 to 2021. The number of males increased 15% from 2020 to 2021.
• The racial and ethnic composition of local jail inmates remained stable from 2020 to 2021. At midyear 2021, about 49% of local jail inmates were white, 35% were black, and 14% were Hispanic. American Indians or Alaska Natives; Asians, Native Hawaiians, or Other Pacific Islanders; and persons of two or more races together accounted for 2% of the total jail population.
• After a 26% decline from midyear 2019 (224 per 100,000 U.S. residents) to midyear 2020 (166 per 100,000), the jail incarceration rate increased 15% from 2020 to 2021 (192 per 100,000).
• Unconvicted jail inmates accounted for 81% of the increase in jail population from midyear 2020 to midyear 2021.