NCJ Number
309039
Date Published
December 2025
Publication Series
Description
This web-only report provides preliminary statistics on key items from BJS’s Annual Survey of Jails and Census of Jails. The jail statistics presented include the number of persons held in local jails by inmate demographics and conviction status, the number of admissions to jail, and jail incarceration rates, from 2014 to 2024. Final statistics will be published in Jail Inmates in 2024 – Statistical Tables (forthcoming).
Highlights
- At midyear 2024, local jails held 657,500 persons in custody, similar to the year before (664,200).
- Jails reported 7.9 million admissions from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024. While this represents a 4% increase over the 7.6 million admissions the year before, annual admissions were 31% lower than 10 years ago (11.5 million).
- At midyear 2024, 45% of individuals incarcerated in local jails were white, 38% were black, and 15% were Hispanic. Other racial and ethnic groups, including American Indian or Alaska Native individuals, Asian individuals, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander individuals, and those identifying with two or more races, collectively comprised 2% of the total jail population.
- At midyear 2024, 69% of the jail population (450,600) was unconvicted and awaiting court action on a current charge or being held in jail for other reasons. The remaining 31% (206,900) were convicted and either serving a sentence or awaiting sentencing on a conviction.
Date Published: December 9, 2025