Number of persons under the supervision of adult correctional systems in the United States, 2010–2020

Report:  Correctional Populations in the United States, 2020 – Statistical Tables (NCJ 303184, BJS, March 2022)
 

• At yearend 2020, an estimated 5,500,600 persons were under the supervision of adult correctional systems in the United States, 11% fewer than at the same time the previous year. 
• The decline in the correctional population in 2020 was due to decreases in both the community supervision population (down 276,700 or 6.6%) and the incarcerated population (down 294,400 or 18.9%). 
• About 1 in 47 adult U.S. residents (2.1%) were under some form of correctional supervision at the end of 2020, a decrease from 1 in 40 (2.5%) at the end of 2019. 
• About 7 in 10 persons under correctional supervision were supervised in the community (3,890,400) at yearend 2020, while about 3 in 10 (1,691,600) were incarcerated in a state or federal prison or local jail.

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Note: Estimates may differ from previously published statistics. See Methodology for more details. See Terms and definitions for more information and table 1 for counts.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Annual Probation Survey, Annual Parole Survey, National Prisoner Statistics program, 2010–2020; Annual Survey of Jails, 2010–2018 and 2020; and Census of Jails, 2019.