E. Ann Carson, PhD,
BJS Statistician
September 2023, NCJ 307411
The Bureau of Justice Statistics provides key prison statistics prior to release of the annual prison report. The counts below include all prisoners under the jurisdiction of state and federal correctional authorities and those sentenced to more than 1 year under the same authorities.
Data shown include counts from 2012 through 2022 and a year-to-year comparison of 2021 and 2022 by selected characteristics.
Statistics from 2022, the latest data year, are preliminary and may be updated once BJS publishes the final data in Prisoners in 2022 - Statistical Tables, which is scheduled for release in November 2023.
Key findings
- The U.S. prison population was 1,230,100 on December 31, 2022, a 2% increase from 2021 (1,205,100).
- At yearend 2022, persons sentenced to more than 1 year under the legal authority of state and federal correctional authorities accounted for 96% (1,185,500) of the total U.S. prison population.
- At yearend 2022, 32% of persons sentenced to state or federal prison were black, while 31% were white, 23% Hispanic, 10% multiracial or some other race, 2% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 1% Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Other Pacific Islander.
- The number of persons sentenced to more than 1 year under the jurisdiction of correctional authorities increased in 35 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) from yearend 2021 to yearend 2022.
Read More
View Related Publication Series:
Prisoners Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear
Explore Related Data Collections:
Federal Justice Statistics Program (FJSP)National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP)National Prisoner Statistics (NPS)Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities (SISCF)Survey of Prison Inmates (SPI)
View Preliminary Data Release for Jails:
Preliminary Data Release - Jails
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Corrections