U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Executive Summary Correctional Populations in the United States, 1993 October 1995, NCJ-156675 By Tracy L. Snell BJS Statistician This report is one in a series. More recent editions may be available. To view a list of all in the series go to http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pubalp2.htm#cpus (The full text of this report is available through-- * the BJS Clearinghouse, 1-800-732-3277 * on the Internet at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ * on the BJS gopher: gopher://www.ojp.usdoj.gov:70/11/bjs/ * on the National Criminal Justice Reference Service Electronic Bulletin Board (set at 8-N-1, call 301-738-8895, select BJS). An estimated 4.9 million adults were under some form of correctional supervision in 1993. Nearly three-quarters of these people were on probation or parole. About 2.6% of the U.S. adult resident population were under correctional care or supervision in 1993, up from 1.1% in 1980. Jails Local jails are facilities that hold inmates beyond arraignment, usually for more than 48 hours but less than a year. Local jails are administered by city or county officials. Local jails held an estimated 456,000 adults, or about 1 in every 419 adult U.S. residents, on June 30, 1993. Men made up 90% of adult jail inmates. White non-Hispanic inmates accounted for 39% of the total jail population; black non-Hispanics, 44%; and Hispanics, 14%. The total number of adults in jail increased by an estimated 13,700 inmates during the year ending June 30, 1993, or 3.1%. The overall increase of 273,200 adult inmates between 1980 and 1993 represents an average annual increase of 7.3%. Probation More than 2.8 million adults were on probation on December 31, 1993. Probationers made up 58% of all adults under correctional supervision in 1993. Approximately 20% of the probationers were women, a larger proportion than for any other correctional population. About 64% of adults on probation were white, and 34%, black. Six in ten persons discharged from probation had successfully completed their sentences. The number of adults on probation in the United States increased by 31,834 (1.1%) between yearend 1992 and 1993. From 1980 to 1993 the probation population grew by more than 1.7 million, an average of 7.4% annually. Prisons An estimated 909,000 men and women were in the custody of State and Federal prisons at yearend 1993. About 94% of all prisoners were men; 48% were white, and 51%, black. Two-thirds of sentenced prisoners entering prison in 1993 were new court commitments and more than a quarter were parole or other conditional release violators. Among persons released from prison in 1993, 78% were placed on probation, parole, or some other type of conditional release. The number of prisoners rose by 6.8% during 1993, the equivalent of nearly 58,000 inmates. This brought the total increase in prisoners between 1980 and 1993 to 598,588, which translates to an average growth rate of 8.4% each year. Parole An estimated 671,000 adults were on parole at yearend 1993, an increase of 2.0% from 1992. Nine of every ten parolees were men. An estimated 49% of persons on parole were white; 50%, black; and 1%, of other races. Three-fourths of entries to parole were based on a parole board decision. More than half of all exits from parole were categorized as successful completions. Most of the remainder were returned to incarceration, but only a tenth of parolees were returned to incarceration with a new sentence. While the parole population increased by only 2% during the year, the average annual rate of increase from 1980 to 1993 was 8.9%, more than that of any other correctional population. The number of adults on parole doubled during the 13-year period (from 220,438). Capital punishment During 1993, 282 inmates were received under sentence of death by State and Federal prisons, and 108 had their death sentences removed by means other than execution. State and Federal prisons held a total of 2,716 prisoners under sentence of death on December 31, 1993. An estimated 58% of those under sentence of death at yearend were white and 41% were black. Half of the inmates had been under sentence of death for at least 5« years. Ten States executed 38 male prisoners during 1993. The number of executions was greater than that in any other single year after 1976. The total number of prisoners executed under civil authority in the United States from 1977 to 1993 was 226. Details for local jails Every 5 years the Bureau of Justice Statistics conducts a census of the Nation's jails to obtain detailed information on local jail inmates, staff, facilities, and programs. Previous censuses were conducted in 1970, 1972, 1978, 1983, and 1988. Jail incarceration rates increased On June 30, 1993, the Nation's jails held 459,804 inmates, an increase of 3.4% over the population on June 30, 1992. Between 1983 and 1993 the jail inmate population nearly doubled on a per capita basis. During this period the number of jail inmates per 100,000 residents rose from 96 to 178. In 1993, 8 States had over 200 local jail inmates per 100,000 residents: Louisiana (377), Georgia (328), Texas (307), Tennessee (282), Florida (250), Virginia (225), California (222), and Nevada (215). States with a jail incarceration rate less than half that of the Nation were Iowa, Maine, and North Dakota (57), Minnesota and Montana (81), and South Dakota (87). Between 1983 and 1993 the number of local jail inmates rose the most in the South and the least in the Midwest. During this period the inmate population grew 135% in the South, 102% in the Northeast, 81% in the West, and 79% in the Midwest. Jail incarceration rate among blacks almost 6 times that among whites On June 30, 1993, a majority of local jail inmates were black or Hispanic. White non-Hispanics made up 39% of the jail population; black non-Hispanics, 44%; Hispanics, 15%; and other races (Asians, Pacific Islanders, American Indians, and Alaska Natives), 1%. Relative to the number of residents in the U.S. population, blacks (regardless of Hispanic origin) were nearly 6 times more likely than whites to have been held in a local jail at midyear 1993. An estimated 653 black inmates per 100,000 black residents were held in local jails, compared with 113 white inmates per 100,000 white residents. A small number of jails held a disproportionate share of all inmates About 6% of the jail facilities housed more than half of all jail inmates on June 30, 1993. Facilities with an average daily population of 500 or more held 53% of local jail inmates. Facilities with fewer than 50 persons comprised 57% of all jails but housed about 8% of all inmates. In 1993, 5 States incarcerated slightly less than half of all local jail inmates: California (69,298 inmates), Texas (55,395), Florida (34,183), New York (29,809), and Georgia (22,663). The Nation's 25 largest jail jurisdictions accounted for more than 30% of all inmates at midyear 1993. The two jurisdictions with the most inmates, Los Angeles County and New York City, together held 37,372, or more than 8% of the national total. Increasing jail capacity kept pace with growing population At midyear 1993 the rated capacity of the Nation's local jails totaled 475,224. Rated capacity is the maximum number of beds or inmates allocated by rating officials to each jail facility. Between 1983 and 1993 more than 200,000 beds were added. As of June 30, 1993, 97% of the total jail capacity was occupied. Between 1988 and 1993 rated capacity of the Nation's jails increased by 40%, while the number of inmates increased by 34%. Jail staff increased at a faster rate than inmates Between 1983 and 1993, the number of inmates increased at an annual rate of 7.5%, while the number of full-time and part-time employees grew at an annual rate of 9.9%. Local jails employed an estimated 165,500 persons on June 30, 1993. The total staff grew by more than 100,000 between 1983 and 1993, an increase of 156%. In 1993 correctional officers comprised about 7 in every 10 employees. Relative to the number of correctional officers, jails held 3.9 inmates per officer in 1993, down from 5.0 in 1983. Annual jail expenditures exceeded $9.6 billion Local jails throughout the United States spent a total of slightly more than $9.6 billion during the year ending June 30, 1993. This estimated total (not adjusted for inflation) was more than triple the $2.7 billion spent in 1983. Excluding capital outlays in 1993, the average cost to keep one inmate incarcerated for a year was $14,667. Over 10 years the cost per inmate had risen 57% from $9,360. Adjusted for inflation to 1983 dollars the annual cost had decreased by 11%. Ten-year trends for local jails Census of Jails --------------------------- 1983 1988 1993 ------------------------------------------- Number of inmates 223,551 343,569 459,804 Rated capacity of jails 261,556 339,949 475,224 Percent of capacity occupied 85% 101% 97% Number of jails 3,338 3,316 3,304 Number of staff 64,560 99,631 165,500 Number of inmates per employee 3.5 3.4 2.8 Annual operating expenditures per inmate $9,360 $10,639 $14,667 * * * * * Mail to: Bureau of Justice Statistics Clearinghouse P.O. Box 179, Dept. BJS Annapolis Junction MD 20701-0179 Yes! Send me 1 copy of Correctional Populations in the United States, 1993 (205 pages), NCJ-156241. 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