U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics ------------------------------------------------- This file is text only without graphics and many of the tables. A Zip archive of the tables in this report in spreadsheet format (.csv) and the full report including tables and graphics in .pdf format are available on BJS website at http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5872 ------------------------------------------------- Bulletin Jail Inmates in 2015 Todd D. Minton and Zhen Zeng, BJS Statisticians The average daily population (ADP) of jail inmates in 2015 (721,300) remained stable from 2011 to 2015 after peaking in 2008 (776,600) (figure 1, table 1). The ADP jail population count is a fraction of the number of inmates flowing into jail each year. In 2015, there were 10.9 million admissions to jails (table 2). From 2008 to 2015, the volume of admissions to jails steadily declined. The number of admissions to jail in 2015 was nearly 15 times the size of ADP in 2015. The jail incarceration rate—the confined population per 100,000 U.S. residents—decreased from a peak in 2006 through 2008 (260 per 100,000) to 230 per 100,000 at midyear 2015. These data are based on midyear counts, which includes the number of inmates held in custody on the last weekday in June. This was the lowest rate since midyear 2000 (220 per 100,000). The adult incarceration rate for persons age 18 or older also declined from a peak of 340 per 100,000 in 2006 through 2008 to about 300 per 100,000 each year since 2013. In addition to tracking the midyear population and the ADP, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has tracked the confined jail population at yearend since 2000. (See Terms and definitions textbox.) The jail population goes through seasonal change, typically with fewer inmates at yearend than at midyear (about 4% lower on average from 2000 to 2015), but the year-to-year changes of midyear and yearend population counts have followed a similar pattern (not shown). The total number of inmates confined in local jails was 693,300 on December 31, 2015. ******************************************************* ************ HIGHLIGHTS ************ * An estimated 721,300 inmates were confined in county and city jails on an average day in 2015, down from the peak of 776,600 inmates on an average day in 2008. * In 2015, there were 10.9 million admissions to jails, continuing a steady decline since 2008. * The number of admissions to jail in 2015 was nearly 15 times the size of average daily population in 2015. The adult jail incarceration rate declined from a peak of 340 per 100,000 in 2006 through 2008 to about 300 per 100,000 each year since 2013. * The juvenile population in local jails continued to decline in 2015, to fewer than 4,000—down from a peak of about 7,600 juveniles and 2010. * About 68% of jail inmates in 2015 were held for a felony offense, and the remaining 32% were held for either misdemeanor (27%) or other offenses (5%). * The rated capacity in jails reached 904,900 beds at yearend 2015, up by nearly 47,000 beds since 2010. * Local jail jurisdictions employed an estimated 213,300 full-time staff at yearend 2015 of which most (79%) were correctional officers. ******************************************************* ******************************************************** *********************** Terms and definitions ********************** Adult incarceration rate--The number of adult inmates held in the custody of local jails, per 100,000 U.S. residents age 18 or older. Admissions--Persons who are officially booked and housed in jails by formal legal document and the authority of the courts or some other official agency. Jail admissions include persons sentenced to weekend programs and those who are booked into the facility for the first time. Excluded from jail admissions are inmates reentering the facility after an escape, work release, medical appointment or treatment facility appointment, and bail and court appearances. Average daily population--The average is derived by the sum of inmates in jail each day for a year, divided by the number of days in the year. Average annual change--The mean average change across a 12-month period. Calculating weekly jail turnover rate--This rate is calculated by adding average weekly admissions and releases and dividing by the average daily population. See Calculating weekly turnover rates section for additional information. Inmates confined at midyear--The number of inmates held in custody on the last weekday in June. Inmates confined at yearend--The number of inmates held in custody on December 31. This number is typically smaller than the number of inmates confined at midyear. Jail incarceration rate--The number of inmates held in the custody of local jails, per 100,000 U.S. residents. Percent of capacity occupied--This percentage is calculated by taking the number of inmates (e.g. confined inmate population or average daily population) and dividing by the rated capacity. Rated capacity--The number of beds or inmates assigned by a rating official to a facility, excluding separate temporary holding areas. Releases--Persons released after a period of confinement (e.g., sentence completion, bail or bond releases, other pretrial releases, transfers to other jurisdictions, and deaths). Releases include those persons who have completed their weekend program and who are leaving the facility for the last time. Excluded from jail releases are temporary discharges, including work release, medical appointment or treatment center, court appearance, furlough, day reporting, and transfers to other facilities within the jail’s jurisdiction. Under jail supervision but not confined--This classification includes all persons in community-based programs operated by a jail facility. These programs include electronic monitoring, house arrest, community service, day reporting, and work programs. The classification excludes persons on pretrial release and who are not in a community-based program run by the jail, as well as persons under supervision of probation, parole or other agencies, inmates on weekend programs, and inmates who participate in work release programs and return to the jail at night. ******************************************************** ************************************ Juvenile population in adult jails continued to decline ************************************ The juvenile population (those age 17 or younger) in local jails continued to decline in 2015, to fewer than 4,000 inmates (tables 3 and 4). This was down from a peak of about 7,600 juveniles in 2010. Since 2000, at least 8 in 10 juveniles held in local jails were on trial or awaiting trial in adult court. While males accounted for at least 85% of the jail population each year since 2000, the female jail population grew from 11% of the total jail population in 2000 to more than 14% in 2013 and 2014. As a result, the female jail incarceration rate increased from about 50 per 100,000 female U.S. residents in 2000 to nearly 70 per 100,000 in 2014. The male incarceration rate remained relatively stable since 2000 (about 400 per 100,000 male U.S. residents) (not shown). White inmates accounted for at least 47% of the jail population since 2013, up from 42% in 2000. Conversely, the percentage of black inmates held in local jails declined from about 40% in 2005 to 35% in 2014 and 2015. Hispanics represented about 15% of the jail population in 2014, unchanged since 2000. American Indian and Alaska Native inmates represented a small proportion (about 1%) of the jail population, but their number has nearly doubled since 2000. ************************************ Nearly 7 in 10 inmates were held in jail for a felony offense ************************************ Since 2005, more than 60% of all jail inmates were awaiting court action on a current charge. About 4 in 10 inmates were sentenced offenders or convicted offenders awaiting sentencing. The growth in the overall jail inmate population since 2000 was due to the increase in the unconvicted population. Regardless of conviction status, about 68% of jail inmates in 2015 were held for a felony offense, and the remaining 32% were held for either misdemeanor (27%) or other offenses (5%) (not shown). ************************************ Jail jurisdictions with 2,500 or more inmates held 21% of the population in 2015, down from 25% in 2014 ************************************ Large jail jurisdictions with 2,500 or more inmates held 21% of the population in 2015, down from 25% in 2014 nationwide (table 5). In 2015, 1 in 5 inmates were held in 30 jail jurisdictions with an ADP of 2,500 or more inmates (not shown). Jail jurisdictions with 100–249 average daily population held 14% of inmates in 2015, up from 12% in 2014. In comparison, jail jurisdictions with an ADP of under 100 held less than 10% of the inmate population, but accounted for more than half of all jail jurisdictions in 2014 (57%) and 2015 (56%) (not shown). While the mean ADP of all jail jurisdictions decreased from 269 to 253 inmates between 2014 and 2015, the ADP within jail size categories remained stable. ************************************ Bed space increased between 2008 and 2015, while jail population decreased ************************************ The rated capacity in jails reached 904,900 beds at yearend 2015, up nearly 47,000 beds since 2010. (figure 2, table 6). Jail capacity grew at an annual rate of nearly 2% between midyear 2000 and yearend 2015. The rated capacity is the maximum number of beds or inmates allocated to each jail facility by a rating official, excluding separate temporary holding areas. While the jail population and rated capacity increased at similar rates from 2000 through 2008, the growth rates have diverged since 2008. The ADP declined by 7% from 2008 to 2015, while the rated capacity increased by 9%. Since peaking in 2007 at 95%, the percentage of occupied capacity on an average day (the ratio of ADP in a year to rated capacity) declined to 80% by yearend 2015. Combined, jail jurisdictions holding under 100 inmates reported the lowest occupied capacity (between 55% and 71%) compared to jail jurisdictions holding 100 inmates or more (between 80% and 86%) (table 7). In 2014 and 2015, about 80% of jail jurisdictions were operating at less than 100% of their capacity. The percentage of jail jurisdictions operating at more than 100% of their capacity ranged from 4% of jail jurisdictions with an ADP of 49 or fewer inmates to 24% of jail jurisdictions with an ADP of 1,000 to 2,499 inmates. ************************************ The smallest jail jurisdictions turn over inmates three times faster than the largest jails ************************************ For the smallest jail jurisdictions (49 or fewer inmates), the number of admissions to their jails was 37 times the size of the ADP in 2015 (table 8). The smallest jails accounted for less than 10% of all jail admission in 2014 and 2015, and large jails (1,000 or more) accounted for more than a third of all admissions. The smallest jails weekly turnover rate (140%) was three times that of the largest jail jurisdictions with an ADP of 2,500 or more inmates (42%). The smallest jails also maintained the lowest capacity occupied at 55%. A higher inmate turnover rate indicates a shorter length of stay in jail and is associated with an increased burden by jurisdictions to process admissions and releases. ************************************ Jail staff supervised an additional 57,100 persons in various community programs outside of jail ************************************ In addition to the confined jail population at yearend 2015, jail authorities also supervised 57,100 persons in various programs outside of the jail, including electronic monitoring, home detention, day reporting, community service, treatment programs, and other pretrial and work programs. On average, jails supervised an estimated 66,000 nonconfined persons each year between 2000 and 2015 (table 9). Local jail jurisdictions employed an estimated 213,300 full-time staff at yearend 2015 (table 10). Similar to 2013, most (79%) of the facility staff were correctional officers, including deputies, monitors, and other custody staff who spend more than 50% of their time with the incarcerated population. About 21% of the staff consisted of administrators, clerical and maintenance staff, educational staff, professional and technical staff, and other unspecified staff who spend more than 50% of their time in the facility. In 2013 and 2015, about 65% of the jail staff and 70% of all correctional officers were male. Nationally, the inmate-to- correctional officer ratio was 4.1 in 2015, similar to 2013. For state-level estimates of correctional officers for 2013, see Census of Jails: Population Changes, 1999–2013 (NCJ 248627, BJS web, December 2015). ************* Methodology ************* Annual Survey of Jails sampling design *************************************** In years between the complete censuses of jails, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) conducts the Annual Survey of Jails (ASJ). The ASJ is a nationally representative survey of all county or city jail jurisdictions and all regional jails in the country. A jail jurisdiction is a county (parish in Louisiana) or municipal government that administers one or more local jails and represents the entity responsible for managing the jail facilities under its authority. Most jail jurisdictions consist of a single facility, but some contain multiple facilities and/or multiple facility operators, called reporting units. For example, four reporting units in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, represent a single jail jurisdiction. The ASJ sample is drawn at the jurisdiction level. When a jail jurisdiction with multiple reporting units is sampled, data are collected from all reporting units within that jail jurisdiction. BJS collapses the reporting units into jail jurisdictions and reports statistics at the jurisdiction level. ASJ uses a stratified probability sample of jail jurisdictions to estimate the number and characteristics of jail inmates nationwide. The 2015 ASJ sample consists of 876 jail jurisdictions, representing 2,851 active jail jurisdictions nationwide. The 2015 ASJ used 2013 Census of Jails as its sampling frame. All jail jurisdictions were grouped into 10 strata based on their average daily population (ADP) and presence of juveniles in 2013. In 8 of the 10 strata, a random sample of jail jurisdictions was selected. The remaining two strata were certainty strata, where all jurisdictions were selected with probability 1. One stratum consisted of all jails that were operated jointly by two or more jurisdictions (referred to as multijurisdictional jails). The other stratum consisted of all jail jurisdictions that-- * held juvenile inmates at the time of the 2013 Census of Jails and had an ADP of 500 or more inmates during the 12 months ending on December 31, 2013 * held only adult inmates and had an ADP of 750 or more were located in California * were known to be operating in 2015 and not included in the 2013 Census of Jails. The ASJ sample includes all California jail jurisdictions. This sampling feature was introduced in 2013 in response to the enactment of California AB 109 and AB 117, aimed to reduce the number of inmates housed in state prisons starting on October 1, 2011. After the enactment of these two laws, the jail population in California experienced an unusual increase, which was atypical of the rest of the United States. For this reason, the ASJ sampling design was modified to include all California jail jurisdictions n a certainty (self-representing) stratum (see Methodology in Jail Inmates at Midyear 2014 (NCJ 248629, BJS web, June 2015)). The inclusion of all California jail jurisdictions resulted in an additional 21 jurisdictions. The sample also includes in the certainty stratum all six new jail jurisdictions that were known to be operating in 2015 and not represented in the sampling frame (2013 Census of Jails). Response rate and nonresponse adjustment ***************************************** Data were collected through a web-based survey. The initial sample consisted of 881 jail jurisdictions. Six jurisdictions were closed or merged with other jurisdictions at the time of the survey and dropped from the sample, resulting in a total of 876 active jail jurisdictions. The response rate was 97%. Nonresponse weighting adjustment *************************************** Nonresponse weighting was implemented to account for unit nonresponse. Jurisdictions were grouped into weighting classes based on sampling stratum and the 2013 inmate population. Using a simple weighting class method, the design weight of nonresponding jail jurisdictions was equally allocated to each of the responding jails within the same weighting class. The nonresponse weighting adjustment factor calculated within each weighting class h as: where nh = number of jurisdictions sampled in weighting class h, whi = sampling weight for jurisdiction i in weighting class h, JURISAhi = active status indicator for jurisdiction i in weighting class h (1 = active, 0 = out-of-scope), and JURISRhi = response indicator of jurisdiction i in weighting class h (1 = respondent, 0 = nonrespondent). Final weight ************* The final weight FWhi for each jail jurisdiction is FW hi = Whi × Fh × JURISRhi where JAILRhi set the final weight to 0 for jurisdictions that were out-of-scope or nonrespondents. Item nonresponse imputation ***************************** Item response rates ranged from 92% to 99%. For responding jail jurisdictions that were unable to provide some requested items, a weighted sequential hot-deck/cold-deck imputation procedure was used to impute values. This procedure, implemented using the SUDAAN software package, substitutes current-year respondent and prior-year (2013 Census of Jails, cold-deck) data for missing values. The donor for each missing item was randomly selected from within a set of similar jails, sorted by related previous-year population values. The resulting imputed values are generally similar to the reported values of the previous year, but are not identical because of differences between each donor and item pairing and the year-to-year fluctuation in donor population values. Midyear and yearend population difference ******************************************** Prior to 2015, the ASJ used midyear (last weekday in June) as the reference date in data collection. The 2015 ASJ changed the reference date to December 31. Comparisons of yearend data from 2015 ASJ with previous midyear data need to consider seasonal variations, as jails typically hold fewer inmates at yearend than at midyear. Calculating weekly turnover rates ************************************ Weekly jail turnover rates were modeled after the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Additional information on turnover rates is available at http://www.bls.gov/jlt/. Jail turnover rates were calculated by adding admissions and releases, and then dividing by the ADP. The turnover rate accounts for jail admissions and releases and gives an indication of the fluctuation of the jail population. It is calculated as the sum of average weekly admissions and releases, divided by the average daily population: (annual admissions + annual releases)/ADP*(7/365). Jurisdiction size categories ******************************* In the 2011 through 2014 jail inmate reports, BJS categorized jurisdiction sizes based on the ADP during the 12 months ending midyear 2006 (the first year in the ASJ sample for that period). The jurisdiction size for 2015 was based on the ASJ 2015 sample. The jurisdiction size categories for 2014 were based on average daily population during the 12-month period ending June 30, 2014, and for 2015 ADP was based on the 12-month period ending December 31, 2015. It assumes a similar fluctuation in the ADP during the two time periods. As a result, not all data in previous reports are comparable with data in this report. Jail functions ***************** Jails in the ASJ include confinement facilities—usually administered by a local law enforcement agency—that are intended for adults but may hold juveniles before or after they are adjudicated. Facilities include jails and city or county correctional centers, special jail facilities, such as medical or treatment release centers, halfway houses, and work farms, and temporary holding or lockup facilities that are part of the jail’s combined function. Inmates sentenced to jail facilities usually have a sentence of 1 year or less. Within the ASJ, jails-- * receive individuals pending arraignment and hold them awaiting trial, conviction, or sentencing * re-admit probation, parole, and bail bond violators and absconders temporarily detain juveniles pending their transfer to juvenile authorities * hold mentally ill persons pending their movement to appropriate mental health facilities * hold individuals for the military, for protective custody, for contempt, and for the courts as witnesses * release convicted inmates to the community upon completion of sentence * transfer inmates to federal, state, or other authorities * house inmates for federal, state, or other authorities because of crowding of their facilities * sometimes operate community-based programs as alternatives to incarceration. **************************************************************** The Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice is the principal federal agency responsible for measuring crime, criminal victimization, criminal offenders, victims of crime, correlates of crime, and the operation of criminal and civil justice systems at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels. BJS collects, analyzes, and disseminates reliable and valid statistics on crime and justice systems in the United States, supports improvements to state and local criminal justice information systems, and participates with national and international organizations to develop and recommend national standards for justice statistics. Jeri M. Mulrow is acting director. This report was written by Todd D. Minton and Zhen Zeng, Ph.D. Danielle Kaeble verified the report. Matt Bensen carried out data collection and processing with assistance from Megan Waggy, under the supervision of Chris Ellis and Susan Brumbaugh, RTI International. Scott Ginder provided statistical assistance, and Elizabeth Robbins provided technical assistance. Brigitte Coulton edited the report. Amy Salsbury produced the report. December 2016, NCJ 250394 **************************************************************** ************************************************** Office of Justice Programs Building Solutions * Supporting Communities * Advancing Justice www.ojp.usdoj.gov ************************************************** ************************** 12/22/2016 JER 9:00am *************************