U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report Profile of Jail Inmates, 2002 July 2004, NCJ 201932 Revised 10/13/04 ------------------------------------------------------------- This file is text only without graphics and many of the tables. A Zip archive of the tables in this report in spreadsheet format (.wk1) and the full report including table and graphics in .pdf format are available from: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/pji02.htm 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#pji ------------------------------------------------------------- By Doris J. James BJS Statistician ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Highlights * Jail inmates were older on average in 2002 than 1996: 38% were age 35 or older, up from 32% in 1996. * More than 6 in 10 persons in local jails in 2002 were racial or ethnic minorities, unchanged from 1996. * An estimated 40% were black; 19%, Hispanic, 1% American Indian; 1% Asian; and 3% of more than one race/ethnicity. * Half of all jail inmates in 2002 were held for a violent or drug offense, nearly unchanged from 1996. * 46% of jail inmates were on probation or parole at the time of arrest, a slight increase from 45% in 1996. * 39% of jail inmates in 2002 had served 3 or more prior sentences to incarceration or probation, down from 44% in 1996. * In 2002, 41% percent of jail inmates had a current or prior violent offense; 46% were nonviolent recidivists; 13% had a current or prior drug offense only. * The average sentence length of jail inmates increased from 23 months in 1996 to 24 months in 2002; time expected to be served in jail dropped from 10 to 9 months. * Among convicted inmates, alcohol use at the time of the offense dropped from 41% (1996) to 33% (2002), while drug use dropped from 35% to 29%. * 56% of jail inmates said they grew up in a single-parent household or with a guardian. About 1 in 9 had lived in a foster home or institution. * 31% of jail inmates grew up with a parent or guardian who abused alcohol or drugs; 46% had a family member who had been incarcerated. * Over half of women in jail said they had been physically or sexually abused in the past, compared to over a tenth of men. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- At midyear 2002, 665,475 persons were held in local jails: over half had been convicted; a quarter were detained awaiting arraignment or trial; and a sixth were held on a prior sentence but also awaiting arraignment or trial on a new charge. These findings are based on information from personal interviews with a national sample of nearly 7,000 jail inmates, conducted January through April 2002. The survey provides a profile of offenders held in local jails and a comparison to those held in 1996 when the last survey was conducted. Based on the 2002 Survey of Inmates in Local Jails (SILJ), the number of inmates held for drug law violations totaled 156,000, up from 114,100 in 1996. The increase in drug offenders accounted for 37% of the growth in the nation's jail population. Overall, at midyear 2002 the distribution of jail inmates by type of offense remained nearly unchanged: a fourth of inmates in each of four major categories violent, property, drug, or public-order. Two-thirds of jail inmates in 2002 said they were regular drug users; over half of the convicted inmates reported using drugs in the month before their current offense. An estimated 66% of jail inmates reported using alcohol at least once a week for a month; 33% were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the current offense. Together, 77% of convicted jail inmates were alcohol or drug-involved at the time of their current offense. ---------------------------------------- More than 6 in 10 jail inmates were racial or ethnic minorities, unchanged since 1996 As defined in this report, jails are locally operated correctional facilities that confine persons before or after adjudication. Inmates sentenced to jail usually have a sentence of a year or less, but jails also incarcerate persons in a wide variety of other categories. In each year, about 6 in 10 jail inmates were racial or ethnic minorities (table 1). In 2002 blacks made up 40% of the jail inmate population; Hispanics, 19%; and whites, 36%. The decline in American Indian/Alaska Native inmates to 1.4% in 2002 from 2.4% in 1996, may reflect the change in the data collection method in 2002 that allowed inmates to select more than one racial category. Female inmates made up almost 12% of the local jail inmate population in 2002, up from 10% in 1996. The jail population was older in 2002 than in 1996. About 38% of jail inmates were age 35 or older, up from 32% in 1996. An estimated 8% of jail inmates were not U.S. citizens, unchanged from 1996. Jails -- * receive individuals pending arraignment and hold them awaiting trial, conviction, or sentencing * readmit probation, parole, and bail-bond violators and absconders * temporarily detain juveniles pending transfer to juvenile authorities * hold mentally ill persons pending their movement to appropriate 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 * hold inmates sentenced to short terms (generally under 1 year). ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Over half of all jail inmates convicted of current or prior charges only In 2002 an estimated 37% of all jail inmates were convicted of the offense that led to their most recent admission to jail, unchanged from 1996 (table 2). About 18% in 2002 were convicted of prior charges for which they were on probation or parole, compared to 11% in 1996. Among unconvicted jail inmates in 2002, 17% were on trial or awaiting trial. Around 11% were awaiting arraignment or a revocation hearing of a prior release status (such as bail/bond, electronic monitoring, house arrest, day/weekend reporting, work/study release, or furlough). An estimated 16% of all inmates were both unconvicted (on current arrest offenses) and convicted (on a prior offense). About 43% of jail inmates in 2002 reported they were sentenced to serve time in jail or prison or were awaiting sentencing. Just under 10% said they were awaiting sentencing for an offense. Minor changes in the offenses for which inmates were being held Overall, the offense composition of the jail population changed slightly between 1996 and 2002 (table 3). The percentage of inmates held for drug offenses increased to 25% in 2002 from 22% in 1996, driven by drug trafficking which rose to 12% from 9%. The percent of jail inmates held for property offenses declined from 27% in 1996 to 24% in 2002. Violent and public-order offenses were relatively unchanged at around 25% in 1996 and 2002. Among unconvicted inmates, 34% had a violent offense as the most serious charge, while 23% had drug offenses. About 29% of convicted inmates were public-order offenders; 25% were property offenders; and 24% were drug offenders. Among jail inmates who were both convicted and unconvicted, 30% had a drug offense as their most serious conviction offense; 27% had a property offense; 22% a violent offense; and 19% a public-order offense. Drug trafficking (12.1%) was the most common offense among jail inmates, followed by assault (11.7%) and drug possession (10.8%). Over 6% of jail inmates in 2002 were held for burglary, larceny/theft, or driving while intoxicated. Although 46% of all jail inmates were on probation or parole at the time of their arrest, about 3% reported a probation or parole violation as their most serious charge. In absolute numbers, drug and public- order offenders accounted for most of the growth in the jail population between 1996 and 2002. Drug offenders in local jails rose by 41,800 and public-order offenders by 30,700, accounting for 64% of the increase in the jail population. Violent offenders (up 24,000) accounted for a fifth of the overall growth. An increasing percentage of female inmates had violent offenses An increasing percentage of female inmates had violent offenses as their most serious charge, 17% in 2002, up from 15% in 1996 and 13% in 1989. Still, compared to male inmates (27%) in 2002, female jail inmates were less likely to be violent offenders (table 4). Female jail inmates were more likely than males to be drug offenders. An estimated 29% of female and 24% of male inmates were drug offenders in 2002. A larger percentage of women were in jail for drug possession (15%) than for trafficking (11%), while the distribution for men was reversed, drug trafficking (12%) and possession (10%). The most serious offense of jail inmates varied among white, black, and Hispanic inmates. In 2002 black inmates (31%) were more likely to be in jail for drug offenses than white inmates (19%) and Hispanic inmates (28%). Drug trafficking made up a larger percentage of the drug offenses for blacks (16%) and Hispanic (14%) inmates, than for whites (9%). Black and Hispanic inmates (27%) were also more likely to be violent offenders than white inmates (22%). White inmates (31%) were more likely to be in jail for public-order offenses, particularly DWI, than black (18%) and Hispanic inmates (28%). White (11%) and Hispanic (8%) inmates were over 4 times more likely to be in jail for DWI than black inmates (2%). Nearly a quarter of jail inmates had been held for 14 days or less at the time of the interview Nearly a quarter (23%) of all jail inmates had been in jail for 14 days or less at the time of the interview (table 5). Twenty-nine percent had been held from 2 to 6 months, while 7% had been held for a year or more. An estimated 30% of convicted jail inmates had been in jail from 2 to 6 months, compared to 25% of unconvicted inmates. A larger percentage of convicted inmates (8%) than unconvicted inmates (5%) had been in jail for more than a year. Regardless of detention status, nonviolent offenders had spent less time in jail than violent offenders. About 40% of nonviolent offenders had been in jail a month or less, compared to 31% of violent offenders. Violent offenders (11%) were twice as likely as nonviolent offenders (5%) to have been in jail for a year or more. About three-quarters of sentenced inmates to serve time in local jail Jail inmates who were sentenced to serve time, either for a prior or current offense, were asked if they expected to serve their time in a jail, prison, juvenile facility, or other type of facility. Of the estimated 271,000 sentenced jail inmates, 73% expected to serve their sentence in jail, 24% in State or Federal prison, and 4% elsewhere. Among inmates who will serve their sentence in jail, a third were public-order offenders. About a fourth were property offenders, and a fifth each were violent or drug offenders. Half the inmates sentenced to jail in 2002 had a term of 8 months or less, expecting to serve 5 months or less The average maximum sentence length for inmates who were to serve their time in jail was an estimated 24 months in 2002, up from 23 months in 1996 (table 6). Though stable overall, the average sentence length for violent offenders dropped from 36 months to 33 months; for property offenders, from 26 to 23 months; and for public-order offenders, from 13 to 10 months. The average sentence for drug offenders was 35 months in 2002, up 11 months from 1996. This change was due to an increase for drug trafficking, from 29 to 50 months. In 2002 inmates sentenced to serve time in jail expected to serve an average of 9 months before their release, down from 10 months in 1996. Time expected to be served by violent inmates dropped to 14 months in 2002 from 16 months in 1996. Property offenders expected to serve 9 months, down from 11 months, and drug offenders, 11 months, down from 13 months. A third of jail inmates were on probation at the time of arrest More than half of jail inmates reported having a pre-existing criminal justice status at the time of arrest, unchanged from 1996. The percent of inmates on probation increased from 32% to 34%, while the percent out on bail or bond dropped from 13% to 7% (table 7). Over half of jail inmates who were on probation or parole at the time of arrest were drug or property offenders. A fifth of each group had a violent offense. An estimated 26% of those on probation and 31% on parole said their release had been revoked because of an arrest or conviction for a new offense. Approximately 17% reported drug-related violations as the reason for revocation of release. 24% of jail inmates had 3 or more prior incarcerations in 2002, down from 32% in 1996 In 1996 and 2002 approximately 27% of jail inmates reported they had no prior sentences to probation or incarceration, and nearly 18% said they had one prior sentence (table 8). During this period, the percent reporting they had served two prior sentences rose (from 11% to 17%), while the percent reporting three or more prior sentences declined (from 44% to 39%). While 42% of inmates in 1996 and 2002 reported no prior sentence to incarceration, nearly 24% in 2002 responded that they had served one prior sentence to incarceration, compared to 18% among inmates surveyed in 1996. The percentage of jail inmates who had served three or more prior sentences to incarceration dropped to 24% in 2002, down from 32% in 1996. The number of prior sentences to probation remained stable between 1996 and 2002. Nearly 4 in 10 had no prior sentence to probation. Just over 3 in 10 jail inmates in 2002 had served one prior sentence to probation; just under 3 in 10 had served two or more prior sentences to probation. Hispanic inmates were less likely to have served a sentence to incarceration or probation than white or black inmates. Forty-nine percent of Hispanic inmates had no prior sentence, com- pared to 43% of black inmates and 39% of white inmates. 41% of jail inmates had a current or past violent offense; 13% a current or past drug offense only An estimated 41% of jail inmates in 2002 had a current or prior sentence for a violent offense (table 9). About 46% were nonviolent offenders with property, drug, or public-order as their current and prior offenses. Thirteen percent had only current or past drug offenses. The prior offense history of jail inmates varied by conviction status, gender, and race. Nearly half of unconvicted jail inmates were current or violent recidivists versus over a third of convicted inmates in 2002. Male inmates (43%) were more likely than females (27%) to have a current or prior violent offense (table 10). Women (18%) were more likely than men (13%) to have current or past drug offenses in 2002. Black inmates were more likely to be violent recidivists (30%) than white inmates (27%) or Hispanic inmates (24%) in 2002. Among inmates with no previous conviction, about 15% of Hispanic inmates had a current violent offense, followed by black inmates at 14%, and whites, at 11%. An estimated 9% of white inmates had past or current drug offenses only, compared to 17% of black and 17% of Hispanic inmates. More than 6 in 10 jail inmates reported regular use of alcohol Two-thirds of jail inmates reported regular use of alcohol in 2002, unchanged since 1996. Regular use was defined as ever drinking alcohol at least once a week for at least a month. (The definition of regular use includes drinking daily or drinking at least once a week during the year before the offense for which inmates were admitted to jail.) Only convicted inmates were asked about alcohol or drug use at the time of the offense. Jail inmates who reported using alcohol at the time of the offense dropped from 41% in 1996 to 33% in 2002. About two-thirds of male inmates in 2002 said they regularly drank alcohol, compared to over half of female inmates. More than a third of convicted male inmates and under a quarter of convicted female inmates had used alcohol at the time of the offense. An estimated 39% of convicted white inmates reported alcohol use at the time of the offense in 2002, down from 48% in 1996. Among convicted black inmates, alcohol use at the time of offense dropped from 34% to 29%; and for convicted Hispanic inmates, from 38% to 301%. In 2002 jail inmates with violent (38%) or property (29%) offenses were more likely to have used alcohol at the time of the offense than inmates with public-order (26%)or drug (22%) offenses. Regular drug use rose slightly between 1996 and 2002 The proportion of jail inmates who reported regular use of drugs increased between 1996 and 2002. An estimated 69% said they used drugs regularly or at least once a week for a month, up from 64% in 1996 (table 12). Marijuana (76%), cocaine or crack (48%), and hallucinogens (32%) were the drugs reported most commonly ever used by jail inmates in 2002 and in 1996. During the period, regular use of marijuana rose slightly (from 55% to 58%). Use of hallucinogens also rose (from 11% to 13%), while regular use of other types of drugs remained relatively stable. In each year over half of convicted jail inmates reported drug use in the month before the offense. In 2002, 38% of jail inmates reported use of marijuana in the month before the offense; 21% reported use of cocaine or crack; 11%, stimulants (including amphetamines and methamphetamines); and 8%, heroin or other opiates. Overall, there was little change in the type of drugs used in the month before the offense between 1996 and 2002. An estimated 29% of convicted jail inmates reported using drugs at the time of the offense, down from 35% in 1996. In 2002, 14% of jail inmates said that they had used marijuana at the time of the offense, followed by 11% who said they had used cocaine or crack. In 1996, 18% of inmates reported using marijuana, and 14%, cocaine or crack. Alcohol or drug use at the time of the offense declined An estimated 50% of all convicted jail inmates reported that they had used alcohol or drugs at the time of the offense in 2002, down from 59% who reported being under the influence of a substance in 1996 (table 13). In 2002, 35% of jail inmates said they had used alcohol at the time of the offense, down from 41% in 1996. Over a fourth of jail inmates reported drug use at the time of the offense in 2002, down from a third in 1996. The percentage of female jail inmates who said they had used alcohol or drugs at the time of the offense dropped substantially from 58% in 1996 to 46% in 2002. Alcohol or drug use at the time of the offense as reported by male inmates also dropped from 59% to 50%. About 77% of convicted jail inmates could be characterized as alcohol- or drug-involved offenders in 2002, unchanged from 1996. Substance abuse treatment rose slightly between 1996 and 2002 Participation in substance abuse treatment for jail inmates who reported regular use of drugs or alcohol rose (from 50% to 58%) between 2002 and 1996 (table 14). However, participation among convicted jail inmates who had used drugs or alcohol in the month before their current arrest was unchanged at about 53%. In 2002 an estimated 15% of regular users in the year before their arrest said they had received treatment since their current admission to jail, a slight increase from 12% in 1996. Self-help (10%) and education awareness (5%) were the most common types of programs inmates said they had participated in since admission to jail. About 43% of regular drug or alcohol users in 2002 reported past treatment while under correctional supervision (in jail or prison or on probation or parole). About 34% of regular users in 1996 reported past treatment. The increase may be due to reported past treatment while on probation or parole which rose from 23% in 1996 to 31% in 2002. Past treatment in prison or jail had a smaller increase from 25% to 29%. Nearly a third of convicted jail inmates in 2002 who had used drugs or alcohol in the month before their arrest said they had participated in a treatment program while on probation or parole, up from over a quarter in 1996. Convicted inmates who said they had participated in treatment while in prison or jail remained at 28%. Over half of all jail inmates grew up in a single-parent household or with a guardian Over half of jail inmates grew up in either a single-parent household or with a guardian, such as grandparents, another relative, or a nonrelative (table 15). Jail inmates who lived with a mother only dropped from 43% to 39% between 1996 and 2002. An estimated 12% of jail inmates in 2002, compared to 14% in 1996, said they had lived in a foster home, agency, or institution while growing up. In 2002, 31% of jail inmates said they grew up in households where a parent or guardian abused alcohol or drugs, unchanged since 1996. Nearly 9% lived with parents who abused both alcohol and drugs. An estimated 46% of jail inmates in 2002 had a family member who had been incarcerated in a prison or jail. About 31% had a brother; 19% a father; 9% a sister; and 7% a mother who had been incarcerated. 35% of jail inmates reported ever having been injured in an assault prior to admission to jail In 2002, for the first time, jail inmates were asked if they had ever suffered an injury from an assault before their current admission to jail. (See Methodology for a description.) More than a third of all jail inmates said they had ever been injured in an assault (table 16). About 17% of jail inmates had been injured after they were adults, age 18 or older, and 8% said they had been injured before age 18. Around 37% of male jail inmates said they had sustained an injury following an assault, compared to 16% of female inmates. A larger percentage of female inmates (86%) than male inmates (68%) knew the person who caused the injury. An estimated 62% of female inmates said an intimate partner such as (ex) spouse, (ex) girlfriend, or (ex) boyfriend had caused the injury. About 20% of male inmates said they were injured by an intimate partner. Over 5% of female and 3% of male inmates said they had been injured by a parent or guardian. 18% of jail inmates reported physical or sexual abuse prior to admission to jail In 2002, 18% of all jail inmates said they had been physically or sexually abused before their most recent admission to jail, a slight increase from 16% in 1996 (table 17). The percent of female inmates who said they had been abused rose from 48% to 55%, while the distribution for male inmates was unchanged at 13%. The overall increase in physical or sexual abuse among female inmates may be attributable to those reporting physical abuse which rose from 37% to 45% between 1996 and 2002. In 2002, 36% of female inmates reported they had been sexually abused in the past. An estimated 4% of men reported sexual abuse prior to their current jail admission. Among jail inmates who had been abused, women (68%) were more likely than men (11%) to have been abused by an intimate partner. Among abused women, 26% said they had been physically or sexually abused by a parent or guardian, and 34% by a friend or acquaintance. Among abused men, 60% had been physically or sexually abused by a parent or guardian, and 14% by a friend or acquaintance. Nearly a fifth of jail inmates had ever been under a restraining order In 2002, 19% of jail inmates had at some time been under a restraining order or protection order (table 18). About 5% of all jail inmates had an order in effect when they were admitted to jail. Fewer than 2% had a formal violation charge among their current offenses. Nearly 5% of jail inmates said they had violated a restraining order in the past. Of jail inmates who had ever been under a restraining order, three-quarters said the order was sought by an intimate. A fifth said a nonrelative had obtained the order. Methodology The Survey of Inmates in Local Jails was conducted from January through April, 2002. The sample for the survey was selected from a universe of 3,365 jails that were enumerated in the 1999 Census of Jails. The sample design was a stratified two-stage selection, where jails were selected in the first stage and inmates to be interviewed in the second stage. In the first stage, six separate strata were formed based on the size of the male, female and juvenile (both male and female) populations. In two strata all jails were selected those jails housing only females and those with more than 1,000 males or more than 50 females or both. In the remaining four strata a systematic sample of jails was selected. Each jail within a stratum had an equal probability of selection. Overall, 465 jails were selected. Interviews were conducted in 417 jails; 39 refused or were excluded for administrative reasons; and 9 were closed or had no inmates to survey. In the second sampling stage, interviewers from the Census Bureau visited each selected facility and systematically selected a sample of male and female inmates. The sample used a random start and a total number of interviews based upon the size and sex of the facility. A total of 6,982 inmates were interviewed, and 768 refused to participate, for a second stage nonresponse of 9.9%. The interviews, about an hour long, used computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI). The computers provided questions for the interviewer, including follow-up questions tailored to the preceding answers. Before the interview, inmates were told verbally and in writing that participation was voluntary and that all information provided would be held in confidence. Based on the completed interviews, estimates for the entire jail population were developed using weighting fac- tors derived from the original probability of selection in the sample. These factors were adjusted for variable rates of nonresponse across strata and inmate characteristics. Further adjustments were made to control the survey estimates to counts of jail inmates obtained from the 1999 Census of Jails and the 2001 Annual Survey of Jails. The accuracy of the 2002 Survey of Inmates in Local Jails depends on sampling and measurement errors. Sampling errors occur by chance because a sample rather than a complete enumeration of the population was conducted. Measurement error can be attributed to many sources, such as nonresponse, recall difficulties, differences in the interpretation of questions among inmates, and data processing errors. The sampling error, as measured by an estimated standard error, varies by the size of the estimate and the size of the base population. Estimates of the standard errors for selected characteristics have been calculated for the 2002 Survey. Standard error tables are available in Appendix tables on the BJS Website . In this report, the definition of a con- victed jail inmate differs from other previously published reports. All available survey data were used to classify inmates as convicted, unconvicted, or both convicted and unconvicted. In the Annual Survey of Jails, administrators report the detention status of the most serious offense and include probation and parole violators with no new sentence among convicted inmates. Trend comparisons between data in this report and reports based on data from previous jail inmate surveys are affected by the revised definition of convicted and unconvicted inmates. Other revisions to the questionnaire will also affect comparisons across surveys. In the questionnaire, physical assault was defined as being pushed, grabbed, slapped, kicked, bit, shoved, hit with a fist, beat up, choked, or having a weapon (such as a gun, knife, rock or other object) used against them. A physical injury was defined as knife wounds, gunshot wounds, broken bone, teeth knocked out or chipped, internal injuries, knocked unconscious, bruises, black eye, cuts, scratches, swelling, or welts. The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. Lawrence A. Greenfeld is director. Doris J. James wrote this report, under the supervision of Allen J. Beck. Jennifer C. Karberg and Christopher J. Mumola verified the report, and Tom Hester edited it. Doris J. James, under the supervision of Allen J. Beck, designed the survey, developed the questionnaire, and monitored data collection, data processing, and production of weights. Stephen M. Bittner and Tammy Anderson, Demographic Surveys Division, Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce, carried out questionnaire design and development, under the supervision of Gertrude Odom. Stephen M. Bittner monitored data collection and processing, under the supervision of Marilyn M. Monahan. Renee Arion programmed the questionnaire, and Dave Keating programmed the listing instrument, under the supervision of Rob Wallace, Technologies Management Office. Programming assistance in the Demographic Surveys Division was provided by Mildred Ballenger, Ruth Breads, Bach-Loan Nguyen, Scott Raudabaugh, and David Watt under the supervision of Stephen Phillips. John M. Finamore, Brandi York, and Dave Hornick, Demographic Surveys Methods Division, under the supervision of Thomas Moore, designed the sample and weighting specifications. Sydnee Chattin-Reynolds and Luis Padilla, Field Division, under the supervision of Richard Ning, coordinated the field operations. The affiliations for the Census Bureau date to the time of the survey. July 2004, NCJ 201932 07/15/04 pm revised 10/13/04 ih