INCARCERATION STATISTICS
- More than 2 million people now inhabit U.S. prisons, jails, youth facilities, and immigrant detention centers. That’s over 2 million out of a world total of 9 million prisoners.
- There are twice as many people suffering from mental illness in jails and prisons than in all psychiatric hospitals in the U.S. The U.S. population is less than 5 percent of the world’s total, whereas the prison population in the U.S. is more than 20 percent of the world’s prison population.
- The first state prison in California was San Quentin, opened in 1852. Between 1852 and 1955, 9 prisons were constructed in California. No prisons opened during the second half of the 1960s or 1970s. Between 1984 and 1989, 9 prisons opened. During the 1990s, 12 new prisons were opened, including two for women. There are now 33 prisons, 38 camps, 16 community correctional facilities, and 5 small-scale facilities for incarcerated mothers and their children.
- In 2002, there were 157,979 people incarcerated in these institutions. Latinos account for 35.2%, African Americans 30%, and white prisoners 29.2%.
- In 1990, 1 in 4 black men age 20-29 were in prison or jail, or on parole or probation. In 1995, it was 1 in 3 (32.2%). One in 10 Latino men of this same age was either in prison or jail or on parole or probation. The greatest increase during these five years was for black women, whose imprisonment rate increased by 78%.
- From 1990 to 1998 homicide rates dropped by half nationwide, but homicide stories on the three major television networks rose almost fourfold.
- At the end of 2001 there were 2,100,146 people incarcerated in the U.S.: 1,324,465 in federal and state prison, 15,852 in territorial prisons, 631,240 in jails, 8,761 in INS detention facilities, 2,436 in military facilities, 1,912 in American Indian territory, and 108,965 in juvenile facilities.
- In the ten years between 1990 and 2000, 351 new places of confinement were opened by states and more than 528,000 beds were added, totaling 1,320 state facilities. There are also currently 84 federal facilities and 264 private facilities.
- In 2000, there were 26 for-profit prison corporations in the U.S. operating approximately 150 facilities in 28 states, holding 91,828 federal and state prisoners.
Less than one percent of those sentenced to a term to life sentence return to prison for any reason. This extremely low recidivism rate among this class of incarcerated men is due to a strict regimen and the great amount of time spent rediscovering themselves, redeveloping themselves and taking responsibility for themselves. It also includes developing a sense of familial and civic responsibility and respect. These achievements are also due to their success in gaining community support for housing, employment, counseling, and other needs. The success of this formula proves that even throughout imprisonment, there must be continued community interaction for the successful reentry of an ex-offender to occur. The San Quentin T.R.U.S.T. for the Development of Incarcerated Men, along with its supporters from the community, provides just such a service to incarcerated men to the greatest extent possible with our resources.
