There were 5,500,600 adults in the U.S. correctional system at the end of 2020, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report published in late March 2022.
This is the lowest level since 1996, when 5,531,200 adults were in the system, and it continues more than a decade of population decline.
From 1981 to 2007, the U.S. correctional system population rose from 1,842,100 to 7,339,600, before beginning a steady decline. Over the last decade, the population has dropped 22.4%, or 1,588,400 people – reducing the incarceration rate from 960 to 660 per 100,000 adults.
The 2020 correctional population represents 2.1% of the total adult population of the U.S., down from 2.5% in 2019. Most people were in a community supervision program (3,890,400), while around one third (1,691,600) were in a prison or jail.
Of the total in community supervision, 3,053,700 were on probation and 862,100 were on parole. Of the total confined in a prison or jail, 1,215,800 were in a federal or state prison and 549,100 were in a local jail.
The full report is available here. The 2020 data tables are available here, and historical statistics are available here.
Managing editor for news and opinion at Good Faith Media.
