Jail Inmates in 2017

• NCJ Number: 251774
• Author(s): Zhen Zeng
• Date Published: April 2019
• Length: 18 pages
• Publication Series: BJS Bulletins
• Agencies: BJS
• Publication Type: Statistics; Report (Technical Assistance)

Annotation

This report presents statistics on the inmate population in city and county jails in the United States at midyear 2017, with trends shown for the years 2005-2017; in addition to the jail population, statistics cover jail incarceration rates, inmate characteristics, jail time, jail capacity, and jail staffing.

Abstract

 Presents data on inmates confined in local jails from 2005 to 2017, including population counts and incarceration rates, inmate demographic characteristics and conviction status, admissions, jail capacity, and inmate turnover rates. Findings are based on data from BJS's Annual Survey of Jails and Census of Jail Inmates. Unlike prisons, jails are locally administered correctional facilities that typically house inmates with a sentence of one year or less, inmates pending arraignment, and individuals awaiting trial, conviction, or sentencing.

• County and city jails held 745,200 inmates at midyear 2017, down from 780,200 at midyear 2007.
• The jail incarceration rate declined from 259 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents at midyear 2007 to 229 per 100,000 at midyear 2017, a 12% decrease.
• In 2017, males were incarcerated in jail at a rate (394 per 100,000 male U.S. residents) 5.7 times that of females (69 per 100,000 female U.S. residents).
• In 2017, jails reported 10.6 million admissions, a 19% decline from 2007.
• The estimated average time in jail in 2017 was 26 days.