NCJ Number
162739
Date Published
1994
Length
60 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes key findings based on questionnaires distributed in July 1994 to members of the Southern Legislative Conference that sought information on inmate population trends and incarceration rates, prison and jail capacities, budget and staffing issues, inmate characteristics, new prison costs, probation and parole, prison industries, privatization, and prison overcrowding.
Abstract
The inmate population housed in State correctional facilities throughout the Southern Legislative Conference increased by 30,606 (9.4 percent) between July 1993 and July 1994. The number of inmates housed in State and local jails increased by 113 percent over the period, from 191,633 to 407,715. The incarceration rate increased from 228 to 431.3 per 100,000 population. In July 1994, the inmate population exceeded capacity in 12 of 16 States reporting maximum design capacity of correctional facilities. Between fiscal years 1984-1985 and 1994- 1995, correctional expenditures in the region increased by 266.86 percent, with correctional budgets rising from $5.3 billion in 1993 to $8.6 billion in 1994. States in the region were authorized to employ 84,654 security officers as of July 1994, and about 90 percent of these positions were filled. A total of 6,509 assaults on inmates by other inmates and 3,089 inmate assaults on staff occurred during the year ending July 1994. The average age at commitment of adult inmates was 29.8 years. The average sentence imposed was 7.8 years, and the average time served on that sentence was 2.8 years. The racial composition of inmates included 35.4 percent white, 58.6 percent black, and 6 percent other classifications. Male inmates comprised 94.7 percent of the inmate population and females 5.3 percent. Approximately 33 percent of all inmates incarcerated in State correctional systems were serving life, death, or 20 or more years. Prison systems had a total of 3,073 AIDS cases, and States tested roughly 25 percent of all inmates for AIDS or HIV-related illnesses. Data on projected costs of new prisons revealed an average cost of $40 million for an average facility size of 996 beds. Data also indicated 13,790 probation and parole agents were supervising 994,224 probationers and parolees as of July 1994. Of the 16 States in the region, 15 maintained a prison industries program, with total gross sales at $508.7 million. States spent $319.7 million on service privatization, primarily for medical and drug treatment services. Finally, strategies implemented by States to combat prison overcrowding included construction, emergency release, recalculation of good time, community diversion, housing inmates in local jails, and sentencing guideline revision. Tables and figures