NCJ Number
141454
Journal
Large Jail Network Bulletin Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Dated: (October 1990) Pages: 1-5
Date Published
1990
Length
5 pages
Annotation
After describing the format for the next meeting of the Large Jail Network (January 20-22, 1991), which will focus on the internal and external issues related to jail crowding, this article presents statistics on trends in the distribution of U.S. jail inmates and jail crowding throughout the last 2 decades, based on Bureau of Justice Statistics' census of local jails beginning in 1970.
Abstract
Figures on jail populations for 1970-88 show that jail populations dropped 12 percent nationally between 1970 and 1972, increased gradually to 1970 levels from 1972 to 1978, and then doubled from 1978 to 1988. During this period of the doubling of the inmate population, construction of needed facilities did not keep pace; inmate population increased by 186,175, but the net number of new beds increased by only 94,539. Data on inmates by size of jail for 1988 indicate that the 2,222 small jails (67 percent of the jails) hold only 40,198 (12 percent) of the Nation's 343,569 inmates (1988 census). Large jails (250-499) and very large jails (500 plus), on the other hand, hold nearly two-thirds of the total jail population, although comprising only 9 percent of the total number of jails. Jail crowding and its concomitant community issues are thus faced primarily by the metropolitan areas and the urban counties. Other data indicate the number of jails by size and jail occupancy rates for 1978-1988. 6 figures