Highlights
In three weeks, jails have contact with as many people as prisons do in an entire year.
Each year, U.S. jails process an estimated 12 million admissions and releases. That translates into 34,000 people released from jails each day and 230,000 released each week.
More than two-thirds (70%) of jail inmates were held for felony charges.
Inmates in local jails were less likely to die than were adults in the adjusted U.S. resident population (same with prisons).
Local jail authorities supervised 38,700 persons in programs outside of jail.
From 2008 to 2019, the number of persons supervised outside of jail declined 36%, the number of weekenders declined 47%, and the number of confined inmates declined 6%.
The population of female inmates increased by 11% while males declined.
Author
Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.
Retired federal senior spokesperson. Thirty-five years of directing award-winning public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed multiple times by every national news outlet. Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of criminology and public affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Certificate of Advanced Study-Johns Hopkins University. Former police officer. Aspiring drummer.
Note
This is National Correctional Workers Week. Correctional workers and parole and probation agents have immensely difficult and dangerous jobs. They deserve the appreciation of the nation for all they do to protect public safety.
Article
The Maryland Department of Public Safety (I was their director of public information) took over the operation of the Baltimore City Jail to relieve the city of a fiscal burden. None of us looked forward to this new responsibility. Jails are notoriously difficult and dangerous places to operate.
We found over 100 inmates who were long past their release dates or held without charges. It became a national and international story, New York Times.
Jails are simply nuts. They take in far more people than prisons. At intake, many are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, mentally or emotionally ill, or have pressing medical issues. We had to do our best not to mix inmates with enemies. They were often fresh from the streets and pissed off at the victims, witnesses, arresting officers, jail staff and everyone else.
Most were felons and many were held pretrial for serious violent crimes or for warrants. The majority had extensive criminal histories.
I was there during a disturbance (riot?) when the new director and I got misdirected (lost?) in the facility. Inmates and staff guided us to safety.
People who run correctional facilities with stable populations have incredibly difficult jobs but big city jails are several steps beyond challenging.
The following are an array of recent jail statistics from the Bureau of Justice of the US Department of Justice. Note that most of the data presented is pre-COVID.
Bureau Of Justice Statistics Yearly Report
Each year, U.S. jails process an estimated 12 million admissions and releases. That translates into 34,000 people released from jails each day and 230,000 released each week.
In three weeks, jails have contact with as many people as prisons do in an entire year…., US Jails.
In 2019, more than two-thirds (70%) of jail inmates were held for felony charges. In 2019, the weekly inmate turnover rate in local jails nationwide was 53%, with inmates spending an estimated average of 26 days in jail.
Local jails in the United States held about 734,500 inmates at midyear 2019, a decline of 6% from a peak of 785,500 inmates in 2008.
The jail incarceration rate decreased 13% from 2008 to 2019, declining from 258 to 224 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents.
Demographic Characteristics Of Jail inmates
Blacks were incarcerated at a rate (600 per 100,000) more than three times the rate for whites (184 per 100,000).
Over the 11-year period from 2008 to 2019, the rate increased for whites (up 10%) and declined for blacks (down 27%) and Hispanics (down 36%).
The population of male inmates decreased 9% from 2008 to 2019, while the population of female inmates increased 11%.
The number of juveniles confined in local jails declined 62%, from 7,700 inmates in 2008 to 2,900 in 2019.
Admissions, Capacity, And Staff At Local Jails
Local jails reported 10.3 million admissions in 2019, which was 24% lower than the 13.6 million admissions in 2008.
About 81% of local jail beds were occupied at midyear 2019, down from 95% at midyear 2008.
Local jails employed an estimated 237,500 full-time staff in 2019, the highest number in the period from 2013 to 2019.
The inmate-to-correctional-officer ratio was 4 to 1 in 2019.
Conviction Status, Average Time In Jail, And Community Supervision
In 2019, more than two-thirds (70%) of jail inmates were held for felony charges.
About 65% (480,700) of jail inmates were awaiting court action on a current charge, while the remaining 35% (253,700) were serving a sentence or awaiting sentencing on a conviction.
In 2019, the weekly inmate turnover rate in local jails nationwide was 53%, with inmates spending an estimated average of 26 days in jail.
On average, the weekly inmate turnover rate in jails with an average daily population (ADP) of 2,500 or more inmates was 39%, while the rate was 97% in jails with an ADP of less than 100 inmates.
In addition to the 734,500 confined inmates at midyear 2019, local jail authorities supervised 38,700 persons in programs outside of jail, including electronic monitoring, home detention, day reporting, community service, alcohol or drug treatment programs, and other pre-trial supervision and work programs.
From 2008 to 2019, the number of persons supervised outside of jail declined 36%, the number of weekenders declined 47%, and the number of confined inmates declined 6%
Jail Deaths
From 2017 to 2018, the number of deaths in local jails increased 1.9% (from 1,099 to 1,120 deaths).
On average, about half of all deaths in local jails from 2008 to 2018 were due to illnesses, such as heart disease, liver disease, and cancer.
The number of deaths in local jails due to drug or alcohol intoxication has more than quadrupled between 2000 (37) and 2018 (178).
Inmates in local jails were less likely to die in 2018 (146 deaths per 100,000 jail inmates) than were adults in the adjusted U.S. resident population (322 deaths per 100,000 adult U.S. residents).
In 2018, females held in local jails had a higher rate of mortality (162 deaths per 100,000 female inmates) than males had (152 deaths per 100,000 male inmates).
Whites accounted for 59% of jail inmate deaths in 2018, similar to the percentage in 2017 (60%).
About 40% of inmate deaths in 2018 occurred within the first 7 days of admission to jail, while an additional 15% of deaths occurred among inmates serving 6 months or more.
Similar to previous years, three-quarters (75%) of all inmates who died in local jails were unconvicted at the time of their death.
The average annual suicide rate among white inmates (86 per 100,000) from 2000 to 2018 was more than three times the rate among Hispanic inmates (25 per 100,000) and five times the rate among black inmates and those of other racial groups (both 16 per 100,000).
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