Report: US Prison Population Rises for First Time in Nearly 10 Years
The US prison population rose 2.1% between 2021 and 2022, per recent Justice Department data, reversing a longtime downward trend.
The latest findings mark "the first increase in the combined state and federal prison population in almost a decade," a recent DOJ report found, Axios reported.By the numbers: 1.23 million Americans were in state or federal prison in 2022, per the DOJ's data.That's up from 1.21 million in 2021, but down from 1.57 million in 2012.Mississippi's (+14.3%), Montana's (+8.8%) and Colorado's (+8.2%) incarcerated populations grew the most between 2021 and 2022.Meanwhile, those of Virginia (-10.5%), Oregon (-5.2%) and California (-3.8%) shrank the most.As of December 31, 2022, about 32% of the nationwide prison population was Black — more than double Black Americans' 13.6% share of the overall US population.The US prison population remains extremely high compared to the years before the Nixon-era "war on drugs" and "tough on crime" politics took hold.The data is based on the National Prisoner Statistics program, an annual DOJ census of nationwide prison populations, capacity and more.It's especially notable that the nationwide prison population increased in the late pandemic era, given that many prisons suffered significant and often deadly COVID-19 outbreaks.Some nonviolent offenders were moved to home confinement during the height of the pandemic in an effort to curb viral spread in prisons, which affected not just prisoners, but also prison staffers and surrounding communities.
"Despite rhetoric to the contrary, there's a lot of research that shows those kinds of health releases did not have any real negative impact on public safety," David Muhammad, executive director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, an advocacy group, told NPR."It is disappointing that we're seeing this increase in populations around the country because we have proven that we can have reductions and be safe," he added.
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