U.S. Prison Population at Record High

U.S. Prison Population at Record High

NewsMax Wires
Monday, Aug. 26, 2002

WASHINGTON -- One in every 32 adults in the United States was behind bars by the end of last year, according to a government report released Sunday that found 6.6 million men and women were in the nation's correctional system.

The number of adults under supervision by the criminal justice system rose by 147,700, or 2.3 percent, between 2000 and 2001, according to a report titled "Probation and Parole in the United States, 2001." The Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics compiled the report.

The adult probation population increased 2.8 percent during 2001, or by 106,542 probationers. The nation's parole population grew by 1 percent in 2001, increasing by 7,247 men and women.

Someone on probation has been convicted of a crime but has not been incarcerated and can avoid jail or prison time so long as he or she does not violate conditions of probation. A parolee is someone who has been incarcerated but has been released and can stay free so long as he or she meets conditions of parole.

The government report found that 46 percent of those discharged from parole in 2001 had met the conditions of supervision, while 40 percent went back to prison for violations.

Texas had more adults under correctional supervision than any other state, 755,100. California was second with 704,900. Texas also had the most adults on probation, 443,684, followed by California at 350,768.

Whites accounted for 55 percent of those on probation, while blacks made up 31 percent, the report said. On the other hand, 46 percent of those incarcerated were black and 36 percent were white.

The report also found that an estimated 53 percent of all probationers had been convicted of a felony, 45 percent of a misdemeanor and 1 percent of other infractions. About 25 percent were on probation for a drug law violation and 18 percent for driving while intoxicated.

Women were 22 percent, or 870,000, of the adults on probation during 2001, up from 18 percent in 1990. The government report also found that among parolees, about one in every eight, or 12 percent, during 2001 were women, up from 8 percent in 1990.

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