NEW STUDIES ON US PRISONS

September 26, 2017:

Texas spends less than the national average on inmates, study finds.
Texas prisons are some of the most populous, and the state's incarceration rate is among the highest, but Texas spends less than the national average per inmate, according to a new study from BackgroundChecks.org. Looking at U.S. and state prison statistics, BackgroundChecks.org found that in 2015 Texas' prison population was 149,159, the highest in the nation.
A 2016 Texas Department of Criminal Justice report notes that on Aug. 31, 2016 there were 134,547 prisoners on hand in Texas. The 2015 version counts 135,266 on the same day 1 year earlier. But the group found that in 2015 Texas on average spent $22,012 per inmate, compared to the national average of about $33,849. Texas also spends less than the national median of approximately $29,803. New York spends the most on average in 2015 at $69,355 per inmate, and Alabama spends the least at $14,780, according to the group's analysis. New York's prison population was 53,181 in 2015, and Alabama's was 31,563, according to the study. BackgroundChecks.org pulled data from state budgets, state expenditure reports, the Department of Justice, state correctional agencies and departments and the census, according to its website. Texas has a higher rate of incarceration than most other states, according to the study. In 2015, Texas had an incarceration rate of 544 per 100,000 residents. Only 7 states had higher incarceration rates: Arkansas, Arizona, Alabama, Oklahoma, Delaware, Alaska and Louisiana. Texas had the 3rd-highest prison expenditures in 2015 at $3,283,213,997, with only New York and California ahead of it. Texas also has more inmates than most states on death row.
The Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that looks at capital punishment issues, found that on Oct. 1, 2016, only California and Florida had more inmates on death row than Texas. Other information about the US correctional system. In 2015, White represented 64% of the Us population, and 39% of the incarcerated population, Hispanic 16% and 19%, and Black 13% of Us population, and 40% of incarcerated population. Prison population total (including pre-trial detainees / remand prisoners): 2,145,100 at 31.12.2015 (U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics - 693,300 in local jails, 1,256,100 in state prisons, 195,700 in federal prisons). Pre-trial detainees / remand prisoners (percentage of prison population): 20.3%; Female prisoners (percentage of prison population): 9.7%. Women Under Control of the U.S. Corrections System: 106.000 in prison, 109.000 in jail, 966.000 on probation, and 103.000 on parole. The incarceration rate of the United States of America was the highest in the world, at 666 per 100,000 based on an estimated national population of 322.3 million at end of 2015. While the United States represents about 4.4 percent of the world's population, it houses around 22 percent of the world's prisoners. Juveniles (percentage of prison population): 0.2%; Foreign prisoners (percentage of prison population): 5.2%; Number of establishments / institutions: 5000+ (3,200 local and county jails and 1,800 state and federal confinement facilities; Official capacity of prison system: 2,140,321; Occupancy level (based on official capacity): 103.9%. Starting from the states that spend less, these are the estimated expenditure per year per inmate in 2015: Alabama: $14,780; Louisiana: $16,251; Oklahoma: $16,497; Kentucky: $16, 681; Nevada: $17,851; Indiana: $18,065; Florida: $19,069; Georgia: 19,977; South Carolina: $20,053; South Dakota: $20,748; Arkansas: $20,915; Virginia: $21,299; Texas: 22,012; Utah: $22,119; Idaho: $22,182; Missouri: $22,187; Tennessee: $23,468; Kansas: $24,511; Arizona: $25,397; Ohio: $26,509; West Virginia: $27,458; Hawaii: $29,425; North Carolina: $30,180; Illinois: $33,507; Montana: $33,578; Michigan: $35,809; New Mexico: $36,832; Washington: $37,841; Iowa: $37,908; North Dakota: $38,601; Wisconsin: $38,644; Delaware: $39,080; Colorado: $39,303; Minnesota: $41,366; Pennsylvania: $42,727; Oregon: $44,021; Maryland: $44,601; Alaska: $52,633; Massachusetts: $55,170; Vermont: $57,615; Rhode Island: $58,564; New Jersey: $61,603; Connecticut: $62,159; California: $64,642; New York: $69,355. In 2015, among facilities operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the average cost of incarceration for federal inmates was $30,619.85. Prisoners in each state: North Dakota: 1,696; Vermont: 2,026; Montana: 2,833; Rhode Island: 3,182; South Dakota: 3,524; Alaska: 6,010; Hawaii: 6,063; Delaware: 6,814; West Virginia: 6,882; Utah: 6,907;New Mexico: 7,167; Idaho: 8,120; Iowa: 8,195;Kansas: 9,697; Minnesota: 9,760; Massachusetts: 10,772; Nevada: 13,665; Oregon: 14,538; Connecticut: 16,347; Washington: 16,716; Arkansas: 17,785; Colorado: 18,054; Kentucky: 21,062; South Carolina: 21,773; New Jersey: 21,992; Wisconsin: 22,461; Maryland: 24,028; Oklahoma: 27,369; Indiana: 28,656; Tennessee: 30,837; Alabama: 31,563; Missouri: 32,284; North Carolina: 37,066; Louisiana: 38,296; Virginia: 38,688; Arizona: 42,131; Michigan: 43,375; Georgia: 46,145; Illinois: 47,622; Pennsylvania: 50,366; Ohio: 50,452; New York: 53,181; Florida: 100,567; California: 132,992; Texas: 149,159. (total 1,288,818).
Five states were omitted from the data: Mississippi, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Maine and Nebraska. Corrections (which includes prisons, jails, probation, and parole) cost around $80 billion in 2015 according to a report published by the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution. According to a study of researchers of Washington University in St. Louis, the economic toll of mass incarceration in the United States concludes that the full cost exceeds $1 trillion, with about half of that burden falling on the families, children and communities of people who have been locked up. The study calculates that for every dollar in corrections costs, incarceration generates an additional $10 in social costs.