The United States Correctional System: Overview

The population of inmates in U.S. State and Federal prisons and jails has grown at an unprecedented rate in the past thirty years. Since 2000, the census of prisoners being detained in State and Federal prisons has risen 13%. Since 1990, the census has grown 100%. And since 1980, the census has grown a staggering 366% (Sabol, Minton et al. 2007).

As the volume of people behind bars continues to grow, it is more important than ever that the issue of prisoner health be given the attention that is needed.

General Facts about the U.S. Correctional System:

• At mid-year of 2006, more than 2.2 million inmates were incarcerated in State prisons, Federal prisons and local jails in the United States (Sabol, Minton et al. 2007).
• 1 out of every 133 Americans is behind bars at any one given moment in time (Sabol, Minton et al. 2007).
• Of the more than 2 million men incarcerated at midyear 2006, 40.9 per cent were African American, and 20.9 per cent were Hispanic/Latino (Sabol, Minton et al. 2007).
• In 1993, an estimated 7.2 million different individuals were released from jails, a number which has likely increased in the decade and a half since (Hammett, Harmon et al. 2002).

REFERENCES

1. Hammett, T. M., M. P. Harmon, et al. (2002). "The burden of infectious disease among inmates of and releasees from US correctional facilities, 1997." Am J Public Health 92(11): 1789-94.
2. Sabol, W. J., T. D. Minton, et al. (2007). "Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear, 2006." U.S. Department of Justice Document NCJ 217675.