BY DONNA ROGERS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Jails: Stats & News What is jail churn? The myth of nonviolent drug offenses? The decline in prison—but not jail—populations? And more...
L OCAL JAILS ARE BUSTLING . AS OF THE LATEST STATISTICS, SOME 750,000 P E O P L E INCARCERATED ARE HELD IN COUNTY OR CITY JAIL.
THAT’S
O N E O U T O F E V E RY T H R E E PEOPLE BEHIND BARS TODAY IS HELD IN ONE OF
U.S.
3,163
LOCAL
JAILS , ACCORDING TO
THE ORGANIZATION
P RISON
POLICY INITIATIVE.
SOURCE: PRISON POLICY INITIATIVE
In fact most of those held in local jails are for pretrial detention. Across the U.S. our county and city jails house 462,000 people who haven’t been convicted of a crime or sentenced. While the pie chart “How many people are locked up in the United States?” provides a comprehensive snapshot of our correctional system, the graphic does not capture the enormous churn in and out of our correctional facilities, nor the far larger universe of people whose lives are affected by the criminal justice system, according the Prison Policy’s study “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2019.” In fact, it furthers, “Every year, over 600,000 people enter prison gates, but people go to jail 10.6 million times each year. The 10.6 million jail admissions, of course, include multiple 22 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
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