Mass Incarceration Facts
On any given day, 62,000i Pennsylvanians are behind bars. In 1980, that number was 16,000.
Incarceration has increased by 300% while the crime rate has gone down by 49%.ii
The cost of mass incarceration is profound. Pennsylvania spends more than $4 billioniv to lock up its citizens, spending $64,000 per incarcerated individual. In contrast, the average tuition at a Pennsylvania college was $23,167 for the 2019-2020 academic year.v
In other words, Pennsylvania is locking up more people, for less crime. A disproportionate number of those people are Black.
Why has Pennsylvania locked up more and more, predominantly Black citizens?
46% of everyone incarcerated in Pennsylvania state prisons is Black. 12.0% of Pennsylvania’s population is Black.iii
NEW DRUG LAWS AND INCREASED DRUG ENFORCEMENT
The number of Pennsylvanians in prison for drug offenses has increased from 311 in 1980 to 3,499 in 2020. People convicted solely on drug charges make up 8.9% percent of Pennsylvania’s state prison population.vi
TOTAL PA PRISON POPULATION (1980-2020) • SCI (State) Population • County Jail Population 50,000
GREATER USE OF PRISON AS PUNISHMENT FOR ALL CRIMES
40,000
In recent decades, the likelihood that an arrest would lead to prison time has more than doubled.vii Much of this is due to more aggressive criminal prosecution.vii
30,000 20,000
LONGER SENTENCING
10,000 0
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
In 1980, there were 848 individuals serving a life sentence.viii In 2019, there were 5,447. 11.4% of everyone in state prison in 2019 was serving a sentence of life.ix
2020
YEAR F O OT N OT E S & C I TATI ON S 2020 PA DOC End of Year Inmate Profile, 2020 County Prison Extraordinary Occurrences Statistics - December 2020 Monthly County Population. i
2020 PA DOC End of Year Inmate Profile, 2020 County Prison Extraordinary Occurrences Statistics - December 2020 Monthly County Population, “Table 5 Crime in the United States, by State, 2019,” FBI Uniform Crime Report 2019. ii
2020 PA DOC End of Year Inmate Profile (under “Offenses”), “Race and Hispanic Origin” Table, Pennsylvania 2019 Census Quick Facts. iii
The FY 2020-21 Budget for the State Department of Corrections was 2.9 billion. The 2018-19 Governor’s Executive Budget Report, which includes the latest available county correctional expenditure data, reports spending an additional 1 billion. iv
W W W.PRISONSOCIETY.ORG
v
CollegeSimply, “Cost of Colleges in Pennsylvania,” accessed June 17, 2021.
vi
2020 PA DOC End of Year Inmate Profile (under “Offenses”).
Marie Gottschalk, Caught: the Prison State and the Lockdown of American Politics, 2014. vii
viii
PA DOC Historical Annual Statistical Report 1980-85.
“Table 23: Long-Term Inmates on December 31, Calendar Years 2018 and 2019,” PA DOC Annual Statistical Report 2019, 2019 PA DOC End of Year Inmate Profile. ix
Last updated: 8/3/2021