GROWTH OF PRISON POPULATION SLOWS TO 3 PERCENT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of Americans in state prisons last year
increased at the slowest rate since 1971, though the total number of people
incarcerated in the United States remained at a record high in 2000, the
Justice Department reported Sunday.

As of June 2000, 1,931,859 people were in federal, state and local
facilities, a 3 percent increase over June 1999. The increase was primarily
in the number of people in federal prisons, researchers said.

Most people behind bars in the United States are in state prisons, and this
population grew by just 1.5 percent, the smallest annual growth rate in 29
years, according to a report by the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Racial disparities in prison were profound. The report showed that black
males were incarcerated in record numbers -- a total of 791,600 black men
were in prison, a new high.