News (Media Awareness Project) - US: Federal Prisons Are Where The Growth Is |
| Title: | US: Federal Prisons Are Where The Growth Is |
| Published On: | 2002-04-11 |
| Source: | Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-08-30 18:42:32 |
FEDERAL PRISONS ARE WHERE THE GROWTH IS
Washington --- With convictions for drugs, guns and immigration offenses on
the rise, the size of the federal inmate population is swelling in record
numbers, while states are locking up fewer people, according to a federal
study released Wednesday.
The split between the federal and state systems is likely to grow even
wider in years ahead because of changing strategies in law enforcement:
Federal officials are broadening their reach to lock up criminals once
outside their domain, but states such as California are opting to send many
drug offenders to treatment programs rather than prison.
The result is that the federal prison population added an average of more
than 200 prisoners a week in the first half of 2001 --- the biggest
increase since statisticians began tracking data in 1977 --- while state
prison populations increased at their slowest rate in 28 years. In
California, the state prison population even decreased slightly after a
decadelong boom in the 1990s.
"The federal system continues to grow, and grow quickly, but the state
systems in the aggregate are slowing down --- and slowing down rapidly,"
Allen J. Beck, co-author of the Justice Department study, said.
Los Angeles County held on to its unenviable title as the biggest local
jail system in the country, with an average daily population of more than
19,300 inmates, the study showed.. Nationwide, one in every 145 U.S.
residents --- 1.97 million people --- was locked up in local, state or
federal prisons on the day in mid-2001 that the figures were tracked by the
Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Other highlights from the report:
Privately run prisons, an increasingly popular alternative for overburdened
governments in recent years, saw inmate populations increase nearly 5
percent nationwide, to about 95,000 inmates.
Men continued to be locked up at far higher rates than women, with 1,318
male inmates per 100,000 men in the population at large. There were 113
female inmates per 100,000 women.
Washington --- With convictions for drugs, guns and immigration offenses on
the rise, the size of the federal inmate population is swelling in record
numbers, while states are locking up fewer people, according to a federal
study released Wednesday.
The split between the federal and state systems is likely to grow even
wider in years ahead because of changing strategies in law enforcement:
Federal officials are broadening their reach to lock up criminals once
outside their domain, but states such as California are opting to send many
drug offenders to treatment programs rather than prison.
The result is that the federal prison population added an average of more
than 200 prisoners a week in the first half of 2001 --- the biggest
increase since statisticians began tracking data in 1977 --- while state
prison populations increased at their slowest rate in 28 years. In
California, the state prison population even decreased slightly after a
decadelong boom in the 1990s.
"The federal system continues to grow, and grow quickly, but the state
systems in the aggregate are slowing down --- and slowing down rapidly,"
Allen J. Beck, co-author of the Justice Department study, said.
Los Angeles County held on to its unenviable title as the biggest local
jail system in the country, with an average daily population of more than
19,300 inmates, the study showed.. Nationwide, one in every 145 U.S.
residents --- 1.97 million people --- was locked up in local, state or
federal prisons on the day in mid-2001 that the figures were tracked by the
Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Other highlights from the report:
Privately run prisons, an increasingly popular alternative for overburdened
governments in recent years, saw inmate populations increase nearly 5
percent nationwide, to about 95,000 inmates.
Men continued to be locked up at far higher rates than women, with 1,318
male inmates per 100,000 men in the population at large. There were 113
female inmates per 100,000 women.
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