U.S. PRISON POPULATION TOPS 1.2 MILLION

WASHINGTON -- The nation's adult prison population grew to more than 1.2
million in 1997, its slow but steady rise fueled by inmates serving longer
terms for violent crimes while a constant stream of criminals entered
prison doors, the Justice Department reported yesterday.

The 5.2 percent growth to 1,244,554 federal and state prison inmates by
year's end was slightly below the 7 percent annual average growth during
the 1990s, the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics said. That was a
net gain of 61,186 inmates during the year -- very close to the annual
average of 63,900 since 1990, when prison inmates numbered only 774,000.

And more than half a million other men and women were serving shorter
sentences or awaiting trials in jails during 1997, the bureau said.

If this growth continues, the combined prison and jail population will top
2 million by 2000, even though crime has been dropping since 1994,
according to an estimate from The Sentencing Project, a private group that
advocates alternatives to imprisonment.

Already, the United States trails only Russia in the share of its citizens
behind bars. The total U.S. incarceration rate of 645 people per 100,000 is
six times to 10 times higher than most industrial nations, the project said.

With stable admissions, "the prison population growth in the 1990s has been
primarily driven by the increasing lengths of stay -- fewer inmates
leaving," said bureau statistician Allen J. Beck, co-author of the report.

"The increased time served, particularly for violent crimes, is a product
of tougher parole boards and such measures as longer minimum sentences and
truth-in-sentencing laws that require that more of each sentence be served
behind bars," Beck said in an interview. Such laws have proliferated at the
state and federal level during the 1990s.

In 1985, the average inmate had served 20 months upon release, but by 1996
that figure had risen to 25 months, Beck said. The estimated time to be
served by inmates now entering prison also is rising.

"And contrary to popular belief, the greatest source of growth in state
prisons is in violent offenders not drug violators," Beck said.

Violent offenders in state prisons -- which together house 10 times as many
prisoners as the federal system -- grew by 179,500, or 50 percent, between
1990 and 1996.

A rise in revoked probation and parole has been a major factor in keeping
admissions stable even though violent crime has declined during the 1990s,
Beck said. By 1996, 30 percent of all prison entrants were put there for
parole violations. Another BJS survey found that 20 percent of inmates
whose parole or probation was revoked had not been charged with new crimes,
Beck said, but rather had violated conditions of parole.

Between 1990 and 1996, adult arrests for murder and rape were both down 19
percent, robbery arrests were down 17 percent, and burglary, larceny and
auto theft arrests also dropped. But drug abuse arrests rose by 28 percent,
and aggravated assault arrests were up 8 percent over the six years.

In other findings, the bureau said:

The number of female prisoners grew by 6.2 percent during 1997 to a
year-end total of 79,624 in state and federal prisons.

At year's end, state prisons held 1,131,581 inmates and federal prisons
held 112,973. California with 157,547 inmates and Texas with 140,729
together accounted for more than a quarter of all state prison inmates.

Among the states, Texas had the highest incarceration rate, 717 inmates per
100,000 residents, followed by Louisiana at 672 and Oklahoma at 617. The
lowest incarceration rates were in North Dakota at 112 and Minnesota at 113.

Hawaii reported the largest increase during 1997, 23 percent, followed by
West Virginia at 15 percent and Alaska and Maine at 14 percent. Oregon,
Montana, New Mexico and the District of Columbia reported decreases.