Skip to content

American Prisons Numbers

February 27, 2018
Index

    These Are The Numbers…

    Since 2015 126,000 prisoners were held in privately operated facilities under the jurisdiction of 29 states and the federal Bureau of Prisons. That’s an 83% increase since 1999, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The total U.S. prison population increased by 12% during that span.

    Both the private and overall U.S. prison populations have declined at a steady pace though. The private prison population has shrunk by 8% since its peak in 2012, while the overall prison population has fallen by 5% since its peak in 2009.

    The state private prison population peaked in 2012 with 96,774 prisoners, while the federal private prison population reached its peak a year later in 2013, with 41,159 prisoners. CCA & GEO have made 100’s of millions of dollars. And high recidivism has brought back nearly 50% of inmates within 3 years of release making more of them.