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.
