June 2007

Prison & Jail Inmates at Midyear 2006

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), with the U.S. Census Bureau as its collection agent, obtains mid-year and year-end counts of prisoners from the departments of corrections in the 50 states and from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The BJS also conducts a complete census of local jails and annual survey of jails (ASJ) each year between the years. The ASJ is a sample survey of local jails which is used to estimate the number and characteristics of local inmates nationwide.

For the 2006 ASJ, the U.S. Census Bureau drew a sample of 874 jurisdictions and 936 jail facilities. The local jail jurisdictions included counties (parishes in Louisiana) or municipal governments that administer one or more local jails. The data was obtained from sampled jurisdictions by mail-out and web-based survey questionnaires. Follow up phone calls to respondents concluded that the response rate for the survey was 100% for critical items such as the number of inmates confined, average daily population, and rated capacity. Concluded the following:

• 84.5% of the total U.S. prison population growth was due to an increase in prisoners in state prison systems
   

• Female prisoners (111,403) increased by 4.8%, nearly twice the rate of growth 2.7% for male prisoners (1,445,115)
   

• Individuals under age 18 housed in state correctional facilities increased by 7.1% in 2006 to 2,3642,258 males and 105 females
   

• State and federal prisons and local jails increased 2.8% to reach 2,245,189
   

• From midyear 2005 to midyear 2006 inmates in State prisons increased 3.0%
   

• Total increase accounted for about 70% of the growth in the total custody population.