THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, July 1, 1996                  TAG: 9607010045
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   33 lines

PENAL SYSTEM HAS ALMOST 3 OF EVERY 100 ADULTS IN U.S.

Almost three out of every 100 American adults were in prison or on probation or parole in 1995, according to a Justice Department study released Sunday.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics said 3 million people were on probation at the end of the year, up 4 percent during the year; 700,000 on parole, up 1 percent; and nearly 1.6 million in federal, state and local jails, up six percent.

That total of 5.3 million people was 2.8 percent of American adults.

The department said that since 1980 the total number under correctional supervision had almost tripled, from 1.84 million to 5.36 million, with an average annual growth rate of 7.4 percent.

The study, which focused on the probation and parole populations, found that the numbers in those two categories was up 3.2 percent in 1995, slightly down from the average 3.4 percent growth rate increase since 1990.

Half of those on probation were on probation for a felony.

Among the states, Texas had the greatest number of people on probation or parole, with 518,000, followed by California with 378,000.

Nearly 3,900 out of every 100,000 Texan adults were on probation or parole. That compared to 510 North Dakotans and 512 West Virginians at the low end of the scale.

Women made up about 21 percent of the nation's probationers and about 10 percent of parolees.

KEYWORDS: STUDY PRISON by CNB