ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, August 19, 1996                TAG: 9608190154
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-2  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune

PRISON POPULATION DOUBLES IN 10 YEARS 1,618 NEW BEDS NEEDED EVERY WEEK

The flood of men and women into America's jails and prisons continued last year, bringing their total to more than double the inmate count in 1985, the Justice Department said Sunday.

An estimated 7,888 children younger than 18 were being held in local jails last year, a 17 percent increase over the year before, the agency said.

More than three-quarters of those juveniles had been tried or were awaiting trial as adults - a statistic reflecting the increasingly tough public attitude toward youth crime.

Rapid prison population growth in recent years - reflecting a national wave of tough anti-drug laws - has strained state and federal budgets as corrections officials have raced to find bed space for 841,200 additional people since 1985, or more than 1,618 new beds every week.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons operated 26 percent over capacity in 1995, while state prison systems reported operating between 14 percent and 25 percent above capacity, the new Justice Department study showed.

The combined federal, state and local prison population grew 6.8 percent last year, slightly lower than the 8.4 percent average annual growth recorded since 1985.

At the end of 1995, there were 600 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents, up from 313 in 1985. At the end of 1995, one in every 167 Americans was in prison or jail, compared with one out of every 320 a decade earlier.

The fast pace of growth reflects a number of trends, including tough mandatory sentencing for some drug crimes and new state and federal provisions designed to hammer repeat offenders.

Judges have less opportunity to be lenient these days because of new laws that provide for specific prison terms rather than the maximum-to-minimum ranges formerly specified.

Prisoners generally are a youthful group because the vast majority of serious crimes are committed by young men. But because of longer sentences in recent years, the prison population is aging - with more middle-aged prisoners than before.

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