THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 28, 1994 TAG: 9410280602
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
This summer, the number of inmates in America's prisons topped 1 million for the first time in history, the Justice Department said Thursday, releasing a survey that reflected decades of demands for tougher punishments.
The survey, conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, found that 1,012,851 men and women were in state and federal prisons on June 30. The bureau said the country's prison population grew by nearly 40,000 inmates in the first six months of this year, equivalent to 1,500 new prisoners a week.
This figure does not include inmates in local jails. In 1992, the last time they were counted, 445,000 people were in local jails.
The number of inmates has soared in comparison with the nation's population over two decades, the survey said. In June, there were 373 people in prison for every 100,000 U.S. residents, a record. In 1980, 139 people were incarcerated for every 100,000 residents.
The increase in prisoners has made the United States second in the world, behind Russia, when it comes to incarceration rates. Counting people both in prisons and those awaiting trial or serving short sentences for misdemeanors in local jails, at the end of last year, the United States had an incarceration rate more than 4 times greater than Canada's and 14 times greater than Japan's.
KEYWORDS: PRISON INMATES by CNB