THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, January 20, 1997              TAG: 9701200100
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A2   EDITION: FINAL 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   22 lines

INCARCERATION GROWTH SLOWS SOMEWHAT IN U.S.

The proportion of jailed or imprisoned Americans almost doubled in the last decade, but the growth has slowed, the Justice Department reported. An expert said the slower growth may be only temporary.

As of last June 30, the nation's federal, state and local prisons and jails held 615 men and women for each 100,000 U.S. residents, the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics said. By comparison, there were 313 inmates per 100,000 residents at the end of 1985.

The new incarceration rate of one out of every 163 U.S. residents is the world's highest - six to eight times higher than rates in other industrialized countries. From July 1, 1995, through last June, U.S. incarceration grew by 69,104 to 1,630,940, or 4.4 percent. By comparison, the annual average increase from the end of 1985 through last June was 7.8 percent.

KEYWORDS: PRISON STATISTICS PRISONERS INMATES