Trends of Incarceration in USA Prisons

Trends of Imprisonment in USA in past few decades are horrible. Every nation has a correctional program of its own. Statistics of crime in every country is different from that in other countries. But the records that USA had touched can not be surpassed. There are great fluctuations in the number of imprisoned inmates. Number of prisoners multiplied twenty times in USA from 1920 to 2006 while the increment in population was far less. When we compare the prison population of USA with the rest of the world, we find that the percentage has always remained higher. The ratio of prisoners at per 1000 population is highest in USA. As per the data available, more than 0.75% of the total population was imprisoned in USA in Jan. 2008.

In 2008 the population of USA was less than 5% of the world’s population but the prison population in USA was nearly 1/4^th of the world prison population.

 While in 2009 more than 0.74% adults of the total population of USA were imprisoned. Data shows that the number of imprisoned adult inmates in USA in 2009 was 72, 25,800.

When we ponder over the sexual ratio of prisoners the female prison population is roughly 1/15 of the total imprisoned males. In 2009, 7.1% of prisoners were female.

There is a great difference in the ratio of imprisoned inmates in the states of USA. Maine, Minnesota and New Hampshire are the states where the incarceration rate is lowest while Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma are the states with highest incarceration rate. As per 2009 data, the state with lowest imprisonment rate was Maine where the number of prisoners was 150 per 100,000 populations. Similarly Louisiana was the state with highest incarceration rate @ 881 per 100,000 populations.

To correct the imprisonment rate of native prison inmates, it is said that they were 73% in the federal prisons while the rest 27% were noncitizens in 2009.

The ratio of prisoners as per the type of crime committed by them is also available. Facts show that the ratio of the criminals incarcerated due to drug offences has increased in last two decades. In the last two decades of twentieth century, the largest number of criminals was incarcerated due to violent offences on their part. Although the percentage of violent criminals has also increased during the same period the drug crimes are rapidly increasing.

US Prison System and Prison Inmates

People in USA are often found searching Online Prison Inmates Locator to find out where a certain person is incarcerated. When there arises the question about prison population in the world, USA gets the first rank. Although the crime was found declining in USA by 25% in two decades after 1980, prison population increased many fold during the same period of time. There was a time when no Mandatory Sentencing System was there and the judges had the right to lessen the incarceration period as per the situation in which the felony was committed. In other words before the introduction of mandatory sentencing system, judges possessed the right to examine the case with a view to guess the intensity of the crime committed and they used to impose minimum imprisonment to the criminal but after mandatory sentencing, their only job is to examine whether the crime is committed or not. The sentencing period is decided by law through mandatory sentencing system. And there are no chances of providing minimum imprisonment. Imprisonment is the main form of punishment in most of the countries including USA. After the crime is proved, the criminal is incarcerated in prison for the sentenced period. He is called prisoner, prison inmate and even inmate only. As per the facts, 2.4 million inmates were enjoying their sentence in USA prisons in Aug. 2011. It shows that USA is still on the first rank in the list of all nations. There are three types of incarceration facilities in US. First there are federal and state prisons. Secondly the city jails and country jails and thirdly there come the highway houses, house arrest, sober houses or recovery housed.

When an inmate is caught for some allegation on him, he is kept in the lock up until he is presented before a judge. After that he is sent to the city or country jail. It is also a short term residence for him. If he is sentenced for more than one year, he/she is shifted to the federal or state jail. Even after fulfilling their period, the inmates are not sent to live in the society. With a view to their rehabilitation and employment, they are kept in highway houses or recovery houses. The criminals sentenced for less serious cases for less then one year period get back after living in the country jails only.

Federal Bureau of Prisons is also an important institute or organization of US Department of Justice. It makes arrangement of security in prisons at five levels.