Posted on: Wednesday, April 9, 2003

U.S. inmate population tops 2 million for first time

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The number of inmates in American prisons topped 2 million for the first time, with the federal government leading the way, the Justice Department reported.

California, Texas, Florida and New York — the most populous states — also had the biggest state prison systems. However, nine large states saw their inmate populations drop from the year before, including Texas, California, New York and Illinois.

Hawai'i's prison population increased 2.4 percent, from 5,412 to 5,541.

The federal government accounted for more inmates than any state, at nearly 162,000, according to a report by the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. That includes the transfer of about 8,900 District of Columbia prisoners to the federal system.

The record figures were driven by get-tough policies that mandate long terms for drug offenders and other criminals.

Some states modified parole rules to address steep budget shortfalls, leading to an overall growth rate in state prison populations of nearly 1 percent from June 2001 to June 2002. The federal prison population grew 5.7 percent.

As of June 30, 2002, the total inmate population was 2.1 million, an increase of 2.8 percent from a year before. Two-thirds were in prisons, and the other third in jails.