New Justice Department Study: 
As Some State Prison Populations Decline, Federal Prison Population Grows

While Some State Prison Populations Decline, Federal Lock-up Boom Continues As States Find 
Alternatives for Nonviolent and Drug Offenders, Federal Imprisonment of Non-Citizens and Drug Offenders Grows

Washington, DC: A new Justice Department survey released today (April 10th) shows that state prison populations had their lowest level of growth in 28 years. By contrast, the report indicates that the Federal Bureau of Prisons' population is continuing to increase at historic rates.

From June 2000 to June 2001, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that the cumulative prison population of the 50 states and the District of Columbia grew by 0.4 percent. During that same time period, the population of the Federal Bureau of Prisons increased by 7.2 percent. The federal prison system grew at 18 times the rate of the state prison systems, and more inmates were added to the federal prison system than all 50 states combined. In the first six months of 2001 the federal prison system added 7,372 inmates, while the states added 7,048.

In total, prison populations declined in 13 states and jurisdictions last year. States headed by Republican administrations, including Texas, Louisiana and Ohio recently reconsidered their correctional policies, replacing mandatory sentencing laws, reforming drug sentencing statutes and parole practices and creating alternatives to incarceration. In sharp contrast, the Bush administration's 2002 budget proposed to increase the Federal Bureau of Prisons budget by $300 million next year and build and fill 26 prisons over the next 4 years at a cost in excess of $100 million per prison.

The federal government is out of step with states that are finding more economical and humane ways to hold non-violent offenders accountable for their actions as well as rehabilitate them," says Vincent Schiraldi, president of the Justice Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think-tank. "As is so often the case, federal bureaucrats and politicians are lagging behind state policy makers."

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has the highest percentage of non-violent offenders of any prison system in the country: over 70% of federal prisoners are incarcerated for non-violent offenses ‹mainly drug offenders and a growing group of immigration violators. From 1980 to October 2001, the Federal Bureau of Prisons population grew from 24,252 inmates to 131,419 inmates, a five-fold increase in two decades. During that same time, the number of federal inmates imprisoned for drug offenses went from 4,749 in 1980 to 67,037, a 14-fold increase.

According to the Bureau's security classification system, more than half (54%) of all federal inmates are classified as minimum or low security risks. A survey done by the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives showed that more than two-thirds (69%) of the federal prison population were members of minority groups, and that nearly three-quarters (74%) of new inmates added to Federal prisons from 1985 to 1997 were African American or Latino. The National Urban League (contact Jim Lenier , at 202.898.1640, ext. 20) and National Council of La Raza (contact Gabriela Domenzain or Angela Arboleda at 202.785.1670) have also issued press statements highlighting racial and ethnic disparities in the use of incarceration, and the overrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos in the federal prison system.

In February, the Justice Policy Institute published Cutting Correctly: New Prison Policies for Times of Austerity, a report that highlighted the state reforms to their corrections systems and laws that are driving the declining state prison populations. Included amongst these states were Louisiana and Texas, the states with the highest and second highest incarceration rates in the country.

Among the states profiled for having promising approaches, Ohio has enacted both sentencing and parole reforms and has reduced its prison population to such a degree that it was able to close a large prison and not open a boot camp last year. In 2001, Ohio experienced a 2.1 percent decline in its prison population, while the Midwest region's average prison population grew at a rate of 1.4 percent by the end of 2000.

Dr. Reginald Wilkinson, Director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, contends that, "careful reform has helped Ohio to manage its budget without decreasing personal accountability or public safety.

The Justice Policy Institute recommends that the Bush Administration and U.S. Congress consider a variety of reforms to federal corrections practices---many of which are already being implemented on the state level. Promising federal reforms to reduce the federal prison population could include releasing elderly offenders, finding different ways of dealing with non-citizens accused of immigration violations, revising the mandatory minimum sentencing structure, and requiring fiscal impact analyses of all legislation affecting prison expenditures.

Through a combination of sensible changes in sentencing laws and parole practices, legislators and governors in some very conservative places are holding non-violent offenders accountable for their misdeeds without incarcerating them, says Schiraldi. "This president and Congress have proven they can be tough on crime. The question remains whether, in these tight fiscal times, the President and Congress can be smart on crime."

The Justice Policy Institute is a research and public policy organization in Washington, DC. JPI is a project of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. This analysis was funded by a grant from the Criminal Justice Initiative of the Open Society Institute.

A more detailed analysis of the state reforms which have led to declining prison populations (Cutting Correctly: New Prison Policies for Times of Fiscal Crisis) is available on the institute's website at www.cjcj.org.