Sources and methodology

State prisons

The number of people incarcerated in state prisons on December 31, 2022. For American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, we counted the entire incarcerated population in this category. The Bureau of Justice Statistics' data do not distinguish between jail and prison in the territories.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2022 - Statistical Tables, Table 2 and Table 25.

Local jails

The number of people confined in local jails at midyear in 2019. This population is calculated by subtracting the number of people under the jurisdiction of state prisons who are detained in local jails from the weighted confined statewide jail population.

Sources: The number of people under the jurisdiction of state prisons but confined in local jails is reported in the Bureau of Justice Statistics' Prisoners in 2022 - Statistical Tables, Table 14. The confined population of local jails is reported in the Bureau of Justice Statistics' Census of Jails, 2019. For more information about jurisdiction and custody of people confined in local jails, see our June 2024 publication on the subject.

Youth

People younger than 21 detained or committed to juvenile residential placement facilities (not adult prisons or jails) because of justice system involvement as of October 27, 2021. The totals reported for states do not match the U.S. total due to rounding for anonymity.

Source: Puzzanchera, C., Sladky, T.J., and Kang, W. (2023), Easy Access to the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement: Sex of Residents by State, 2021.

Indian Country jails

Confined population of adults and youth held in jails in Indian Country in June 2022. Six operational facilities did not report a population in 2022, so we substituted 2021 data for these facilities (see the methodology for details).

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Annual Survey of Jails in Indian Country, 2022 and Annual Survey of Jails in Indian Country, 2021.

Civil commitment

People convicted of sexual offenses who are detained or committed in "civil commitment centers" (typically prison-like facilities) under civil commitment laws after their sentences are complete.

Source: An annual survey conducted by the Sex Offender Civil Commitment Programs Network shared by SOCCPN President Shan Jumper. Counts for most states are from the 2023 survey, but for states that did not participate in 2023, we included the most recent figures available: California's count is as of 2022; Nebraska's is from 2018; South Carolina's is from 2021; and the federal Bureau of Prisons' count is from 2017.

Forensic psychiatric

People committed to state psychiatric hospitals by courts after being found "not guilty by reason of insanity" (NGRI) or, in some states, "guilty but mentally ill" (GBMI) and others held for pretrial evaluation or for treatment as "incompetent to stand trial" (IST).

Sources: Data for Minnesota retrieved from a September 2022 report from the Department of Human Services’ Direct Care and Treatment (DCT) Administration to the state legislature. All other state data was published by the Treatment Advocacy Center, Prevention over Punishment, Table 5.

Federal

Population under authority of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (as of May 31, 2024) or U.S. Marshals Service (average daily population in fiscal year 2023). The combined population of 186,271 was reallocated to the states using a ratio of the state of legal residence for the BOP population as of March 27, 2021, based on the reuslts of FOIA request 2022-00046. Unlike other categories, this population is based on state of residence rather than jurisdictional authority. In addition, 15% of the people in Bureau of Prisons custody (32,871 people) are identified as "foreign." We did not reallocate this 15% of the custody population to the states, but we did include them in the U.S. total.

Sources: Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Population Statistics and the U.S. Marshals Service, Federal Prisoner Detention Summary Statistics.

Immigration

The currently detained adult population (39,111) under the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as of March 14, 2024. In addition, there were 8,724 unaccompanied children in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), an operational division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as of March 1, 2024. We could not reallocate the ICE or ORR population to states of residence as we did with other federal detainees, but included the population in the U.S. total incarceration rate.

Sources: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Detention Statistics, FY2024 and Administration for Children and Families, Unaccompanied Children (UC) Program Fact Sheet (March 1, 2024).

Military

People under military correctional authority at yearend 2022.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2022 - Statistical Tables, Table 23.

Total incarcerated population

The combined total of all confined populations reported in other columns.

State population

Total resident population of each state and territory.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in July 2023. For American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the 2020 resident populations were reported by the U.S. Census Bureau in individual press releases.

Incarceration rate

Number of people confined per 100,000 residents of each state (the national rate is based on the total population of all U.S. states and territories as reported in the “State population” column).