Data Source: See the Data sources & methodology section of the full Whole Pie report. (Graph: Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner, 2025)

This graph originally appeared in Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2025.

The U.S. locks up more people per capita than any other independent democracy, at the staggering rate of 580 per 100,000 residents. But to end mass incarceration, we must first consider where and why nearly 2 million people are confined nationwide.