HELP US END MASS INCARCERATION The Prison Policy Initiative uses research, advocacy, and organizing to dismantle mass incarceration. We’ve been in this movement for 22 years, thanks to individual donors like you.

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Chart comparing the racial and ethnic distribution of the total U.S. population with that of the incarcerated population. White people make up the majority of the total U.S. population, but a minority of the prison population. Black and American Indian and Alaska Native people make up a disproportionately larger share of the incarcerated population than they do the total U.S. population. Data is the newest national data available that includes all types of incarceration and uses data from the 2022 Census Bureau American Community Survey.

Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2022 1-Year Estimates, Table S2603. (Graph: Wendy Sawyer, 2024)

This graph originally appeared in Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2024.

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