Inmate Growth Rate Slows Somewhat
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN - AP
WASHINGTON (AP) - Declining crime rates are beginning to help stabilize the
nation's prison population, but nearly 60,000 more inmates were added to federal and state
prisons last year, the Justice Department reports. As of Dec. 30, 1998, there were
1,178,978 state prisoners and 123,041 federal inmates for a total of 1,302,019, the
department's Bureau of Justice Statistics said Sunday.
That was up 59,866 or 4.8 percent from 1997 - below the average annual increase
of 63,144 or 6.7 percent since 1990 and the lowest rate of growth since the 2.3 percent
boost in 1979. Counting the 592,000 jail inmates as well, more than 1.8 million men
and women were behind bars in the United States, the report said. That represented an
incarceration rate of 627 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents, a rate higher than in any
other country except Russia.
Although crime rates have been declining since 1993, it has taken time for that
trend to move through the court system and show up in prison populations. Meantime, sharp
expansion of mandatory minimum sentences and longer sentences, especially for drug crimes
during the 1980s and for violent crimes in the 1990s, coupled with less generous parole
continued to drive prison populations up. Tougher federal and state sentencing laws and
parole rulings pushed the U.S. incarceration rate up from one of every 217 residents in
1990 to one of every 149 in 1998, the bureau reported. ``There are beginning to be
some signs of stability in the prison population,'' said statistician Allen J. Beck,
co-author of the report. Only 4 percent of the state inmate growth from 1990 through 1997,
the latest available data, came from new court commitments.
``That small increase from new court commitments reflects a declining number of
arrests for violent crimes, including murder, robbery, rape and assault,'' Beck said.
``The increasing length of stay in prison is the biggest factor pushing prison
populations up at this point,'' he added. The growth is largest among inmates serving
three to five years behind bars, with a smaller increase among those serving 20 years or
life. The result is that the average time served increased from 22 months in 1990 to 27
months in 1997, the report said. New prisoners expected to serve 38 months in 1990, but 43
months in 1997. Meantime, inmate release rates dropped from 37 percent in 1990 to 31
percent in 1997.
The 1990-1997 period also saw a 39 percent increase in the number of parole
violators returned to prison, although Beck said that is beginning to level off.
The rise in returning parole violators was cited by The Sentencing Project, a
private group that advocates alternatives to prison, as evidence of an unforeseen effect
of tougher sentencing.
``Current punitive sentencing policies have resulted in overcrowded prisons and
budgets stretched to meet even the basic needs,'' the project said. ``Drug treatment,
mental health care, education programs and vocational training are all in short supply
within prisons ..., leaving prisoners largely unprepared for their return to the
community.''
Other findings in the report:
- Four state prison populations dropped in 1998: Alaska, down 1.6 percent;
Hawaii, down 1.1 percent; Massachusetts, down 1.0 percent, and Maine, down 0.5 percent.
The largest increases were in Mississippi, up 17 percent, and North Dakota, up 15 percent.
- On Dec. 31, state prisons held 13 percent to 22 percent more inmates than they
were designed to; the federal system was 27 percent over capacity. California had the most
crowded system, holding twice the number of inmates than was designed for. Utah was the
least crowded at 81 percent of capacity.
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