Vera Institute releases new data report “People in Jail and Prison in 2024”
The Vera Institute of Justice continues to do a remarkable service for those interested in (near) real-time data about US prison and jail populations by assembling and releasing national incarceration data roughly a year before the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics typically does. And, as a treat for data nerds, Vera today has released this big new report titled “People in Jail and Prison in 2024.” The 54-page report starts with this “Summary”:
In the more than four years since the coronavirus pandemic started, the number of people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and local jails has remained near 1.8 million-an 11 percent reduction from 2019. Nationally, decarceration has stalled: the total number of people incarcerated in the United States increased 2 percent between fall 2022 and spring 2024. This increase was especially steep in some states and localities. Still, the number of people incarcerated in the United States was 1.8 million in spring 2024, nearly 250,000 fewer than in 2019.
At the local and state levels, some jurisdictions saw more rapid changes than the national totals, indicating divergent trends. For example, between fall 2022 Overview of incarcerated populations and spring 2024, the net reduction in people incarcerated in local jails and state prisons in California was 6,400, nearly offsetting the 6,500 person increase in Texas. During the same period, 40 states increased the number of people in their prisons, and some saw substantial growth: In Maine and South Dakota, the number of people in prison increased by more than 10 percent, and in 18 other states, the number of people in prison increased by more than 5 percent. Six states had more people in prison in spring 2024 than they had at the end of 2019: Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, and North Dakota, with Alaska and Iowa very close to pre-pandemic levels. Many of those states are building new prisons. In contrast, 18 states had 15 percent fewer people in prison in spring 2024 than in 2019. More recently, between fall 2022 and spring 2024, while 10 states reduced the number of people in prison, only one state, Hawaii, reduced the number of people in prison by more than 5 percent.
In spring 2024, the number of people in jail nationally was down 10 percent from 2019 and had held relatively stable since fall 2022. While some states have seen a full rebound to pre-pandemic levels, many remain lower. Between fall 2022 and spring 2024, the number of people in jail in rural counties increased 2.2 percent. The number of people incarcerated in urban county jails was down 1.7 percent.
The age distribution of incarcerated people has shifted faster than aging trends in the overall population, with a large and increasing share of people behind bars ages 55 and older and a shrinking number of people who are under 25.
Federal policies have not helped to reduce incarceration. From 2022 to 2024, the U.S. Marshals Service detained population decreased by 9 percent and the federal prison population by 2 percent. However, these decreases were counterbalanced by the continued criminalization of immigration and detention of people with immigration cases in civil custody: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which often detains people in local jails, increased its detention population by more than 21 percent between late 2022 and spring 2024.
One clear impact of the last four years is that many states that had relatively lower prison incarceration rates to start, especially those clustered in the Northeast, found ways to further reduce incarceration. And major cities and their suburbs-notable four years ago for their lower use of incarceration-continue to jail people at the lowest rates. In contrast, many states appear to be intent on pushing high incarceration rates even higher, building new prisons and writing new laws designed to limit parole.