The Correctional Population

Numbers
The total adult correctional population includes incarcerated inmates as well as probationers and parolees living in the community. On December 31, 2000, there were:

• 3,839,532 men and women on probation,
• 725,527 on parole,
• 1,312,354 in federal and state prisons, and
• 621,149 in local jails.
  (U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 08/28/01, p1)

During the past decade, the total correctional population increased 49%. There were 2.1 million more men and women under correctional supervision in 2000 than in 1990.
(U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 08/28/01, p1)

The rate of incarceration at the end of 2000 was 478 sentenced inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents, up from 292 in 1990. About 1 in every 109 men and 1 in every 1,695 women were sentenced prisoners under the jurisdiction of state or federal authorities.
(Beck, p1)

At the end of 2000, 91,612 women were in state or federal prisons, representing 6.6% of all prison inmates. Nationwide, 22% of adult probationers in 2000 were women, up from 18% in 1990, and 12% of parolees, up from 8% in 1990.
(U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 08/28/01, p2)

Since 1990, the number of male prisoners has grown 77%, reaching 1,290,280 in 2000; the number of female prisoners has increased 108%.
(Beck, p1)

Education
In 1997, state prison inmates' educational levels were:

• 14.2% had an 8th grade education or less;
• 28.9% had some high school education;
• 25.1% had a GED;
• 18.5% were high school graduates;
• 10.7% had some college education; and
• 2.7% were college graduates or had advanced degrees.
  (U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000, p48, Table 4.1)

Literacy
In 1992, about one in three prison inmates performed at Level 1 on the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) prose scale, compared with one in five of the household population.

• 37% were at Level 2, compared to 27% of the household population;
• 26% were at Level 3, compared to 32% of the household population;
• 6% were at Level 4, compared to 17% of the household population; and
• less than 0.5% were at Level 5, compared to 3% of the household population.
  (Haigler, p19-20, Table 2.3)

In 1992, recidivists demonstrated on average about the same literacy levels as inmates with no prior sentences. The proficiency scores of those who started their criminal careers as juveniles, either on probation or in a facility, are about the same as the scores of those who had never been on probation or in a correctional facility and of those repeat offenders who were initially charged as adults.
(Haigler, p62)

More statistics from this study ...

Parents
Of the nation's 72 million minor children, 2.1% had a parent in a state or federal prison in 1999.
(Mumola, p1)

The number of children with a mother in prison nearly doubled (up 98%) from 1991 to 1999, while the number of children with a father in prison grew by 58% during this period.
(Mumola, p2)

In 1999, 22% of all minor children with a parent in custody were under 5 years old. The majority (58%) of all minor children reported by state and federal inmates were less than 10 years old, and the average age of these children was 8 years old.
(Mumola, p2)

Race/ethnicity
For all races, the number of adults in the correctional population increased from 1986-97; the number of Black adults almost doubled, and the number of White adults rose by two-thirds.
(U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, p1)

Nationwide in 2000, 64% of adult probationers were White adults, compared to 68% in 1990; 34% were Black adults, compared to 31% in 1990; and 16% were Hispanic adults, compared to 18% in 1990.
(U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 08/28/01, p6, Table 5)

Nationwide in 2000, 55% of adult parolees were White adults, compared to 52% in 1990; 44% were Black adults, compared to 47% in 1990; and 21% were Hispanic adults, compared to 18% in 1990.
(U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 08/28/01, p6, Table 6)

Among the more than 1.3 million sentenced inmates at the end of 2000, 9.7% of Black males aged 25 to 29 were in prison, compared to 2.9% of Hispanic males and 1.1% of White males in the same age group.
(Beck, p1)

In 1997, 33.3% of state prison inmates were White, non-Hispanic; 46.5% were Black, non-Hispanic; 17.0% were Hispanic; and 3.2% were from other racial/ethnic groups.
(U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000, p48, Table 4.1)

Age
The age distribution of state prison inmates in 1997 was as follows:

• 0.5% of state prison inmates were 17 or younger;
• 19.3% were aged 18-24;
• 38.1% were 25-34;
• 29.4% were 35-44;
• 9.8% were 45-54;
• 2.2% were 55-64; and
• 0.7% were 65 or older.
  (U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000, p48, Table 4.1)

Correctional Education

Most prisoners do not participate in prison education programs, and the rate of participation has dropped over the last decade. About one-third of soon-to-be-released inmates reported that they participated in vocational programs (27%) or educational programs (35%) in 1997, down from 31% and 43%, respectively, in 1991.
(Travis, p17, Figure 8)

In 1992, almost two-thirds of the prison population surveyed for the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS) engaged in either education and/or vocational training programs since incarceration for their current offense. Fewer prisoners participated only in vocational classes (13%) than in either education (30%) or both types of classes (20%). On the prose scale, the average proficiency of those involved only in vocational training was significantly higher than the proficiency of those who participated in both vocational and education programs (265 and 239, respectively). The vocational-only group also performed significantly higher (265) on the prose scale than those who participated in no classes at all (246) and those involved only in education classes (242).
(Haigler, p51)

Explanation of Scores

In 1999, jail jurisdictions, which often include more than one jail facility, offered the following types of programs:

• 55% had a secondary education program;
• 25% had a basic adult education program;
• 11% a special education program;
• 9% a study release program;
• 6% a vocational program; and
• 3% a college program.
  (Stephan, p10, Table 15)

In 1995, 5.2% of probationers had participated in a basic education/GED program since entering their probation; 2.5% participated in vocational/job training.
(Bonczar, p9, Table 11)

In 1995, 15.0% of adult probationers had education/training as a condition of their sentence.
(Bonczar, p7, Table 8)

A 1992 survey of the types of educational programs offered at correctional institutions found that:

• an average of 91% of correctional institutions within 41 states (out of 42) offered ABE instruction;
• 92% of institutions within 40 states offered GED instruction;
• 62% of institutions within 26 states offered high school coursework; and
• 57% of institutions within 27 states offered ESL instruction.
  (Kirshstein, p3, Table 1)

Outcomes of Correctional Education

The Three State Recidivism Study found that re-arrest, reconviction, and re-incarceration rates were lower for the prison population who had participated in correctional education than for non-participants. The differences were significant in every category. The study found:

• the re-arrest rate of correctional education participants was 48%, compared to 57% for the non-participants;
• re-conviction rate was 27% for correctional educational participants, compared to 35% for non-participants; and
• re-incarceration rate was 21%, compared to 31% for non-participants.
  (Steurer, p40, Figure 1)

Every year for the three years that the study participants were followed, the wages reported to the state labor departments were higher for the education participants compared to non-participants; however, the difference was statistically significant in only one year for that one year, the difference can be attributed to participation.
(Steurer, p40, Figure 1)

A study of recidivism rates conducted by the Virginia Department of Correctional Education found that:

• of those who had no educational programming (1,037 persons) while incarcerated, 49.1% were reincarcerated in the Virginia Department of Corrections;
• of those who enrolled in an academic program (469 persons) but did not complete it, 38.2% were reincarcerated; and
• of those who completed an academic program (451), 19.1% were reincarcerated.
  (Hull, p259, Table 3)

The study also examined the employment status of 347 persons on parole supervision:

• of those who had no educational programming (183 individuals) while incarcerated, 54.6% were employed for a period exceeding 90 days;
• of those who were enrolled in educational programming (96 individuals) but did not complete the program, 61.4% were employed for a period exceeding 90 days; and
• of those who completed educational programming (68 individuals), 77.9% were employed for more than 90 days.
  (Hull, p259, Table 3)