Justice
Why Jails Are Booming
A new report from the Prison Policy Initiative shows that the populations of local jails are swelling for reasons that have little to do with crime.
It’s impossible to discuss reducing incarceration without acknowledging that the bulk of imprisonment happens in local jails. Federal penitentiary rates have dropped since peaking in 2009—though, under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, that may soon change. State prison rates have come down “modestly” overall, reports the Sentencing Project, and some states can boast double-digit decreases since the turn of the century.
City and county jails, meanwhile, have been bloating. Roughly two-thirds of states have seen jail populations at least double since 1983—a dozen have seen jail populations triple.