Record Number Of Inmates In Prisons

Already bulging, state and federal prisons squeezed in 83,000 more inmates last year for the secondbiggest increase ever and a record population of more than 1 million in such institutions.

The prison populations, up 8.6 percent overall, rose by at least 10 percent in 16 states last year. The largest increases occurred in Texas, up 28.5 percent, and Georgia, up 20.3 percent, according to a Justice Department report released Wednesday.

Eight state prison systems were so crowded that they sent at least 10 percent of their inmates to local jails last year, the study found, noting that Louisiana topped the list with 33.5 percent of its inmates in local jails. On average, the states operated their prisons at least 17 percent above intended capacity, using the states’ largest capacity measurements. Federal prisons were at 25 percent over listed capacity.

The 958,704 inmates in state prisons and 95,034 in federal prisons last year, up 83,294 over the previous year, accounted for about two-thirds of the nearly 1.5 million people incarcerated in the United States, the study said.

The remaining one-third were in local jails, which generally hold people awaiting trial or serving sentences of less than a year. The state figure includes state inmates held in jails because of prison overcrowding.

The largest-ever one-year increase in state and federal prison populations occurred in 1989, when the number grew by 84,764, said the study, performed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

As of 1993, the incarceration rate for blacks was seven times that for whites - 1,471 blacks per 100,000 black residents compared with 207 whites per 100,000 white residents. The rate for Hispanics, who are included in the black and white totals, was 529 per 100,000 Hispanic residents.