Prison Population Grows by 5.8% in 2003. Number of Women in Prison Hits Record High

Some interesting factoids from new Bureau of Justice's most recent report on the 2003 prison population:

• the number of women in prison increased by 2.9% in 2003 for a total of 101,179 people. This is the first time that the female prison population has topped 100,000. Women still account for only 6.9% of the total prison population
• the Federal Prison System grew by 5.8% (approx 9500 people). State prisons grew by 1.6 percent (approx 200,000 people)
• most prisons (both state and federal) were operating at capacity or up to 39 percent over capacity.
• Among the 1.4 million inmates sentenced to more than one year at year-end 2003, an estimated 44 percent were black, 35 percent white, 19 percent Hispanic and 2 percent of other races. The percent of inmates who were racial or ethnic minorities has changed little since 1995.

For more information and links to the actual report, see the Bureau of Justice's press release.

The Sacramento Observer also ran a story on the report. This may be available for a limited time.