For years, the U.S. has topped global incarceration rates, warehousing more prisoners than any other country, including China. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, 1 in every 5 people in prison worldwide is incarcerated in the U.S.
But the U.S. prison population has been on the decline since its peak in 2009, according to a recent report by The Sentencing Project, a research and advocacy center based in Washington, D.C. The overall number of prisoners in the country reduced by 11% in the decade from 2009-2019, to 1.4 million people.
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Still, the gap between states’ prisoner population numbers is wide, with the top state seeing a 43% reduction in prisoners between its peak in 2006 and 2019, while the bottom state is still peaking, with a 28% increase since 2014. According to the report, based on Bureau of Justice statistics data, all but four states saw a decrease in prison population levels since their peak. Of those states, however, 25 have seen reductions below 10%. The federal prison population, in contrast, saw a 20% decrease since its peak in 2011.
In nine states, Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, the prison population has been reduced by 30% or more since peak levels. Montana, Idaho, Nebraska and Kansas saw their highest population on record in 2019.
Nationally, the average annual decarceration rate was about 1.2%, making a significant reduction — such as cutting the U.S. prison population in half — a nearly 60-year endeavor at this rate.
Here are the 10 states with the greatest decreases in prison population from the peak year to 2019:
|
State |
Rate of Reduction |
Peak Year |
|
Alaska |
42.8% |
2006 |
|
New Jersey |
40.9% |
1999 |
|
New York |
40.4% |
1999 |
|
Connecticut |
39.2% |
2007 |
|
Alabama |
34.5% |
2012 |
|
Rhode Island |
34.3% |
2008 |
|
Vermont |
34.0% |
2009 |
|
Hawaii |
31.3% |
2005 |
|
California |
29.6% |
2006 |
|
Massachusetts |
27.3% |
2011 |
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States With the Largest Declines in Prisoner Populations originally appeared on usnews.com
