{"id":15619,"date":"2013-08-02T11:27:10","date_gmt":"2013-08-02T16:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/chart-of-the-week-the-problem-of-prison-overcrowding\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:30:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:30:26","slug":"chart-of-the-week-the-problem-of-prison-overcrowding","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2013\/08\/02\/chart-of-the-week-the-problem-of-prison-overcrowding\/","title":{"rendered":"Chart of the week: The problem of prison overcrowding"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"FT_prison-overcrowding-economist\"<\/a>
Source: The Economist<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n

Prison overcrowding is a problem for countries around the world, including the United States, where 30,000 California prison inmates<\/a>\u00a0initiated a hunger strike in July\u00a0to protest solitary confinement policies at the state’s prisons. Now in its fourth week, nearly 500 inmates are still refusing meals<\/a>. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the state to reduce its prison population<\/a>, ruling the overcrowded conditions amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.<\/p>\n\n

While California prisons are overcrowded, U.S. prisons overall are operating at 99% capacity<\/a>, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies, putting the U.S. in the middle of a group of selected countries highlighted by the Economist<\/a>\u00a0in the chart above. Topping the list was Haiti, whose population of 9,904 inmates were housed in a system of 17 prisons\u00a0operating at 336% occupancy level<\/a>\u00a0in 2009. The U.S. announced plans earlier this year to build two prisons in Haiti’s provinces<\/a>\u00a0as part of an international effort to ease the severe overcrowding that often requires\u00a0inmates to take turns sleeping at night because of lack of space.<\/p>\n\n

[s]<\/p>\n\n\n

Overcrowded prisons can be toxic for both prisoners and guards,\u00a0according to a recent GAO report\u00a0<\/a>that found overcrowded conditions contribute to increased inmate misconduct, more competition for prison services such as educational or vocational training programs and a lack of meaningful work opportunities for prisoners during their incarcerations. Disease can also be a concern: tuberculosis rates can be\u00a0100 times higher in prisons<\/a>\u00a0than in the civilian population, and mental health and substance abuse issues\u00a0are often more prevalent<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Despite falling crime rates noted in a Pew Research Center analysis<\/a> in May, the U.S. federal and state prison population has risen<\/a> from 307,276 prisoners in 1978 to a high of 1.6 million prisoners in 2009, before declining slightly in the past three years.<\/p>\n\n

Note:\u00a0<\/strong>The last paragraph of this post has been updated to clarify that the prison population figures cited include federal and state prisoners. The International Centre for Prison Studies estimated the local prison population at <\/i>735,601 in 2011<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prison overcrowding is a problem for countries around the world, including the United States, where 30,000 California prison inmates\u00a0initiated a hunger strike in July\u00a0to protest solitary confinement policies at the state’s prisons. Now in its fourth week, nearly 500 inmates are still refusing meals. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the state to reduce 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