Prison Brief for United States of America From King's College, London

Prison Brief for United States of America

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Country	UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Ministry responsible	Department of Justice
Prison administration	Federal Bureau of Prisons, state and local correctional authorities
Contact address	320 First Street N.W, Washington DC 20534
Telephone/fax/website	Web: http://www.bop.gov
Head of prison administration (and title)	Harley G Lappin Director of Federal Bureau of Prisons
Prison population total (including pre-trial detainees / remand prisoners)	2,293,157 at 31.12.2007 (U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics)
Prison population rate (per 100,000 of national population)	756 based on an estimated national population of 303.15 million at end of 2007 (U.S. Census Bureau)
Pre-trial detainees / remand prisoners (percentage of prison population)	21.0% (30.6.2007 - 62% of local jail inmates)
Female prisoners (percentage of prison population)	9.1% (30.6.2007 - 12.9% of local jail inmates, 7.1% of state and federal prisoners)
Juveniles / minors / young prisoners incl. definition (percentage of prison population)	0.4% (30.6.2007)
Foreign prisoners (percentage of prison population)	5.9% (30.6.2007)
Number of establishments / institutions	5,069 (2000 - 3,365 local jails, 1,558 state facilities, 146 federal facilities)
Official capacity of prison system	c.2,096,645 (813,502 in local jails at 30.6.2007, c.1,163,900 in state prisons at 31.12.2006, 119,243 in federal prisons at 31.12.2006)
Occupancy level (based on official capacity)	c.108% (96.0% in local jails at 30.6.2007, c.112% in state prisons at 31.12.2006, 153.8% in federal prisons at 31.12.2006)
Recent prison population trend (year, prison population total, prison population rate)	1992 1,295,150 (505) 1995 1,585,586 (600) 1998 1,816,931 (669) 2001 1,961,247 (685) 2004 2,135,335 (723)